Ilam province

Ilam Province (Persian: استان ایلام) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Its capital is the city of Ilam.

The province is in the western part of the country in Region 4 and covers 20,164.11 km² (7,785.41 sq mi). It shares 425 km (264 mi) of the border with Iraq, and also bordering on the provinces of Kermanshah, Lorestan, and Khuzestan.

The name "Ilam" comes from "Elam", the pre-historic civilisation that ruled in south western Iran from 2700 BC to 539 BC.

The name "Ilam" comes from "Elam", the pre-historic civilization that ruled the area in modern southwest Iran from 2700 BC to 539 BC. Archaeological findings dates human settlement of the area to around 5000 BC.

Ashurbanipal, the then king of Assyria, invaded Elam in 639 BC and totally destroyed it. Although not as united as before, the Elamites survived and continued to live in the area after the invasion. Between 612 and 546 BC, Elam was incorporated into the Median Empire and later into the Achaemenid Empire in 539 BC. During the Achaemenid Empire, Elam lost its independence forever and became the third province of the empire after Persis and Media.

During the Median, Achaemenid, Seleucid, and Parthian eras the area and its settlements took on importance due to its proximity to the districts of Hamadan, Kurdistan, Kermanshah, Lorestan and, most notably, Susa,

During the Sasanian era, present-day Ilam was composed of two states: Mehrjanqazaq in the east, which was the modern day Darreh Shahr and Masbasan in the west.

After the Muslim conquest of Mesopotamia in 640 AD, the Arabs named the area the "Land of the Mountains," or "Jibal". During the Arabs' rule, the kingdom of Jibal, whose capital was Seymareh, was one of the territories under the control of Baghdad and Basra, and lasted until 961 CE.