[custom_adv] Rasht is the largest city on Caspian Sea coast. It is a major trade center between Caucasia, Russia using the port of Bandar-e Anzali. Rasht is also a major tourist center with the resort of Masouleh in the adjacent mountains and the beaches of Caspian as some of the major attractions. [custom_adv] Historically, Rasht was a major transport and business center which connected to Russia and Europe, and because of this was known as the "Gate of Europe". [custom_adv] The city has a history that goes back to the 13th century but its modern history dates back to the Safavid era during which Rasht was a major silk trade center with numerous textile workshops. [custom_adv] Rasht was first mentioned in historical documents in 682 CE, but it is certainly older than this and appears on the Peutinger Map of late antiquity. It has seen the Sassanid era, the armies of Peter the Great and later Russian rulers, and British colonialism. [custom_adv] The name Rasht comes most plausibly from the verb reshtan, weaving. Rasht has, along with regions around Tabriz, one of the earliest industry plants during the last quarter of the 19th century, prominently in fields such as fishing, caviar production, the Caspian sea oil pipeline construction and textiles. [custom_adv] During the 20th century, until the mid-70s, Gilan and the Rasht region was the third-ranking industrial city by number of workers and per capital productivity. [custom_adv] The people of Rasht played a prominent role in instigation and radicalization of Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907). Rasht is the birthplace of Mīrzā Kūchak Khān, one of the leading figures of the Constitutional Revolution. [custom_adv] First Public Library was built in Rasht City. First Branch of the First Bank (Sepah Bank) was located in Rasht City. First branch of 24/7 pharmacy (Karoon pharmacy) was built in Rasht City. First school for girls and first fire station in Iran were also built in Rasht City. [custom_adv] Enjoying the Kadus International Hotel and hundreds of tourist attractions, Rasht receives thousands of foreign tourists annually, mostly from Austria, Germany, Netherlands, France, Australia, Japan and African countries like Senegal and Cameroon as well as countries from Oceania like Micronesia.
