Lakestan Rural District () is in the Central District of Salmas County, West Azerbaijan province, Iran. Its capital is the village of Qarah Qeshlaq. The previous capital of the rural district was the village of Soltan Ahmad.
Etymology Willem M Floor suggested that the name of the Lakestan Rural District was possibly the last trace of the historic Lak tribe, who were of southern Kurdish origin but present around Salmas during the Safavid era.Titles & Emoluments in Safavid Iran: A Third Manual of Safavid Administration, ʻAlī Naqī Naṣīrī, 2008, pp. 270, ISBN 9781933823232. Military geographer Hossein-Ali Razmara wrote that Lakestan was named after Lak refugees from the Caucasus who settled there.فرهنگ جغرافیائی ایران (آبادیها)، جلد 4، استان 3 و 4 آذربایجان، حسینعلی رزم آرا، ص 476. Ali-Akbar Dehkhoda also believed it was named after the Caucasian Laks.لغتنامه دهخدا، جلد ١٣: گیاه-معتم، علی اکبر دهخدا، ١٣٧٧، ص. 19760, ISBN 9640396044. Mohammad-Amin Riahi believed it was named after the Kurdish Laks who disappeared during the Safavid period, and claimed that there was insufficient evidence that it was named after Caucasian immigrants."فرمان شاه عباس دوم در بارۀ ایل لك و سه سند تاریخی دیگر"، محمدامین ریاحی، در "یکی قطره باران: جشن‌نامۀ استاد دکتر عباس زریاب خوئی"، احمد تفضلی، ص. 24-25، تهران، ١٣٧٠.
Demographics Population At the time of the 2006 National Census, the rural district's population was 11,486 in 2,773 households. There were 11,589 inhabitants in 3,195 households at the following census of 2011. The 2016 census measured the population of the rural district as 10,387 in 3,083 households. The most populous of its 28 villages was Qarah Qeshlaq, with 2,040 people.
Other villages in the rural district
Akhteh Khaneh Bargoshad Hamzeh Kandi Kangarlu Sadaqian Yalquz Aghaj
See also
References