By Sana. Hope you enjoy.

BABOLSAR Babolsar (also known as Mashhadsar ) is a city in the Babolsar county and the capital of Babolsar county, Mazandaran province, Iran. In 2006, its population was 47, 872, in 13, 442 families. Babolsar is located on the southern coast of the Caspian sea. Since the Babol river passes through the city, both the bank of the river and the beach of the sea form tourist attractions in the city. Caspian sea

The city acquired its current name in 1927.The city's historic name is Mashhadsar, meaning "the special way to Mashhad’’. Referring to the only road connecting the northwest of Iran to the northeast, including Mashhad, which passed through Babolsar. By the 18th century, Babolsar had become a busy commercial port. During the reign of Nadir Shah, it was the base for Iran's Caspian fleet. By 1909, the port yielded 12 percent of the total customs revenue of Iran. However, by 1895, ports in Gilan were already competing with Babolsar. 1.

During Reza Shah's reign, Babolsar lost much of its remaining trade to the new port of Bandar-e Shah at the terminus of the trans-Iranian railroad. The cargo handled at Babolsar in the years of 1935 and 1936 was only 25,000 tons. A modern quarter and a hotel were built during this period. The end of World War II brought a new era of vitality to the city as a summer seaside resort for people from Tehran, which gave rise to a new phase of rapid expansion. Babolsar's population increased from about 3,500 in 1945 to 11,781 in 1966 and 18,810 in 1976.

Mazandaran university logo Mazandaran University, formerly Reza Shah Kabir University, was founded in 1979 by the merging of Babolsar College of Economics and Social Sciences. Mazandaran university has 8,750 students. Harvard University contributed academically, administratively, and to the original design of the predecessor of University of Mazandaran, which at the time was known as "Reza Shah Kabir University" in the 1970s.

 The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world’s largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of 371,000 km 2. It is in an endorheic basin. and is bounded to the northwest by Russia, to the west by Azerbaijan, to the south by Iran, to the southeast by Turkmenistan, and to the northeast by Kazakhstan. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world and accounts for 40 to 44% of the total lacustrine waters of the world.

The coastlines of the Caspian sea are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian sea is divided into three distinct physical regions: the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian.