Mentions of Khalkhal and of some of its subdistricts and localities appeared relatively late in medieval geographical and historical chronicles.
KHALKHAL
i. The Town and District
Historical data. Mentions of Khalkhal and of some of its subdistricts and localities appeared relatively late in medieval geographical and historical chronicles. The first place within the area that is mentioned is Ḵunaj, referred to by Eṣṭaḵri (pp. 181, 194), Ebn Ḥawqal (pp. 239, 253), Moqaddasi (pp. 375, 383), and Abu’l-Fedā as a stage on the road from Ardabil to Miāna (Schwarz, pp. 1145-47), and in Ḥodud al-ʿālam (called Ḵuna) as a small town in Azerbaijan (p. 158; tr., p. 142). Yāqut (II, pp. 499-500; Barbier de Meynard, p. 219), in the early 13th century, explained that the correct ancient name of Ḵunaj had been deformed into the form Ḵunā, and that the place was then called Kāḡaḏ-konān (paper-makers), which afterwards became the name of one of the five traditional subdistricts of Khalkhal. He visited the place, which was small and half-ruined but still had a beautiful bazaar.
