Gonbad-e Kavus

Gonbad-e Kavus (Persian: گنبد کاووس) is a city in the Central District of Gonbad-e Kavus County, Golestan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.

At the 2006 National Census, its population was 127,167 in 30,710 households. The following census in 2011 counted 144,546 people in 39,181 households. The census in 2016 showed a population of 151,910 people in 44,731 households.

The modern name, meaning "the tower of Kavus", is a reference to the most imposing ancient monument in the city. The historic name cannot now be restored, because it was assigned to the neighboring historical city of Astarabad in the 1930s by the Iranian government. At one point, it was even known as the city of Dasht-e Gorgan, meaning "the Plains of Gorgan".

In the historical times, the city's populations were made up of various Iranic peoples such as the ancient and eponymous Hyrcanians, Parthians and eventually the Khurasani Persians. Today, however, the population is a mix of Turkmens, Azerbaijani Turks, Sistanis, Baluch, Semnanis, and Khorasanis.

The city is famous for its historic brick tower of the same name. The city has an ethnically diverse population and the biggest ethnic group is Persians followed by Azeris and Turkmens. The Persians and Azeris tend to mainly follow Shia Islam while the Turkmens are mostly Sunni Muslim.