Urmia or Orumiyeh is the largest city in West Azerbaijan Province of Iran and the capital of Urmia County. It is situated at an altitude of 1,330 metres (4,360 ft) above sea level, and is located along the Shahar River on the Urmia Plain. Lake Urmia, one of the world's largest salt lakes, lies to the east of the city, and the mountainous Turkish border area lies to the west.
The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM) was among the first American Christian missionary organizations. It was created in 1810 by recent graduates of Williams College. In the 19th century it was the largest and most important of American missionary organizations and consisted of participants from Protestant Reformed traditions such as Presbyterians, Congregationalists, and German Reformed churches.
The United Presbyterian Church of North America (UPCNA) was an American Presbyterian denomination that existed for one hundred years. It was formed on May 26, 1858 by the union of the Northern branch of the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church with the Associate Presbyterian Church (Seceders) at a convention at the Old City Hall in Pittsburgh. On May 28, 1958, it merged with the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (PCUSA) at a conference in Pittsburgh to form the United Presbyterian Church in the United States of America (UPCUSA).
Joseph Plumb Cochran, M.D., was an American Presbyterian missionary and medical doctor. He is credited as the founding father of Iran's first modern Western medical school, Westminster College in 1879.
Urmia University is a public university in West Azarbaijan province, Iran. The main campus of Urmia University is in Nazlu, in the vicinity of Urmia. It has six campuses, seven schools, more than 14,000 students, and several exclusive research centers including Microelectronic, Antenna and Microwave Laboratory, Nanotechnology, MEMS, and Artemia. Urmia University also has two satellite campuses in Khoy and Miyandoab city. Nazlu campus of Urmia University is the biggest university campus in size in the northwest of Iran. Urmia University is ranked as one of Iran's "Grade A" universities by Ministry of Science, Research and Technology.
Presbyterian Mission Agency is the ministry and mission agency of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Founded as the Western Foreign Missionary Society by the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America in 1837, it was involved in sending workers to countries such as China during the late Qing dynasty and to India in nineteenth century. Also known as the Foreign Missions Board in China, its name was changed by the Old School body during the Old School–New School Controversy to the Presbyterian Board of Foreign Missions.
Justin Perkins was an American Presbyterian missionary and linguist. He was the first citizen of the United States to reside in Iran. He became known for his work among the people there as an "apostle to Persia," according to publications from the United States.
The American Ceylon Mission (ACM) to Jaffna, Sri Lanka started with the arrival in 1813 of missionaries sponsored by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions (ABCFM). Although they had originally planned to work in Galle, the British colonial office in Ceylon restricted the Americans to out-of-the-way Jaffna due to the security concerns of the British who were warring with France at the time. The critical period of the impact of the missionaries was from the 1820s to early 20th century. During this time, they engaged in original translations from English to Tamil, printing, and publishing, establishing primary, secondary and tertiary educational institutions and providing health care for residents of the Jaffna Peninsula. These activities resulted in many social changes amongst Sri Lankan Tamils that survive even today. They also led to the attainment of a lopsided literacy level among residents in the relatively small peninsula that is cited by scholars as one of the primary factors contributing to the recently ended civil war. Many notable educational and health institutions within the Jaffna Peninsula owe their origins to the missionary activists from America. Missionaries also courted controversy by publishing negative information about local religious practices and rituals.
Iran Bethel School (1874–1968) was a school in Tehran, established by an American Presbyterian missionary organization for girls in 1874. It was the precursor to the Damavand College.
James Lyman Merrick was the first American missionary to Muslims in Persia, and in 1852 became Professor of Oriental Literature at Amherst College.
Amanda Reed McFarland (1832-1912) was an American missionary. She was the first woman missionary to the U.S. state of Alaska.
Pliny Fisk was an American Congregationalist missionary to Europe and the Middle East.
Fidelia Fisk was an American Congregationalist missionary and teacher. She founded the Fiske Seminary boarding school in Urmia in West Azerbaijan Province, Qajar Iran.
James W. Hawkes (1853–1932), was an American minister, a missionary in Qajar Iran, and a founder of a school.
Sarah Jane Dawes Shedd was an American missionary teacher, serving Assyrian Christians at Urmia in Persia.
Nancy Jane Dean, often referred to as Jennie Dean or N. J. Dean, was an American educator and Presbyterian missionary serving Assyrian Christians in Qajar Iran. She served as the head of Fiske Seminary, a girls' boarding school in Urmia, West Azerbaijan Province.
Lotfollah Yarmohammadi (1933-2021) was an Iranian linguist and emeritus professor of linguistics at Shiraz University. He is known for his expertise on discourse analysis. Yarmohammadi is a permanent member of the Academy of Sciences of Iran.
Charlotte Bass Perkins was an American Christian missionary. She lived at the mission in Urmia, Iran from 1835 to 1857; her husband Justin Perkins was also a missionary.
Roger C. Cumberland was a Presbyterian missionary who was killed while living in Duhok in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq.
Joseph Gallup Cochran (1817–1871), was an American Presbyterian missionary to Qajar Iran, as well as a minister, theologian, teacher, and translator of ancient Syriac texts.
