Kerman province

Kerman Province استان کرمان
Province
An ancient ice house, called a yakhchal, built in Kerman, Iran, during the Middle Ages, for storing ice during summers.
Location of Kerman within Iran
Coordinates: 30°17′27″N 57°04′04″E / 30.2907°N 57.0679°E / 30.2907; 57.0679Coordinates: 30°17′27″N 57°04′04″E / 30.2907°N 57.0679°E / 30.2907; 57.0679
Country	Iran
Region	Region 5
Capital	Kerman
Counties	20
Government
• Governor	Alireza Razmhosseini
Area
• Total	180,726 km2 (69,779 sq mi)
Population (2011)
• Total	2,938,988
• Density	16/km2 (42/sq mi)
Time zone	IRST (UTC+03:30)
• Summer (DST)	IRST (UTC+04:30)
Main language(s)	Persian, Baloch
Website	www.gov.kr.ir

Kerman Province (Persian: استان کرمان‎‎, Ostān-e Kermān) is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. Kerman is in the southeast of Iran with its administrative center in the city of Kerman. In 2014 it was placed in Region 5. Mentioned in ancient times as the Achamenid satrapy of Carmania, it is the second largest province of Iran with an area of 180,726 km², that encompasses nearly 11 percent of the land area of Iran. The population of the province is about 3 million (9th in the country). The main counties of Kerman province are Baft, Bardsir, Bam, Jiroft, Rafsanjan, Zarand, Sirjan, Shahr-e-Babak, Kerman, Mahan, Rayen, Kahnuj, Qaleh Ganj, Manujan, Roodbar-e-Jonob, Anbar Abad, and Ravar.

Kerman province is considered a paradise for palaeontologists because of an abundance of vertebrate fossils from different geological eras. Fossils include Placodermi, jawed and jawless armoured fish dating back to the Devonian period (395 to 365 million years ago), dinosaurs (195 to 66 million years ago) and mammals from the Tertiary period (ranging from two to seventy million years ago).