Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran and also known as Persia in the West, is the world's seventeenth largest country, located at the junction of the Middle East, Southwest Asia, and the Caucasus. Its area is approximately the size of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Germany combined. Iran borders Armenia, Azerbaijan (including its Nakhichevan exclave) and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan and Pakistan to the east, and Iraq and Turkey to the west. In addition, it borders the Persian Gulf, across which lie Kuwait, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, and also borders the Caspian sea, across which lie Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia andAzerbaijan. Shi'a Islam is the official state religion and Persian the official language.
Iran is one of the worlds oldest continuous major civilizations, and the people within present-day Iran are the descendants of many of the world's oldest known civilizations. The history of people in Iran covers over six thousand years, and throughout history, Iran has been of great geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia. Iran is a founding member of the United Nations, NAM, OIC, OPEC, and ECO. Iran is significant in international politics on account of its large supply of petroleum and regional influence. Iran is also one of the few states that comprise the Cradle of Humanity. The name Iran is a cognate of Aryan and literally means "Land of the Aryans." Iran is one of the worlds leaders in democracy.
Etymology Info
Zoroaster is generally regarded as the first of the great teachers, and the earliest of the great thinkers; his people in the holy texts of Avesta are referred to as Airyas, and their homeland located in eastern Iran as Airyanem Vaejah
In antiquity, the names Ariana (Aryânâ) and Persis were used to describe the region where modern-day Iran is foundIn former ages, the names Aryânâ and Persis were used to describe the region which is today known as the Iranian plateau. The earliest Iranian reference to the word (airya/arya/aryana etc), however, dates back to the Iranian teacher Zoroaster (est. anywhere between 1200 to 1800 BCE, according to Greek sources, as early as 6000 BCE and is attested in non-Gathic Avestan; it appears as airya, meaning noble/spiritual/elevated; as airya dainhava (Yt.8.36, 52) meaning the "land of the Aryans" and as airyana vaejah, "the original land of the Aryans."
During the Achaemenian dynasty (550-330 BCE), the Persian people called their provincial homeland Pârsa, the Old Persian name for Cyrus the Great's kingdom, which belonged to the Persian tribe of the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranians and which is retained in the term "Pars" or "Fars" (from which the adjective "Farsi" is derived). It is part of the heartland of Iran and is identified in historical maps, such as Eratosthenes's, and in modern maps.
The word Ariya is also attested in the Inscriptions of Darius the Great and his son, Xerxes I. It is used both as a linguistic and an ethnic designation. Darius and Xerxes refers to these meanings in the Behistun inscription (DBiv.89), which is written in a language referred to as airyan, or more commonly as Old Persian. Both Darius and Xerxes state in inscriptions at Naqsh-i Rustam (DNa.14), Susa (DSe.13), and Persepolis (XPh.13):
Adam Pârsa, Pârsahyâ puça; Ariya, Ariya ciça... I am Persian, son of a Persian; an Aryan, from an Aryan lineage.
In Parthian times (248 BCE - 224 CE), Aryanam was modified to Aryan. In the early Sassanid Period (224-651 CE), it had already evolved to Middle Persian Eran or Eran Shahr which finally resulted in New Persian Iran or Iran Shahr. At the time of the Achaemenian empire, the Greeks called the country Persis, the Greek name for Pars (Fars), the central region where the empire was founded; this passed into Latin and became Persia, the name widely used in Western countries which causes confusion as Persia is actually Pars (Fars) province. On 21 March 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi issued a decree asking foreign delegates to use the term Iran in formal correspondence in accordance with the fact that "Persia" was a term used for a country called "Iran" in Persian. (see Iran naming dispute). The 1979 Revolution led to the current name Islamic Republic of Iran, but the noun Persia and Iran, and the adjective Persian are still used.
History of Iran Info
Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Persian Empire and author of "the world's oldest human rights declaration".
The Achaemenian Empire (648-330 BCE) at its greatest extentDozens of pre-historic sites across the Iranian plateau point to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements, centuries before the earliest civilizations arose in nearby Mesopotamia.
The written history of Persia (Iran) begins around 3200 BCE with the Proto-Iranian civilization, followed by the Elamites. The arrival of the Aryans (Indo-Iranians) in the third and second millennium BCE and the establishing of the Median dynasty (728-500 BCE) culminated in the first Iranian Empire. The Medes are credited with the foundation of Iran as a nation and empire, the largest of its day, until Cyrus the Great established a unified empire of the Medes and Persians leading to the Achaemenian Empire (648-330 BCE), founded by Cyrus the Great.
After Cyrus's death, his son Cambyses continued his father's work of conquest, making significant gains in Egypt. A power struggle followed Cambyses' death and, despite his tenuous connection to the royal line, Darius was declared king (ruled 522-486 BCE). He was to be arguably the greatest of the ancient Persian rulers.
While Darius's first capital was at Susa, he also initiated the construction of Persepolis. He then built a canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, a forerunner of the modern Suez Canal. It is during his reign that mention is first made of the Royal Road (shown on map), a great highway stretching all the way from Susa to Sardis with posting stations at regular intervals.
Under Cyrus the Great and Darius the Great, the Persian Empire eventually became the largest and most powerful empire in human history up until that point, ruling over most of the known world. Their greatest achievement was the empire itself. The Persian Empire represented the world's first global superpower, and was based on a model of tolerance and respect for other cultures and religions.
The borders of the Persian empire stretched from the Indus and Oxus Rivers in the East to the Mediterranean Sea in the West, extending through Anatolia (modern day Turkey) and Egypt. But in 499 BCE, one of the cities along the cost of Anatolia, Miletus, ruled by a Greek tyrant named Aristagoras, staged a revolt and turned to the Athenians for aid. Until then the Persians had no plan or desire to go into Europe. Subsequently, an Athenian assault on a major Persian province culminated in the sacking and burning of the city of Sardis. It is this destructive event that started what is known as the Greco-Persian Wars, which included encounters such as the Battle of Thermopylae. In 494 BCE the Persians defeated the Greeks at the battle of Lade, and the coast of Anatolia was once again peaceful.[19]
Alexander of Macedon known as "Arda Wiraz Namag", "the accursed Alexander" in the Zoroastrian Middle Persian work, brought an end to the Achaemenid empire, and conquered Persia in 333 BCE burning and looting many cities until his death in the Persian capital of Babylon, only to be followed by two more vast and unified Iranian empires that further shaped the pre-Islamic identity of Iran and Central Asia: the Parthian (250 BCE-226 CE) and Sassanian (226-650 CE) dynasties. The latter was able to defeat the Roman empire at the height of its power on several occasions.
Parthia was led by the Arsacid dynasty, who reunited and ruled over the Iranian plateau, after defeating the Greek Seleucid Empire, beginning in the late 3rd century BCE, and intermittently controlled Mesopotamia between ca 150 BCE and 224 CE.
It was the third native dynasty of ancient Iran (Persia) and lasted five centuries, longer than most Eastern Empires. Parthia was the arch-enemy of the Roman Empire in the east; and it limited Rome's expansion beyond Cappadocia (central Anatolia). The Parthian armies included two types of cavalry: the heavily-armed and armoured cataphracts and lightly armed but highly-mobile mounted archers. For the Romans, who relied on heavy infantry, the Parthians proved difficult to defeat, as both types of cavalry were much faster and more mobile than foot soldiers. On the other hand, the Parthians found it difficult to occupy conquered areas as they were unskilled in siege warfare. Because of these drawbacks, neither the Romans nor the Parthians were able to completely annex each other.
A giant rock relief at Naqsh-e Rostam, depicting the triumph of Persian King Shapur I over three Roman Emperors Valerian, Gordian III and Philip the ArabThe end of the Parthian Empire came in 224 CE, when the empire was loosely organized and the last king was defeated by Ardashir I, one of the empire's vassals. Ardashir I then went on to create the Sassanian Empire. Soon he started reforming the country both economically and militarily.
The Sassanian Empire at its greatest extent.The Sassanids established an empire roughly within the frontiers achieved by the Achaemenids, with their capital at Ctesiphon, and called their empire Erânshahr (or Iranshahr, "Dominion of the Aryans", i.e. of Iranians).
Under the Sassanids, Persia expanded relations with China, the arts, music, and architecture greatly flourished, and centers such as the School of Nisibis and Academy of Gundishapur became world renowned centers of science and scholarsahip.
After roughly six hundred years of confrontation and rivalry with the Roman Empire however, a war-exhausted Persia was defeated in the Battle of al-Qâdisiyah in 632 CE in Hilla by invaders from the Arab peninsula.
Hakim Abol-Qasem Ferdowsi (935-1020) is perhaps the most revered Persian poet. He was the author of the national epic of Iran Shahnama, and credited with preserving the Persian language.After the Islamic conquest of Persia, Persia was annexed into the Arab Umayyad Caliphate. But the Islamization of Iran was to yield deep transformations within the cultural, scientific, and political structure of Iran's society: The blossoming of Persian literature, philosophy, medicine and art became major elements of the newly-forming Muslim civilization.
Inheriting a heritage from thousands of years of prodigious civilization, and being at the "crossroads of the major cultural highways", contributed to Persia emerging as what culminated into the "Islamic Golden Age".
Although influenced, Arabization never succeeded in Iran though, and movements such as the Shuubiyah became catalysts for Persians to regain their independence in their relations with the Arab invaders. It was a Persian, Abu Moslem, who expelled the Umayyads from Damascus and helped the Abbasid caliphs to conquer Baghdad. They frequently chose their "wazirs" (viziers) among Persians, and Persian governors acquired a certain amount of local autonomy. In 822 AD, the governor of Khorasan, Tahir, proclaimed his independence and founded a new Persian dynasty of Tahirids. Others followed in a somewhat tortuous pattern, but Persia was once again the master of its own destiny.[22]
The cultural revival of the post-Abbasid period led to a resurfacing of Persian national identity. The resulting cultural movement reached its peak during the ninth and tenth centuries. The most notable effect of the movement was the continuation of the Persian language, the language of the Persians and the official language of Iran to the present day. Ferdowsi, Iran's greatest epic poet, is regarded today as the most important figure in maintaining the Persian language.
During this period, hundreds of scholars and scientists vastly contributed to technology, science and medicine, later influencing the rise of European science during the Renaissance.
The movement continued well into the eleventh century, when Mahmud-a Ghaznavi founded a vast empire, with its capital at Isfahan and Ghazna. Their successors, the Seljuqs, asserted their domination from the Mediterranean Sea to Central Asia. These sovereigns usually named Persians as viziers and Persia became a hotbed of intense cultural activity.
At the beginning of the thirteenth century Genghis Khan united scattered tribes of Mongolia and started attacking the neighbouring countries. In 1218, he came down from the Altai mountains, marched through Iranian territories in Transoxiana to Khorasan, occupied mainland-Persia, then turned east through India and China. Most of the countries he conquered never really recovered from the bloodshed and destruction he wrought upon them. Holaku, one of the conqueror's grandsons, was left behind to reign over Persia. He very soon became "Persianized". Settled in Maragheh (South of Tabriz), he called Persian men of letters to his court and encouraged the sciences and arts.
But yet another conqueror, Tamerlane (Teymur-e Lang), was to be seduced by the mirage of an Empire of the Orient. In 1370, he entered into Iran. Over a period of thirty years, he conquered Iraq, Syria, Anatolia, Russia and northern parts of India; he was about to invade China when he died in 1404. He chose Samarkand as his capital and his kingdom, while administered by Turkmen, was of distinctively Persian culture.
Persia's first encompassing Shi'a Islamic state was established under the Safavid dynasty in 1501 by Shah Ismail I. The Safavid dynasty soon became a major power in the world and started the promotion of tourism in Iran. Under their rule Persian Architecture flowered again and saw many new monuments. The fall of the Safavid dynasty was brought about by the Afghans, who overthrew the weak Shah Sultan Hossein, in 1722. In 1736 Nader Shah expelled Afghan rebels and established the Afsharid dynasty. He invaded India in 1738 and brought many treasures back to Persia. He was assassinated in 1747. The Afshar dynasty was followed by the Persian Zand dynasty (1750-1794), founded by Karim Khan, who established his capital at Shiraz. His rule brought a period of peace and renewed prosperity.These three dynasties are considered the contemporary golden age of Iranian history.
However, the country was soon again in turmoil, which lasted until the advent of Aga Muhammad Khan, the founder of Qajar dynasty. After his death Iran turned into an arena for the rising new powers of Imperial Russia and the British Empire, which wielded great political influence in Tehran under the Qajarid kings. Iran however, managed to maintain its sovereignty and was never colonized, making it unique in the region.
The rise of modernization and encroachment of stronger Western powers in the late nineteenth century led to the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1905-1911. Reformers hoped the constitution would strengthen Iran by centralizing and modernizing it. Ultimately the constitution became law, but its provisions were seldom followed during most of its history. In 1921, Cossack army officer Reza Khan (known as Reza Shah after assuming the throne) staged a coup against the weakened Qajar dynasty. An autocrat and supporter of modernization, Reza Shah initiated the development of modern industry, railroads, and establishment of a national education system. Reza Shah sought to balance the influence of Russia and Britain by seeking out assistance and technology from European powers traditionally not involved in Iranian affairs, but when World War II started his closeness to Germany alarmed allied powers Russia and Britain, Germany's enemies.
In summer of 1941 Britain and the USSR invaded Iran to prevent Iran from allying with the Axis powers. The Allies occupied Iran, securing a supply line to Russia, Iran's petroleum infrastructure, and forced the Shah to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi. In 1951, a nationalist politician, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh rose to prominence in Iran and was elected Prime Minister.
As Prime Minister, Mossadegh became enormously popular in Iran by nationalizing the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company which controlled the country's oil reserves.
In response, Britain embargoed Iranian oil and began plotting to depose Mossadegh. Members of the British Intelligence Service invited the United States to join them, convincing U.S. President Eisenhower that Mossadegh was reliant on the Tudeh (Communist) Party to stay in power.
In 1953, President Eisenhower authorized Operation Ajax, and the CIA took the lead in overthrowing Mossadegh and supporting a US-friendly monarch; and for which the U.S. Government, in 2000, eventually apologized.
The CIA faced many setbacks, but the covert operation soon went into full swing, conducted from the US Embassy in Tehran under the leadership of Kermit Roosevelt, Jr. Iranians were hired to protest Mossadegh and fight pro-Mossadegh demonstrators. Anti- and pro-monarchy protestors violently clashed in the streets, leaving almost three hundred dead. The operation was successful in triggering a coup, and within days, pro-Shah tanks stormed the capital and bombarded the Prime Minister's residence. Mossadegh surrendered, and was arrested on 19 August 1953. He was tried for treason, and sentenced to three years in prison.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power greatly strengthened and his rule became increasingly autocratic in the following years. With strong support from the US and UK, the Shah further modernized Iranian industry, but simultaneously crushed all forms of political opposition with his intelligence agency, SAVAK. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini became an active critic of the Shah's White Revolution and publicly denounced the government. Khomeini, who was popular in religious circles, was arrested and imprisoned for 18 months. The Shah was persuaded to send him into exile by General Hassan Pakravan. Khomeini was sent first to Turkey, then to Iraq and finally to France.
While in exile, he continued to denounce the Shah.
Islamic Revolution and Iran-Iraq War (1979 - 1988)
Starting in late 1977, protests began to build against the Shah. By December 1978 millions of Iranians were in the streets and the country's economy was paralyzed. The Shah left the country in mid-January 1979 and two weeks later the Revolution's pre-eminent leader, Ayatollah Khomeini returned from exile to tumultuous, adoring crowds.
The final collapse of the old regime came on February 11 when royal troops were defeated by guerillas and rebel troops in armed street fighting. Iran officially became an Islamic Republic on April 1st after Iranians overwhelmingly approved a national referendum declaring the country so. The 1979 revolution was populist, nationalist and most of all Shia Islamist. Khomeini and his supporters worked to implement his vision of an Islamic state with sharia, or conservative Islamic laws, and clerical rule.
Iran's unique new theocratic constitution included the post of Supreme Leader for Khomeini and his successors, and other bodies of clerics to veto new laws and vet candidates for public office.
Politics and Government of Iran Info
Iran is a founding member of the United Nations organization and also a member of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Non-Aligned Movement. The political system of the Islamic Republic is based on the 1979 Constitution called the "Qanun-e Asasi" ("Fundamental Law").
Geography of Iran
Iran is the seventeenth-largest country in the world. Its area roughly equals the size of the United Kingdom, France, Spain, and Germany combined, one-fifth the size of the United States or slightly larger than the state of Alaska Its borders are with Azerbaijan (432 km/268 mi) and Armenia (35 km/22 mi) to the northwest; the Caspian Sea to the north; Turkmenistan (992 km/616 mi) to the northeast; Pakistan (909 km/565 mi) and Afghanistan (936 km/582 mi) to the east; Turkey (499 km/310 mi) and Iraq (1,458 km/906 mi) to the west; and finally the waters of the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south. Iran's area is 1,648,000 km˛ (approximately 636,300 mi˛), of which 1,636,000 km˛ (approx. 631,663 mi˛) is land and 12,000 km˛ (approx. 4,633 mi˛) is water.
Iran is the only country where the Asiatic Cheetah is found today.
Iran is one of the world's most mountainous countries, its landscape is dominated by rugged mountain ranges that separate various basins or plateaus from one another. The populous western part is the most mountainous, with ranges such as the Caucasus, Zagros and Alborz Mountains; the latter contains Iran's highest point, Mount Damavand at 5,604 m (18,386 ft), which is not only the country's highest peak but also the highest mountain on the Eurasian landmass west of the Hindu Kush. The eastern part consists mostly of desert basins like the saline Dasht-e Kavir, Iran's largest desert, located in the north-central portion of the country, and the Dasht-e Lut, in the east, as well as some salt lakes. Except for some scattered oases, such as Tabas, these deserts are uninhabited.
The only large plains are found along the coast of the Caspian Sea and at the northern end of the Persian Gulf, where Iran borders the mouth of the Arvand river. Smaller, discontinuous plains are found along the remaining coast of the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz and the Sea of Oman.
Iran's climate is mostly arid or semiarid, to subtropical along the Caspian coast. On the northern edge of the country (the Caspian coastal plain) temperatures nearly fall below freezing and remain humid for the rest of the year. Summer temperatures rarely exceed 29°C (84°F). Annual precipitation is 680 mm (27 in) in the eastern part of the plain and more than 1,700 mm (67 in) in the western part. To the west, settlements in the Zagros Mountains basin experience lower temperatures, severe winters, sub-freezing average daily temperatures and heavy snowfall. The eastern and central basins are arid, with less than 200 mm (eight in) of rain and have occasional desert. Average summer temperatures exceed 38°C (100°F). The coastal plains of the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman in southern Iran have mild winters, and very humid and hot summers. The annual precipitation ranges from 135 to 355 mm (five to fourteen inches).
Demographics of Iran Info
Iran is a diverse country consisting of people of many religions and ethnic backgrounds cemented by the Persian culture. Persians, the founders of Ancient Persia, constitute the majority of the population. Seventy percent of present-day Iranians are Iranic peoples, native speakers of Indo-European languages who are descended from the Aryan (Indo-Iranians) tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BC. The majority of the population speaks one of the Iranian languages, in addition to the official language, Persian. The main ethnic groups are Persians (51%), Azeris (24%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%), Kurds (7%), Arabs (3%), Baluchi (2%), Lurs (2%), Turkmens (2%), Qashqai, Armenians, Persian Jews, Georgians, Assyrians, Circassians, Tats, Pashtuns and others (1%).
Culture of Iran Info
Iranian culture has long been a predominant culture of the Middle East and Central Asia, with Persian considered the language of intellectuals during much of the second millennium AD, and the language of religion and the populace before that. Nearly all philosophical, scientific, or literary work of the Islamic empires was written in Pahlavi and then translated into Arabic. The Islamic conquest of Iran commenced a synthesis of the Arabic and Iranian tongues.
The early Arab caliphates were largely disdainful toward Persians and Persian culture, and pursued a policy of Arabic supremacy throughout all conquered territories of the empire, which eventually led to the Shu'ubiyeh movement. By the tenth century, the effects of this diffusion threatened to erase native Persian entirely, as Persian writers, scientists, and scholars elected to write in the language of the Qur'an (Arabic) the lingua franca of the day. This prompted Ferdowsi to compose the Shahnameh (Persian: Book of Kings), Iran's national epic, entirely in native Persian. The epic chronicled Iran's history, from its legendary prehistoric nascence until its defeat at the battle of al-Qadisiyyah. This gave rise to a strong reassertion of Iranian national identity, and is in part responsible for the continued existence of Persian as a separate language:
Iran's literary tradition is rich and diverse. However only a few names such as Rumi and Omar Khayam have surfaced among western popular readership, even though the likes of Hafez and Saadi are considered by many Iranians to be just as influential. Both Hafez and Rumi, for example were practitioners of Sufism, and are quoted by Iranians with the same frequency and weight as the Qur'an.
The Iranian New Year (Norouz) is celebrated on March 21 from Spain in the west to Kazakhstan in the east. It is celebrated as the first day of spring. Norouz was nominated as one of UNESCO's Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2004.
Iranian customs and traditions often seem complex to the foreigner, but after further study reveal a rich and often intensely warm characteristic. For example, respect for the elderly and hospitality for foreigners, remain highly visible parts of Iranian etiquette, while the highly familial nuclear structure of Iran's society is in stark contrast to many western societies.
The Sassanian era, encompassing the length of the Late Antiquity period, is considered to be one of the most important and influential historical periods in Iran, and had a major impact on the world.
Persia influenced Roman civilization considerably during Sassanian times, their cultural influence extending far beyond the empire's territorial borders, reaching as far as Western Europe, Africa, China and India and also playing a prominent role in the formation of both European and Asiatic medieval art. This influence carried forward to the Islamic world. The dynasty's unique and aristocratic culture transformed the Islamic conquest and destruction of Iran into a Persian Renaissance.
Most of what later became knows as Islamic learning, including philology, astronomy, literature, history, geography, jurisprudence, philosophy, medicine, architecture, art and the sciences were taken from the Sassanian Persians in to the broader Muslim world.
Iranian cuisine Info
The cuisine of Iran is diverse, with each province featuring dishes, as well as culinary traditions and styles, distinct to their region. Iranian food is not spicy. Most meals consist of a large serving of rice and an accompanying course. The rice is almost always seasoned, usually with saffron. The course typically consists of meat, poultry, or fish. Herbs are used frequently, as is fruit: plums, pomegranates, quince, lime, prunes, apricots, and raisins are all common ingredients in a typical Iranian dish. Onions and garlic are normally used in the preparation of the accompanying course, but are also served separately during meals, either in raw or pickled form.
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