The Middle Eastern nation of Iran has a recorded history that dates back more than 2,500 years, to the great Persian Empire. After centuries of living under various governments & ruling families, the country became the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979. Since then Iran has sought to mix traditional religion with modern development. The capital is Tehran.Iran lies within Southwest Asia & is part of the region known as the Middle East. Seven countries share borders with Iran. Iraq & Turkey lie to the west. Armenia, Azerbaijan, & Turkmenistan are to the north. To the east are Afghanistan & Pakistan. Iran has a northern coastline on the Caspian Sea & a southern coastline on the Persian Gulf & the Gulf of Oman. The l& area of the country is 629,315 square miles (1,629,918 square kilometers). Iran also controls several isl&s in the Persian Gulf. Iran is high in elevation, except for narrow regions along the coasts. The Elburz Mountains extend across the north, & the Zagros Mountains run along the southwestern border. The highest point in Iran is Mount Damav& in the Elburz Mountains. It reaches 18,606 feet (5,671 meters) above sea level. Like many other mountains in Iran, Mount Damav& was formed from a volcano. Some of the country's volcanoes are still active. In addition, damaging earthquakes occur frequently in Iran.The mountain ranges surround a large central plateau of rocky highl&s & deserts. The Kavir Desert & the Lut Desert dominate the eastern regions. Parts of the vast deserts are s&y, while other parts are covered with a crust of salt.The temperatures in Iran vary greatly, depending on location & season. They range from a summer high of about 130° F (54° C) near the Persian Gulf to a winter low of −35° F (−37° C) in the northwest. Most of the country is dry, except for the fertile region around the Caspian SeaLess than one tenth of Iran is forested. The largest forests are in the rainy Caspian region. Oak, beech, elm, walnut, & ash trees grow in this region. The Zagros Mountains are covered with oaks & other trees. In the dry interior, the vegetation is shrubby & grassy. However, a few areas of the desert, called oases, are watered by underground springs. These oases support grape vines, ole&er, date palms, & mulberry trees.Among Iran's wildlife are bears, wild boars, gazelles, wild asses, rabbits, & many kinds of rodents. Sheep & goats are common herded animals. Iran has seagulls, ducks, & geese as well as a number of rare & endangered birds.Iran is an ethnically diverse nation. Persians make up about half of the population. Azerbaijanis make up about one quarter of the population. They live primarily in the northwest, near the border with Azerbaijan. The mountainous regions are inhabited by groups of Kurds, Lurs, & other peoples. Small groups of Turkmen & Baluchis live in the east. Small groups of Arabs live in the southwest, near the Persian Gulf.The official language of Iran is Farsi (Persian). Languages of the Turkic family are spoken by more than one quarter of the population, including the Azerbaijani & the Turkmen. Each of the different ethnic groups has its own language, but most of the people also know Farsi.The vast majority of the Iranian people are Muslim. Islam has two major branches. About 90 percent of the people of Iran belong to the ShiĘżah branch of Islam, which is the official state religion. (In most Muslim countries, Sunnah is the most important branch of Islam.) A small percentage of Iranians practice Zoroastrianism, the religion of ancient Persia.Nearly two thirds of the Iranian people live in cities or towns. Tehran, the capital & commercial center, is the largest city in Iran, followed by Mashhad, Esfahan, & Tabriz.
Iran has a rich artistic heritage, passed down from ancient Persia & later Islamic cultures. The elaborate shrines at Mashhad attract more than 100,000 religious pilgrims each year. Nearby is the birthplace of the poet, mathematician, & astronomer Omar Khayyam. The country is known for its richly ornamented architecture. The 17th-century capital Esfahan has majestic bridges & blue-tiled mosques & palaces. Ruins from the ancient Persian Empire, preserved in Persepolis, are an impressive reminder of Iran's distant past.Iran is one of the world's leading producers of petroleum. Natural gas is also present in large quantities. Petroleum accounts for the great majority of the country's export revenue. This makes Iran dependent on high oil prices for its prosperity. In addition, Iranian factories produce chemicals from oil & gas, called petrochemicals.The country's factories produce sugar & food products, cloth, cement, bricks, tiles, & chemicals. Traditional crafts also play an important role in the Iranian economy. Many people are employed in the making of carpets, which are an important export.Because temperature & rainfall vary widely between regions, many different crops are grown in Iran. However, these crops are not sufficient to provide the country with all its food. The chief crops include grains, sugar beets, cotton, & many kinds of fruits & nuts. Commercial fisheries operate in the Persian Gulf & the Caspian Sea. The eggs of the Caspian sturgeon provide the caviar that symbolizes wealth & luxury around the world.For much of its history, Iran was known as Persia to the outside world. However, the people of the region have called their country Iran for thous&s of years. Iran means “l& of the Aryans.” The Aryans, or Iranians, arrived in the region from central Asia sometime after 2000 BC.The two main groups of Aryans were the Medes & the Persians. The Medes flourished at first. However, the Persians took control in about 550 BC, led by Cyrus II the Great. He founded Iran's first great dynasty, or ruling family. The Achaemenid Dynasty ruled until 330 BC.The Persians conquered vast territories & established what was then the world's largest empire. The empire reached its height under Darius the Great in about 500 BC. The Persian Empire then stretched from North Africa to the Indus River in South Asia.Alex&er the Great conquered the Persian Empire by 330 BC. After a period of Macedonian & Greek rule, Iran came under Iranian control again with the Parthian Dynasty. The Parthian Dynasty (247 BC–AD 224) was followed by the Sassanid Dynasty (AD 225–640). The Sassanid kings revived old Persian culture, including the Zoroastrian religion.An invasion by Arab conquerors brought Islam to Iran in 640. Islam soon became the dominant religion. For 850 years Iran was ruled by non-Iranian Muslim princes.The Iranian Safavid Dynasty ruled Iran from 1502 to1736. The Safavids made the ShiĘżah branch of Islam the official state religion. Besides ruling as kings, the Safavids were religious leaders.In 1779 the Qajar Dynasty took control of the country. The Qajars were tribes from the north who wanted to make the country more modern. They introduced political reforms & new technologies. However, during their reign Russia & Britain both sought to gain control over Iran & its rich resources. These two European powers began to play a role in Iran's economy by offering the country financial & military assistance.The first quarter of the 20th century in Iran was a time of turmoil & weak, corrupt leadership. Popular anger boiled over against the Iranian king, known as the shah, in 1905–6. The shah was forced to grant a constitution & to create a parliament. The discovery of large deposits of oil in Iran in 1908 made the country more attractive to foreign powers.In 1921 Reza Khan, an Iranian army officer, seized control of the country. In 1925 he became the shah of Iran, taking the name Reza Shah Pahlavi. The new shah was a reformer who established Western-style schools & built the country's first railroad. He also gave Iranian women more rights.Fear of British & Soviet influence led Reza Shah to favor the German side when World War II broke out in 1939. British & Soviet troops invaded the country two years later & forced Reza Shah to step down. His son then became shah, as Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.Mohammad Reza Shah embraced Western influences. The Allied troops left Iran after the war, but Western companies remained in the country. The shah was briefly ousted in the 1950s by people who wanted to end foreign control in Iran. Following his return to power with the help of the United States, Mohammed Reza Shah banned political opposition & strengthened the secret police.In the 1960s the shah introduced a series of major reforms called the White Revolution. Some of its many programs gave l& to poor peasants & distributed profits to industrial workers. However, Islamic religious leaders objected to reforms that they felt threatened the country's traditional values, such as giving women the right to vote. One of these religious leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, was thrown out of the country in 1964 for protesting against the shah.From outside Iran, Khomeini led a revolution against the shah. By the 1970s, many people in Iran began to oppose the shah's mixture of Westernization & harsh rule. In 1978 mass demonstrations broke out & were put down with much loss of life.The shah fled the country in 1979. Khomeini returned to Iran & quickly established an Islamic Republic. He declared himself both political & religious leader of Iran for life.The new government killed hundreds of people for political & religious reasons. In November of 1979, supporters of the revolution seized the United States Embassy in Tehran & took 66 Americans as hostages, holding most of them for more than a year. Conservative Muslim codes were rigorously enforced, & Western influences were banned.In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, beginning a long war. More than a million people died on each side before the countries declared a cease-fire in 1988. The petroleum industries of both countries were severely damaged during the war.Following the death of Khomeini in 1989, Islamic leaders chose Ali Khamenei to be the new spiritual leader of Iran. A conservative, Khamenei continued the government's strict policies.In 1997 the moderate Mohammad Khatami won Iran's presidency in a l&slide victory. Khatami was a reformer who encouraged greater political openness. However, the president in Iran does not hold as much power as the religious leaders, who continued to control much of the government. Population (2001 estimate), 63,442,000.
