Iran Essay, Research Paper
Iran – HIstory geography climate culture economy government
Iran is a country located in the Middle East. Below it is the
Gulf of Oman and to the west is the Persian Gulf. On the east is
Afghanistan and to the north is Turkmenistan and the Caspian Sea.
The total area of Iran is 632,457 square miles, which is slightly
larger than Alaska and about 6 times smaller than the United
States. Iran has about 65,612,000 people which is about 100
people per square mile. That means that the United States has
close to 3 times the size in population than Iran.
Climate and Geography
Iran is split up into three regions of land forms. The first is
the coast along the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman which has high
temperatures of 120 degrees Fahrenheit. In the inland part of the
plateau in can also hit 120 degrees. In the capital city Tehran,
which is located at the edge of the Elburz Mountains, the average
temperature is about 36 degrees Fahrenheit in January and 85
degrees Fahrenheit in July. In the nearby city of Abadan, which
is on the coast of Iran up in the corner of the Persian Gulf, the
temperatures are about the same, even though it’s right by the
Persian Gulf getting the warm air from the the water. The Plateau
of Iran is very dry throughout most of it because the annual
precipitation is about 1 or 2 inches. On the coast of the Persian
Gulf they get 10 inches to 15 inches per year. In the Zagros and
Elburz Mountain ranges, the precipitation is about 50 inches
annually. Rivers in Iran are low in the summer time because most
of them are on flat land. The only rivers that stay high are the
ones that run from mountains. Like the Karun River, which flows
from the Zagros Mountains into Khorramshahr. It is supposedly the
most navigable river in Iran. The highest peak in Iran is Mount
Damavand at 18,934 feet, it is part of the Elburz mountain range.
The second highest peak is Mount Kalar, which is 14,100 feet
high. The Karun river flows southward from beside this mountain.
History
In 549 B.C. Iran was called Persia and ruled by Cyrus the Great.
He united the Medes and Persians to make the country we know of
today as Iran. In the process of doing this, he also restored
Jerusalem to the Jews and conquered Babylonia. About 200 years
later, in 333 B.C., Alexander the Great came in and took over
Persia, but a century later the Persians regained Persia from the
help of the Pathians. In 226 A.D. the Persians lost and gave over
Persia to the Sassanian Persians. Later in the 7th century, Arab
people brought over the religion of Isla
aside their first religion of Zoroastrian. This initially
dominant religion still stuck around for hundreds of years
despite the Islamic take over. In the eleventh century, Seljuk
Turks dominated for a Persia before overrun by Mongols under the
rule of Genghis Khan. Then came Tamelane and his Mongol Hordes,
and after that the Turkomans took over. The Turkomans were
overrun by Ismail I, who said that he was a descent from the
great Ali. He became extremely popular and began the Safavid
dynasty which lasted from 1502 to 1736 during his rule Shiism
became the national religion. In 1736 the Afghans conquered Ali
and started the Afshar dynasty followed by the Zand dynasty in
1750. The Zand dynasty ended in 1794 when Agha Muhammad Khan, a
ruler who was cruel to the people promoted himself to Shah which
is ruler of the country, and began the Qajar dynasty. In 1923,
Reza Shah Pahavi came into Iran and pronounced himself prime
minister. In 1925, he became elected Shah and ended the Qajar
dynasty. Pahavi?s son took over in the 1940s when World War II
started. Shah Muhammad Reza Pahlavi married and had a son, Prince
Reza Pahlavi in 1960. He maintained close alliance with the
United States during this time by signing a defense agreement. In
1963, the Shah formed a committee to form a program of
modernization through land reform and industrializing Iran. This
plan caused corruption in many of the people. The Shah used the
army and secret police to control them. Rioting broke out and the
Shah fled from the country. From then on the rule of Islamic
fundamentalist Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini he made Iran an
Islamic country. Many people under the old Shah were arrested,
tried and executed. In January of 1980, a new man was elected.
His name was Bani-Sadr. However just one year later he was
dismissed. The man that followed him, Muhammad Ali Rajai was
assassinated in 1981 so Hojatolislam Ali Khamenei was elected
president in the same year and reelected in 1985. In 1986 the
Iran Contra Affair occurred. This was a deal between the U.S. and
Iran dealing with arms sales. In 1991, when the Persian Gulf War
broking out Iran stayed neutral throughout the entire conflict.
Culture
About two thirds of the population descended from the Aryan
tribes which came to Iran in the seventeenth century from parts
of central Asia. The other third of the population is made up of
mostly Turks, Arabs and Armenians and Jews. Some of the largest
groups that are part of the Aryans are the Persians who are make
up 63% of the population. Many Aryans live on