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 Islam to Persia, pushing

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