Most of Iran is made up of rugged terrain. The country contains enormous mineral wealth, much of which has yet to be exploited. Iran has always been subject to severe earthquakes, and the geologic instability has frequently resulted in major physical damage and great loss of life.
Physiographic Regions
Iran is dominated by a central plateau, which is about 1220 m (about 4000 ft) high and is almost ringed by mountain chains. In the north, paralleling the southern shore of the Caspian Sea, are the Elburz Mountains. The highest peak in Iran, Mount Damavand (5604 m/18,386 ft), is part of this mountain system. The Caspian Sea, at 28 m (92 ft) below sea-level, is the lowest point in Iran. Along the western border the complex Zagros Mountains extend southeast to the region bordering the Persian Gulf. Mountains of lower elevation lie to the east of the central plateau. Except for the relatively fertile plateaus of the northern Iranian provinces of Azerbaijan, mountain soils are thin, heavily eroded, and infertile. The narrow Caspian coastal plain, in contrast, is covered with rich brown forest soil. The only other generally flat area is the plain of Khuzistan in the west. Two great deserts extend over much of central Iran. The Dasht-i-Lut is covered largely with sand and rocks, and the Dasht-i-Kavir is covered mainly with salt. Both deserts are inhospitable and virtually uninhabited. In the winter and spring small streams flow into the Dasht-i-Kavir, creating little lakes and swamps. In other times of the year both deserts are extremely arid.
Rivers and Lakes
Most of Iran’s rivers flow only during part of the year, when precipitation is heaviest. The country’s principal permanent rivers flow off the mountains on the slopes facing the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, or the Gulf of Oman. The Karun River, flowing from the Zagros Mountains to the Shatt al-Arab at Khorramshahr, is the country’s main navigable river. Besides the Caspian Sea, Iran has few large lakes. Most shrink in size during the hot, dry summer and have a high salt content because they have no outlet to carry away the salt left when the water evaporates. The largest water body entirely within Iran is Lake Urmia, in the northwest.
Climate
Iran is divided climatically into three main regions: the extremely hot coast along the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; the temperate but arid central highland; and the tableland of the intensely cold Elburz Mountains. The average temperatures for the months of January and July in Tehran are 2.2° C (36° F) and 29.4° C (85° F), respectively. The average temperatures during the same months in Abadan are 12.2° C (54° F) and 36.1° C (97° F). Average annual precipitation in Tehran and Abadan are 246 mm (10 in) and 204 mm (8 in), respectively
Principal Cities
The capital and largest city of Iran is Tehran, with a population of 6,042,984 in 1986. The country’s two most important urban centers, after Tehran, are Meshed (1,463,508), a grain center and important commercial and transportation point, and Isfahan (986,753), an industrial and commercial hub noted for its fine architecture.
Language
The official language of Iran is Modern Persian, or Farsi, one of the Indo-Iranian languages, a subfamily of the Indo-European languages. Farsi emerged from Middle Persian and is written in the Arabic alphabet with many Arabic loan words. Several minority groups in Iran retain their own languages.
Religion
The official religion of Iran is the Shiite branch of Islam, which is followed by more than 91 percent of the population. Some of the most sacred Shiite places are in Iran; the city of Qum, south of Tehran, is a noted place of pilgrimage. Sunni Muslims form about 8 percent of Iran’s population, and the country also has dwindling communities of Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, and Baha’is.
Ethnic Minorities
The periphery of Iran is inhabited by ethnic minorities, who at times have been perceived to hold greater allegiance to their individual ethnic groups than to the national government. The Baluchi in the southeast, the Turkomans in the northeast, and the Kurds in the west are Sunni Muslims. Arabs inhabit the southwest. The Azerbaijani, although they are Shiites, came into conflict with the politically active Iranian Shiite clergy in the late 1970s and the 1980s.
Education and Cultural ActivityFollowing the change in government in 1979, Iran’s educational system and its cultural life were altered to conform with precepts of Shiite Islam. Approaches borrowed from the West were not allowed to continue.
Education
Education is compulsory for children between the ages of 6 and 14; enforcement has been lax, however, because of a shortage of teachers and schools and the pressures of war with Iraq. About 62 percent of the population aged 15 or older was literate in the late 1980s. In that period, about 7.4 million pupils attended primary schools each year, and some 3.4 million students were enrolled annually in secondary schools. In addition, teacher-training and vocational schools together had about 252,600 students yearly. Higher education is provided by more than 100 universities, colleges, and other institutions, which had an aggregate yearly enrollment of some 167,800 students. Major institutions included the University of Tehran (1932), the University of Isfahan (1950), and the University of Shìraz (1945). Some universities were closed or renamed in the early 1980s.
Culture
The culture of Iran is heavily influenced by the Muslim religion, as is evident in the art, literature, and social structure of the country. After the 1979 government change, the Shiite clergy led a drive for renewed Islamization. Women were ordered to return to more traditional roles, movie theaters were closed, and music was not allowed to be broadcast by radio stations. The segregation of men and women at social functions was reinstituted. Many women again wore the traditional chador, a long black cloth that is draped over the head and body.
Cultural InstitutionsIran has a number of notable museums. These include the Iran Bastan Museum, with displays on archaeology, and the Negarestan Museum, with exhibits of Iranian art, both in Tehran; the Qum Museum; and the Pars Museum, in Shìraz. The National Library is in Tehran, and other important book collections are housed in university libraries.
Communications
Postal, telegraph, and telephone services, as well as radio and television broadcasting, are administered by the Iranian government. Approximately 2.1 million telephones were in use in the late 1980s; radios numbered more than 11 million and television sets about 2.3 million. Nearly all the nation’s daily newspapers and most of the weeklies are published in Tehran. Dailies with large circulations include Kayhan and Ettelaat, both published in Tehran.
References/Links
1.http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/middle_east/iran/ Must Read
2. http://hemsidor.torget.se/users/h/hashemy/ancient.html#ac
