اطلاعات مربوط به کشور ايران Iran Information
Iran Information / General View
Time
+3 1/2 hours CUT
+8 1/2 hours EST |
Int. Airports
Tehran, Esfahan, Bandar-e Abbas,
Tabriz, Shiraz, Mahabad
|
Languages
Persian, Azari, Kurdish,Luri
Baloch, Arabic, Turkish...
|
Type of Government
Theocratic Republic
|
|
Land Area
1,648,195 square kilometers
(631,660 square miles) |
Coast Line
3180 kilometers
(1,976 miles) |
Population
(July 2003 estimate)
68,278,826 |
|
The Islamic Republic of
Iran (Jomhuri-ye Eslami-ye Iran) covers 636,300 square miles
(1,648,000 square kilometers) in southwestern Asia. It is bounded on
the north by Azerbaijan, Armenia, Turkmenistan, and the Caspian Sea,
on the east by Pakistan and Afghanistan, on the south by the Persian
Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and on the west by Turkey and Iraq. Iran
also controls about a dozen islands in the Persian Gulf. More than
30 percent of its 4,770-mile (7,680-kilometre) boundary is seacoast.
The capital is Tehran (Teheran).
Among Middle Eastern countries, Iran is unique in many ways. Its
official language, Farsi (Persian), is Indo-European. While Iran
adopted a modified version of the Arabic alphabet, it refused to
lose its separate identity after the establishment of the Arab
Empire in the 7th century. From the beginning of the Islamic era
there was strong support for the house of 'Ali, Muhammad's
son-in-law. 'Ali's claim of succession to the Prophet was disputed
by the Sunnite majority, but his supporters proclaimed him first
imam of their party. The party came to be called Shi'ah (Shi'ism),
from shi'at 'Ali, "party of 'Ali." When conversion to Islam began,
Shi'ism was adopted by many, even though it was considered heresy at
the time. Despite persecution the Shi'ite branch continued to grow,
and in the 16th century it became the official religion of Iran. The
concept of divine or sacred kingship, which originated in
Mesopotamia, was an integral part of pre-Islamic Persian political
culture and persists in the beliefs of the Shi'ites, who hold that
sovereignty evolves from God and is expressed through his spokesmen
on earth.
Iran is the only country in the Middle East that uses the Islamic
solar calendar, which originated before the beginning of the Persian
Empire (550 BC). After the conversion of the vast majority of
Iranians to Islam, the ancient Iranian calendar was adjusted to
begin with the year of the Prophet Muhammad's immigration to Medina
(the hijrah), equivalent to AD 622 in the Gregorian calendar. To
convert from the Islamic solar calendar to the Gregorian, 621 or 622
years, depending on the time of year, are added to the Iranian year.
(For example, the Iranian year 1361 began on March 21, 1982, and
ended on March 20, 1983.) No-ruz (New Year's Day) falls on March 21,
the vernal equinox. The Arabic lunar calendar is used for religious
observances.
Iran has played an important role in the Middle East, as an imperial
power and as a factor in rivalries between East and West. Its
strategic position and its vast resources, including petroleum and
natural gas, make it a nation to be reckoned with in the modern
world.
Iran
General View
Iran Politics
Iran History
Iran Calender
Iran Flag
|