The Philipeenes Essay Research Paper Iran is

The Philipeenes Essay, Research Paper

Iran is a large country in Southwest Asia. The nation has many petroleum resources and is also important because of the country+s economy which is growing very fast and because of its location. Iran’s northern border is Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkmenistan. Iran controls the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, and everything that goes in and out of the Persian Gulf because of its large coastline. Iran also borders Turkey and Iraq on the west and Afghanistan and Pakistan on the east. The country used to be known as Persia, from the ancient Greek name Persis, but in 1935 the government of Iran asked for the use of the older and correct name, Iran. This name means Land of the Aryans. Iran was an independent monarchy for more than 2,500 years until 1979. In that year the shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, was removed from office and an Islamic republic was announced. The soils in Iran that are mostly used for farming are the brown forest soils from along the coastal areas of the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea. In other areas, soils that are good for farming are limited and hard to find. However, water is a lot more important than soil because in many areas water is not available, unlike the soil. Iran has a mixed type of climate which sometimes has both high temperatures and a lot of precipitation. Summers are very hot along the Persian Gulf, where the temperatures sometimes reach 120 degrees Fahrenheit. Winters are commonly cold, except along the warmer Caspian and Persian Gulf shores. In Tehran, the average January temperature is 36 degree Fahrenheit and the average for July is 86 degrees Fahrenheit. Precipitation ranges from more than 50 inches in the northwestern Zagros and the Elburz mountains to less than 2 inches in southeastern areas of the country. The most important river in Iran is the Karun which flows across a wide plain, is passable to Ahvaz and is Iran’s only river able to be used by boats and ships. Three other rivers that keep up their flow all year are, the Atrak in the northeast, the Safid which flows to the south shore of the Caspian Sea and the Aras in the northwest. Other rivers in Iran usually dry up in summer and flow off and on. People use long underground water tunnels called qanats that bring water from the mountains into the land. About 10% of Iran is covered with forest. Most of it is deciduous and located in the mountains near the Caspian Sea. Different kinds of trees and shrubs also cover parts of the Zagros Mountains. Drier parts of the country do not have much vegetation. Common trees in the wet part of the desert are poplars, tamarisks, date palms, myrtles, and mulberries. In the central land area some of the animals are wild boars, foxes, jackals, and some lions and tigers in the wilder areas. Lizards and other creatures live in the drier areas. Iran is very rich in minerals like petroleum and natural gas. In 1986 it was the sixth-largest producer of oil in the world. Petroleum production declined beginning in 1979. Most oil fields are located in the southwest, especially in Khuzestan province. Some are under the waters of the Persian Gulf and some discoveries have been made in other parts of the country. Natural gas supplies are also huge and make up the world’s second-largest reserves. In the 1970’s iron and coal deposits were produced for use in the new steel industry, and large amounts of salt, copper, lead, zinc, and chromite are starting to be made use of. The population of Iran has many different ethnic groups. Minority groups stand their ground and protect their local separatism and try to have freedom in local affairs. About two-thirds of the total population is descended from Aryan tribes who migrated to Iran from central Asia in the 17th century. The other one-third is mostly Turks and Arabs. The largest Aryan group are Persians, who make up 63% of the total population and live mainly in the central area of the country. Many of Iran’s important ethnic minorities move from from place to place and do not like cultural change and some even want separate nations. These groups include the Kurds, who live mostly in the northern Zagros Mountains, the Bakhtiari and Lurs, who live in the southern half of the Zagros Mountains, and the Baluchi, who live in the southeast. About 98% of all Iranians are Muslims, 93% of them are Shiites, or members of the Shia faith of Islam. Iran is the world’s center of Shiite Islam. Most of the ethnic minorities including Kurds, Baluchi, Turks, and Arabs, are Sunnites, or members of the Sunni faith of Islam. The leaders of the Shiites are a religious class of mullahs. These leaders have high political effect and include about 400 ayatollahs, or holy ones. Since the 1979 revolution, even the most non-religious Iranians have been forced to follow exact Islamic codes of actions. The main minority religions are Bahai, Zoroastrianism, and Christianity. There are large areas of Iran where no one lives. The population is mostly along the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, the Atrek River valley in the northeast, the Karun River valley and Tigris Euphrates delta in the southwest, and the mountain valleys of the northwest. The largest urban center is Tehran, the capital, which has grown fast in the last couple of decades. Other large urban centers are Isfahan, Shiraz, and Tabriz. Mashhad and Qum are important Shiite religious centers. Education is free and required for all children