INDEPTH: IRAN
History
Gary Katz, CBC News Online | Updated June 17, 2003
From Persia to the Pahlavis: 500 BC - 1921
Iran is almost as big as the three prairie provinces combined, but more than half that area is wasteland, desert. Only 10 per cent of the country can be farmed. Early in the century, though, Iran discovered oil and, like a lottery winner, has since enjoyed the benefits and suffered the displacements of great and sudden wealth.
Two-and-a-half millennia ago Iran was Persia, home of Cyrus the Great whose empire was the largest in the world until the Romans. After Cyrus' death Alexander the Great (no relation) conquered Persia and for almost a thousand years the area was controlled by a variety of rulers until, in the mid 7th century, it was taken by Arabs aggressively spreading the new religion of Islam.
Until 1502 the country was led by Islamic princes whose roots weren't Iranian. That year, however, the Safavid dynasty took control and they were Iranians, though only back to the beginnings of Islam in the region. They made Shiite Islam Iran's official religion.
The Peacock Throne that would become the gold and bejewelled symbol of Persian and Iranian royalty was stolen by the Persians from India in 1739 in the capture of Delhi. The throne was pillaged by others in their turn and dismembered for its gems, but it was the model for replicas that represented all the grandeur and self-importance of a history older than either Islam or Christianity.
Even before the discovery of oil, Iran was desired, not for its wealth but for its geography. Czarist Russia wanted to expand south and Britain had its interests in India to consider. Rivalries between the empires caught Iran in the middle. In the early 19th century a section of the north was ceded to Russia. Territorial skirmishes between Iran and the Afghans brought Britain into the area in support of the Afghans and Iran lost more land.
When oil was discovered just after the turn of the 20th century, Iran's desirability was further enhanced and rivalry between Britain and Russia intensified until they forged an agreement to divide the nation into spheres of influence. Both empires occupied Iran during WWI, but the nation remained neutral despite being bordered by another of the great world empires - the Turkish Ottomans - who sided with Germany.
After the war the Russian-British arrangement was annulled. Britain agreed to step back and Russia, now Soviet-run, separated itself from previous, aggressive Czarist policies.
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Official Title:
Islamic Republic of Iran
Area:
1.648 million sq. km
Arable land:
10.17%
Irrigated land:
75,629 sq. km
Land borders:
5,440 km
Coastline:
2,400 km along the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz, also 740 km along the Caspian Sea
Climate:
Mostly arid or semi-arid, subtropical along Caspian Sea
Terrain:
Mostly a central desert basin surrounded by mountainous rims
Government:
Theocratic republic
Capital:
Tehran
Head of State:
Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-Khamenei
Head of Government:
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Population - July 2005:
68 million
Age structure:
0-14: 27.1%
15-64: 68.0%
65 and over: 4.9%
Life expectancy at birth:
Male - 68.58 years
Female - 71.40 years
Literacy (15 and over):
79.4%
Gross Domestic Product:
$552 billion US (2005)
GDP by sector (2002):
Agriculture 11.8%
Industry 43.3%
Services 44.9%
Inflation rate:
16% (2005)
Unemployment rate:
11.2% (2005)
Population living below
poverty line:
40% (2002 est.)
Sources:
CIA World Fact Book
CBC News
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Iran presidency website
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