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[Daisy Hughlett]

Iran,[a] officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI),[b] also known as Persia,[c] is a country in West Asia. It borders Turkey to the northwest and Iraq to the west, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Caspian Sea, and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf to the south. With a mostly Persian-ethnic population of almost 90 million in an area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), Iran ranks 17th globally in both geographic size and population. It is the sixth-largest country entirely in Asia and one of the world's most mountainous countries. Officially an Islamic republic, Iran has a Muslim-majority population. The country is divided into five regions with 31 provinces. Tehran is the nation's capital, largest city and financial center.

A cradle of civilization, Iran has been inhabited since the Lower Palaeolithic. It was first unified as a state by Deioces in the seventh century BC, and reached its territorial height in the sixth century BC, when Cyrus the Great founded the Achaemenid Empire, one of the largest in ancient history. Alexander the Great conquered the empire in the fourth century BC. An Iranian rebellion established the Parthian Empire in the third century BC and liberated the country, which was succeeded by the Sasanian Empire in the third century AD. Ancient Iran saw some of the earliest developments of writing, agriculture, urbanisation, religion and central government. Muslims conquered the region in the seventh century AD, leading to Iran's Islamization. The blossoming literature, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, astronomy and art became major elements for Iranian civilization during the Islamic Golden Age. A series of Iranian Muslim dynasties ended Arab rule, revived the Persian language and ruled the country until the Seljuk and Mongol conquests of the 11th to 14th centuries. In the 16th century, the native Safavids re-established a unified Iranian state with Twelver Shi'ism as the official religion.

During the Afsharid Empire in the 18th century, Iran was a leading world power, though by the 19th century, it had lost significant territory through conflicts with the Russian Empire. The early 20th century saw the Persian Constitutional Revolution and the establishment of the Pahlavi dynasty. Attempts by Mohammad Mosaddegh to nationalize the oil industry led to an Anglo-American coup in 1953. After the Iranian Revolution, the monarchy was overthrown in 1979 and the Islamic Republic of Iran was established by Ruhollah Khomeini, who became the country's first Supreme Leader. The forces of Saddam Hussein invaded in 1980, initiating the 8-year-long Iran-Iraq War.

Iran is officially governed as a unitary Islamic Republic with a Presidential system, with ultimate authority vested in a Supreme Leader. The government is authoritarian and has attracted widespread criticism for its significant violations of human rights and civil liberties. Iran is a major regional power, due to its large reserves of fossil fuels, including the world's second largest natural gas supply, third largest proven oil reserves, its geopolitically significant location, military capabilities, cultural hegemony, regional influence, and role as the world's focal point of Shia Islam. The Iranian economy is the world's 19th-largest by PPP. Iran is an active and founding member of the United Nations, OIC, OPEC, ECO, NAM, SCO and BRICS. Iran is home to 27 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the 10th highest in the world, and ranks 5th in Intangible Cultural Heritage, or human treasures. Iran was the world's third fastest-growing tourism destination in 2019.[12]

Iran was referred to as Persia by the West, due to Greek historians who referred to all of Iran as Perss, meaning 'the land of the Persians'.[17][18][19][20] Persia is the Fars province in southwest Iran, the 4th largest province, also known as Prs.[21][22] The Persian Frs (فارس), derived from the earlier form Prs (پارس), which is in turn derived from Prs (Old Persian: ????). Due to Fars' historical importance,[23][24] Persia originated from this territory through Greek in around 550 BC,[25] and Westerners referred to the entire country as Persia,[26][27] until 1935, when Reza Shah requested the international community to use its native and original name, Iran;[28] Iranians called their nation Iran since at least 1000 BC.[21] Today, both Iran and Persia are used culturally, while Iran remains mandatory in official use.[29][30][31][32][33]

The Persian pronunciation of Iran is [ʔiːˈɾɒːn]. Commonwealth English pronunciations of Iran are listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as /ɪˈrɑːn/ and /ɪˈrn/,[34] while American English dictionaries provide pronunciations which map to /ɪˈrɑːn, -ˈrn, aɪˈrn/,[35] or /ɪˈrn, ɪˈrɑːn, aɪˈrn/. The Cambridge Dictionary lists /ɪˈrɑːn/ as the British pronunciation and /ɪˈrn/ as the American pronunciation. Voice of America's pronunciation guide provides /ɪˈrɑːn/.[36]

Archaeological artifacts confirm human presence in Iran since the Lower Palaeolithic.[37] Neanderthal artifacts have been found in the Zagros region.[38][39][40] From the 10th to the 7th millennium BC, agricultural communities flourished around the Zagros region, including Chogha Golan,[41][42] Chogha Bonut,[43][44] and Chogha Mish.[45][46][47] The occupation of grouped hamlets in the area of Susa ranges from 4395 to 3490 BC.[48] There are several prehistoric sites across the country, such as Shahr-e Sukhteh and Teppe Hasanlu, all pointing to ancient cultures and civilizations.[49][50][51] From the 34th to the 20th century BC, northwest Iran was part of the Kura-Araxes culture, which stretched into the neighbouring Caucasus and Anatolia.

Since the Bronze Age, the area has been home to Iranian civilization,[52][53] including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayanderud. Elam, the most prominent, continued until the Plateau was unified as a state by the Medes in 7th century BC. The advent of writing in Elam was parallelled to Sumer; the Elamite cuneiform developed beginning in the third millennium BC.[54] Elam was part of the early urbanization of the Near East during the Chalcolithic period. Diverse artifacts from the Bronze Age and huge structures from the Iron Age indicates suitable conditions for human civilization over the past 8,000 years in Piranshahr and other areas.[55][56]

By the 2nd millennium BC, ancient Iranian peoples arrived from the Eurasian Steppe.[57][58][59] As the Iranians dispersed into Greater Iran, it was dominated by Median, Persian, and Parthian tribes.[60] From the 10th to 7th century BC, Iranian peoples, together with pre-Iranian kingdoms, fell under the Assyrian Empire, based in Mesopotamia.[61] The Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Babylonian ruler Nabopolassar, and attacked the Assyrians. Civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 and 605 BC, freeing peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule.[62] The interference of the Assyrians in Zagros unified the Median tribes by Deioces in 728 BC, the foundation of the Medes Kingdom and their capital Ecbatana, unifying Iran as a state and nation for the first time in 678 BC.[63] By 612 BC, the Medes with the Babylonians overthrown the Assyrian Empire.[64] This ended the Kingdom of Urartu.[65][66]

In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great defeated the last Median king, Astyages, and established the Achaemenid Empire. Conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded it to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Eastern Europe, and lands west of the Indus and Oxus rivers. In 539 BC, Persian forces defeated the Babylonians at Opis, ending four centuries of Mesopotamian domination by the Neo-Babylonian Empire.[67] In 518 BC, Persepolis was founded by Darius the Great as the ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, then the largest ever empire; it ruled over 40% of the world's population.[68][69] The Empire had a successful model of centralized bureaucracy, multiculturalism, road system, postal system, use of official languages, civil service and large, professional army. It inspired similar governance by later empires.[70] In 334 BC, Alexander the Great defeated the last Achaemenid king, Darius III and burned down Persepolis. After Alexander's death in 323 BC, Iran fell under the Seleucid Empire, and divided into several Hellenistic states.

After five centuries of Parthian rule, civil war proved more dangerous to stability, than invasion. Parthian power evaporated when Persian ruler Ardashir I, killed Artabanus IV, and founded the Sasanian Empire in 224 AD. Sassanids and their arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, were the world's dominant powers for four centuries. Late antiquity is one of Iran's most influential periods,[72] its influence reached ancient Rome,[73][74] Africa,[75] China, and India,[76] and played a prominent role in the mediaeval art of Europe and Asia.[77][78] Sasanian rule was a high point, characterized by sophisticated bureaucracy, and revitalized Zoroastrianism as a legitimizing and unifying force.[79]

In 750, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads.[91] Arab and Persians Muslims made up the rebel army together, which was united by Persian Abu Muslim.[92][93] In their struggle for power, society became cosmopolitan. Persians and Turks replaced Arabs. A hierarchy of officials emerged, a bureaucracy at first Persian and later Turkish which decreased Abbasid prestige and power for good.[94] After two centuries of Arab rule, Iranian Muslim dynasties in the Plateau rose, appearing on the fringes of the declining Abbasid Caliphate.[95] The Iranian Intermezzo was an interlude between Abbasid rule by Arabs, and the "Sunni Revival", with the 11th-century emergence of the Seljuks. The Intermezzo ended the Arab rule over Iran, revived the Iranian national spirit and culture in Islamic form, and the Persian language. The most significant literature was Shahnameh by Ferdowsi, the national epic.[96][97][98][99]

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