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Iran (i//[10] or //;[11]Persian: [in]( listen)), also known as Persia (// or //),[11][12] officially the Islamic Republic of Iran since 1980, is a country in Western Asia.[13][14][15] It is bordered on the north by Armenia, Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan, with Kazakhstan and Russia across the Caspian Sea; on the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan; on the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman; on the west by Iraq; and on the northwest by Turkey. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195km2 (636,372sqmi), it is the second-largest nation in the Middle East and the 18th-largest in the world; with over 77 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 17th most populous nation.[13][16] It is the only country that has both a Caspian Sea and Indian Ocean coastline. Iran has been of geostrategic importance because of its central location in Eurasia and Western Asia and the Strait of Hormuz.

Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations,[17][18] beginning with the formation of the Proto-Elamite and Elamite kingdom in 3200 2800BCE. The Iranian Medes unified the country into the first of many empires in 625BCE, after which it became the dominant cultural and political power in the region.[3] Iran reached the pinnacle of its power during the Achaemenid Empire (First Persian Empire) founded by Cyrus the Great in 550BCE, which at its greatest extent comprised major portions of the ancient world, stretching from Thrace and Macedon on the northeastern border of Greece in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen.[19] The empire collapsed in 330BCE following the conquests of Alexander the Great. The area eventually regained influence under the Parthian Empire and rose to prominence once more after the establishment of the Sasanian dynasty (Neo-Persian empire) in 224CE, under which Iran became one of the leading powers in the world along with the Byzantine Empire for the next four centuries.

Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism were largely replaced after Rashidun Muslims invaded Persia in 633CE, and conquered it by 651CE.[20] Iran thereafter played a vital role in the subsequent Islamic Golden Age, producing numerous influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. The emergence in 1501 of the Safavid dynasty, which promoted the Twelver school of thought as the official religion, marked one of the most important turning points in Iranian and Muslim history.[5][21][22] It also culminated into tensions, which in 1514 led to the Battle of Chaldiran. The Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906 established the nation's first parliament, which operated within a constitutional monarchy. Following a coup d'tat instigated by the UK and the US in 1953, Iran gradually became autocratic. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression culminated in the Iranian Revolution, which led to the establishment of an Islamic republic on 1April 1979.[16][23]

Tehran is the capital and largest city, serving as the cultural, commercial, and industrial center of the nation. Iran is a major regional and middle power,[24][25] exerting considerable influence in international energy security and the world economy through its large reserves of fossil fuels, which include the largest natural gas supply in the world and the fourth-largest proven petroleum reserves.[26][27] It hosts Asia's fourth-largest number of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.[28] Globally, it ranks 8th in the world for the amount of books published per year, and was ranked first in scientific progress in the world in 2011.[29][30][31]

Iran is a founding member of the UN, NAM, OIC and OPEC. Its unique political system, based on the 1979 constitution, combines elements of a parliamentary democracy with a religious theocracy run by the country's clergy, wherein the Supreme Leader wields significant influence. A multicultural nation comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shi'ites, the Iranian rial is its currency, and Persian is the official language.[32]

The name of Iran () is the Modern Persian derivative from the Proto-Iranian term Aryn, meaning "Land of the Aryans", first attested in Zoroastrianism's Avesta tradition.[33][34][35][36] The term rn is found to refer to Iran in a 3rd-century Sassanid inscription, and the Parthian inscription that accompanies it uses the Parthian term "aryn" in reference to Iranians.[37]

Historically Iran has been referred to as "Persia" or similar (La Perse, Persien, Perzi, etc.) by the Western world, mainly due to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis (), meaning land of the Persians. In 1935 Rez Shh requested that the international community refer to the country as Iran. Opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and in 1959 both names were to be used interchangeably.[38] Today both "Persia" and "Iran" are used interchangeably in cultural contexts; however, "Iran" is the name used officially in political contexts.[39]

The historical and cultural wider usage of "Iran" is not restricted to the modern state proper.[40][41][42] Irnshahr[43] or Irnzamn (Greater Iran)[44] corresponded to territories of Iranian cultural or linguistic zones. Besides modern Iran, it included portions of the Caucasus, Mesopotamia, Eastern Arabia, the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia.

The earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran, like those excavated at the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites, attest to a human presence in Iran since the Lower Paleolithic era.[45]Neanderthal artifacts dating back to the Middle Paleolithic period have been found mainly in the Zagros region at sites such as Warwasi and Yafteh Cave.[46][47][pageneeded] Early agricultural communities began to flourish in Iran at around 8000BCE,[48][49] with settlements such as Chogha Bonut, Susa and Chogha Mish developing in the Zagros region.[50][pageneeded][51][52]

Originally posted here:
Iran - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia