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A Glance at The Islamic Republic of Iran by Majid Nili Prof. Nakano lab. Dept. of Machine Intelligence & Sys. Eng. Tohoku University 1 History On the Iranian plateau, the development of the culture and civilization alreadyhad a past of some three thousands years when various tribes of Aryan origin namely the Medes, the Parthians and Persians immigrated from Europe and settledin the land where was to be called Iran, meaning the land of Aryan The beginning of the reign of Cyruss in 550 B.C. and advent of the Achaemenain dynasty, might beconsidered as the onset of the history of the hereditary monarchicalgovernment in Iran which was ended on February 11, 1979 by the Islamic Revolution. Iran because of its richness and geopolitical situation has had a hazardoushistory. Long-time wars between Iran and Rome in B.C. years as superpowers,attacks by Arab and Mongol tribes, and crisis in the Persian Gulf from about150 years ago are some examples. 2 General Feature Of Iran Anciently known as Persia, Iran whose capital city is Tehran, is a mountainous country in the Middle East. With area of 1,648,159 sq.kms, it is the fifthlargest country in the world Iranian who are famous for their cordiality andhospitality, physically are of medium height with dark eyes. The neighbors ofIran are former Soviet Union and Caspian Sea in the north, Turkey in thenorth-west, Iraq in the west, Afghanistan in the north-east, Pakistan in the east,and Persian Gulf and Oman Sea in the south. Iranian population (about 56 millions)consists of 98.80/0 Muslims, 0.1% Christians, 0.3% Jews, 0.1% Zoroastians(Iranian's ancient religion) and 0.1% followers of the other religions. 3 Physical Geography The geographical location of Iran is such that three different climaticconditions can be identified: the humid type in the coastal area of the CaspianSea, the semi-arid type in the mountainous region, and the arid type of thedesertic expanses of the country. Since about 90% of Iranian land is situated on the plateau and over ha]f bf the country is covered by mountains, the IslamicRepublic of Iran is considered as a mountainous country. The famous permanentlysnow-capped mount Davamand with an elevation of 5971 meters is the highest point in the region. 4 Economical Geography Agriculture: Two methods of agriculture are used in Iran: dry farming andirrigated farming. The main agricultural products of Iran are wheat, barley, rice,potato, cotton, tea, citrous, and fruit (date, pistachio, almond, apple, orangeand peach). Exports Oil, gas and petro-chemical products constitute most of the exportcommodity in Iran. Various minerals, copper bullions, caviar, canned fish,pistachio and carpet which is very famous in the world, are other significantIranian exports. 5 Educational System Education in Iran is free in all of the stages. The Iranian educationalprograms are divided into the following stages: preparatory school, primaryschool, orientational school, high school and university. Having completed their high school education they can take the entrance examination for university inorder to proceed to the advanced studies. The courses presently offered inIranian universities are comprised of Natural science, Humanities, Medicine,Mathematics, Engineering, Agriculture, Art and Literature, each having severalspecial branches. Students who completed these courses are accordingly awardedone of the following titles: Associate degree, Master degree and Doctorate. 6 Art and Literature The history of Iranian art and literature goes back to many thousands years agoand it's specimens can be seen as manuscripts or writing carved on stone inBe-Sotoon and in Tahkt-Jamshid. The oldest written literature descends from about1500 years ago. Iranian poetry has been also translated from Persian to otherlanguages, of which we can name Omar Kayam's poetry, Hafez's poetry, Ferdusi'sepic and Razi's scientific books, who is the discoverer of alcohol. 7 Tourism Iran due to its historical background, ancient civilization and cultural andsocial efforts offers various attractions. Artistic and architectural sites such as mosques, palaces, religious, poetic and scientific masters, bazaars, arches,caravanserais, qunals, ventilation shafts, walls, gates and museums are parts of the glorious historical, cultural and artistic attractions of the country. On the other hand, Iranian local handicrafts such as rugs and carpets, glassworks andceramics are famous in the world. I hope in the near future you be one of the thousands tourists who go to Iranfrom around the world in order to enjoy its historical features and variousnatures and climates. 8 Japan In My Point Of View Since I came to Japan, it has passed about eleven months and it is too early to get a complete under-standing of Japan and Japanese. In Iran, the Japanese have reputation as kind, polite and hard working peopleand during my stay here, I found out that Iranians know Japanese as they are.Beside these, I impressed how the Japanese have rebuilt their country so niceafter World War-II with empty hands. I could suppose Sendai as my second home town due to similarity of Iranian and Japanese culture though geographically they are far. |