#gilaki

Iran 🇮🇷

Basic facts

Official name: جمهوری اسلامی ایران (Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân) (Islamic Republic of Iran)

Capital city: Tehran

Population: 89.1 million (2023)

Demonym: Iranian

Type of government: unitary presidential theocratic republic

Head of state: Ali Khamenei (Supreme Leader)

Head of government: Masoud Pezeshkian (President)

Gross domestic product (purchasing power parity): $1.85 trillion (2024)

Gini coefficient of wealth inequality: 40.9% (medium) (2019)

Human Development Index: 0.780 (high) (2022)

Currency: rial (IRR)

Fun fact: The thumbs-up sign is the equivalent of the middle finger.

Etymology

The country’s name comes from Middle Persian Ērān and means “the land of the Aryans”.

Geography

Iran is located in West Asia and borders Armenia, Azerbaijan, the Caspian Sea, and Turkmenistan to the north, Afghanistan to the east, Pakistan to the southeast, the Indian Ocean to the south, Iraq to the west, and Türkiye to the northwest.

There are six main climates: cold steppe in the north, cold desert in the center, hot desert in the east and south, and hot steppe, hot-summer Mediterranean, and Mediterranean-influenced hot-summer humid continental in the west. Temperatures range from −10 °C (14 °F) in winter to 46 °C (114.8 °F) in summer. The average annual temperature is 17.9 °C (64.2 °F).

The country is divided into 31 provinces (ostân). The largest cities in Iran are Tehran, Mashhad, Isfahan, Karaj, and Shiraz.

History

6000-5000 BCE: Shulaveri-Shomu culture

3400-2000 BCE: Kura-Araxes culture

3200-539 BCE: Elam

2500-2200 BCE: Jiroft culture

2334-2154 BCE: Akkadian Empire

1595-1155 BCE: Middle Babylonian Empire

1363-912 BCE: Middle Assyrian Empire

911-609 BCE: Neo-Assyrian Empire

678-550 BCE: Median Kingdom

626-539 BCE: Neo-Babylonian Empire

550-330 BCE: Achaemenid Empire

499-449 BCE: Greco-Persian Wars

312-63 BCE: Seleucid Empire

247 BCE-224 CE: Parthian Empire

54 BCE-217 CE: Roman-Parthian Wars

224-651 CE: Sasanian Empire

632-661: Rashidun Caliphate

661-750: Umayyad Caliphate

750-1517: Abbasid Caliphate

819-999: Samanid Empire

1037-1194: Seljuk Empire

1219-1258: Mongol conquest

1256-1335: Land of Iran

1335-1432: Jalayirid Sultanate

1370-1507: Timurid Empire

1374-1468: Qara Qoyunlu

1378-1503: Aq Qoyunlu

1501-1736: Safavid Empire

1514-1918: Ottoman-Persian Wars

1709-1738: Hotak Empire

1736-1796: Afsharid Empire

1789-1925: Qajar Empire

1804-1813: Russo-Persian War

1826-1828: Russo-Persian War

1870-1872: famine

1905-1911: Constitutional Revolution

1921: coup d’état

1925-1979: Imperial State of Iran

1941: Anglo-Soviet invasion

1953: military coup

1979: Iranian Revolution

1979-1981: hostage crisis

1979-present: Islamic Republic of Iran

1980-1988: Iran-Iraq War

Economy

Iran mainly imports from China, the United Arab Emirates, and Brazil and exports to China, Türkiye, and Kuwait. Its top exports are crude oil, refined oil, and nuts.

It has vast natural gas and oil reserves. Services represent 55% of the GDP, followed by industry (35.3%) and agriculture (6.9%).

Iran is a member of the BRICS, the Economic Cooperation Organization, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization.

Demographics

Persians account for 61% of the population, followed by Azeris (16%), Kurds (10%), Lurs (6%), Arabs (2%), and Balochs (2%). The state religion is Islam, practiced by 99.3% of the population, 95% of which is Shia.

It has a negative net migration rate and a fertility rate of 1.6 children per woman. 76.3% of the population lives in urban areas. Life expectancy is 75.2 years and the median age is 31.7 years. The literacy rate is 85.5%.

Languages

The official language of the country is Persian, spoken by 53% of the population. Other commonly spoken languages include Azerbaijani (18%), Kurdish (10%), Gilaki and Mazandarani (7%), Luri (6%), Arabic (2%), and Balochi (2%).

Culture

Iran is known for its carpet weaving tradition and literature. Iranian men are allowed to be emotional and women can be detached.

Men traditionally wear a long tunic (aba), wide pants (sharwal), and a cloth belt. Women wear a long robe (kaftan) and a headscarf (hijab).

Architecture

Traditional houses in Iran have brick walls, tiled roofs, inner courtyards with a pond, and intricate façades.

Cuisine

The Iranian diet is based on meat, nuts, rice, and vegetables. Typical dishes include ash-e-reshteh (a thick soup with beans, noodles, and sour yogurt), halva (a thick confectionary made of butter, flour, milk, rosewater, and saffron with peanuts, sesame, or sunflower seeds), khoresh-e bademjan (eggplant and tomato stew), loobia polo (a dish of green beans, meat, and rice), and nargesi (a dish of fried eggs, onion, and spinach).

Holidays and festivals

Like other Muslim countries, Iran celebrates Tasu’a, Ashura, Arba’in, Israʾ and Miʿraj, Mawlid, Eid al-Fitr, Eid al-Adha, Mawlid, Eid al-Ghadir, the deaths of Muhammad, Hasan ibn Ali, Ali al-Rida, Hasan al-Askari, Fatima, Ali, and Ja’far al-Sadiq, and the births of Ja’far al-Sadiq, Ali, and Mahdi.

Specific Iranian holidays include Anniversary of the Islamic Revolution on February 11; Nowruz, the Iranian New Year, between March 19 and 22; Nationalization of the Iranian oil industry on March 20, Islamic Republic Day on April 1; Nature’s Day on April 2; Death of Khomeini on June 4, and Revolt of June 5 on June 5.

Nowruz

Other celebrations include the Rose Water Festival, when roses are picked to prepare jams, sweets, and rose water; Sadeh Festival, which honors warmth and the defeat of darkness by lighting fires, and Shab-e Yalda, which celebrates the end of the longest night.

Sadeh Festival

Landmarks

There are 27 UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Armenian Monastic Ensembles of Iran, Bam and its Cultural Landscape, Bisotun, Cultural Landscape of Maymand, Cultural Landscape of Hawraman/Uramanat, Gonbad-e Qābus, Golestan Palace, Historic City of Yazd, Hyrcanian Forests, Lut Desert, Masjed-e Jāmé of Isfahan, Naqsh-e Jahan Square, Pasargadae, Persepolis, Persian Qanat, Sassanid Archeological Landscape in Fars Province, Shahr-e Sukhteh, Sheikh Safi al-din Khānegāh and Shrine Ensemble in Ardabil, Shushtar Historical Hydraulic System, Soltaniyeh, Susa, Tabriz Historic Bazaar Complex, Takht-e Soleyman, Tchogha Zanbil, The Persian Caravanserai, The Persian Garden, and Trans-Iranian Railway.

Lut Desert

Other landmarks include the Agha Bozorg Mosque, the Ali-Sadr Cave, Hamoun Lake, the Imam Reza Shrine, and the Qal’eh Dokhtar fortress.

Agha Bozorg Mosque

Famous people

Abbas Kiarostami - movie director

Ali Daei - soccer player

Alireza Firouzja - chess player

Arash - singer

Golshifteh Farahani - actress

Googoosh - singer

Marjane Satrapi - illustrator

Navid Negahban - actor

Neba Shahsavari - table tennis player

Shirin Neshat - artist

Shirin Neshat

Rainy day/ Rasht/ Gilan/ Iran

Song: Gilan Singer: Ahmad Ashoorpoor Language: Gilaki (an Iranian language)

A beautiful old folk song I first heard over a decade ago. The singer is from Iran and most his songs are in the Gilaki language. I didn't actually know at first, I thought it was Farsi. Not like I could tell the difference.

He was born in 1918. I think this might the earliest-born singer I listen to. I do tend to listen to older singers actually.