The Geography of Iran - Term Paper Example

?Geography of Iran This term paper discusses the geography of Iran and its implications to its political, economic, cultural and physical make-up as a country. It’s explicated with an intention to assist gather intelligence information that can be utilized to understand its geographic location and contour. It will be an instrument to understand too the cultural, political and sociological make-up of the community. Physical Terrain Figure 1. Map of Iran. (Google, 2011). Iran is a country located in the Middle East of Southwest Asia continent. It is geographically bordered by Iraq in the eastern side and of Turkey. It immediate neighbors are the countries of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkmenistan. Aside from being a country with religious belief that is centered in theocracy, the nation is also featured with historic and beautiful resource such as the Caspian Sea, prominently known as world’s largest lake as well as the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea at the southern part of the country (Sahar, 2007). The Caspian sea stretched over the coast at 650 kilometers while the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea covered 1,770 kilometers (Sahar, 2007). Iran’s terrains are mountainous. A large portion of it is arable while about 10.4% of it is used for agriculture. About 6% of the land area is used as pasteurized area. The northern coastal side is forested which consist to about 4.5% of the total land area (Sahar, 2007). It has two prominent mountain ranges. These are Alborz Mountain Range with the highest peak of. 5671 meters above sea level and it geographically located near Tehran (Sahar, 2007). The other Zagros Mountain Range which stretched across the southern part of the country with a peak of of about 4000 meters above sea level. The dessert part of the country is located at the eastern parts which are named Dasht-e-Kavir and Kavir-e-Lut (Sahar, 2007). Iran’s capital city is Tehran with an estimated population of 14 million pesos. The city is also visited with about 4 million people from neighboring communities. Recently, the areas of Arak, Ahvaz, Esfehan, Kerman, Shiraz, Tabriz, and Mashad of Iran have become an emerging industrial zone (Sahar, 2007). Iran climate vary. The Caspian coastal plain is humid through out the year with an altitude that is almost sea level. The high altitude, which is populated, has winter time that is often at the rate below the freezing point. The central and eastern parts have seasonally climatic difference which fit to its arid and semi-arid condition (Sahar, 2007). Meanwhile, the coastal side of Iran enjoys mild winters but with a temperature which increases every summer period. The latter can even reached at 48° C sometimes in the summer of July (Sahar, 2007). People and Culture Iran is resided with people whose quantitative growth rate exceed to about 3.1% annually. These days, there are now estimated populations of 66 million Iranian people. Modernization also encouraged most of them to migrate and dwell in urban areas for more economic benefits (Sahar, 2007). Iran is also home for indigenous people. Historians relate that natives have dwelt the country since 550 BC. Natives here are dubbed as Achaemenians but have live up to Iranian identify albeit their historical beginnings. Other ethnicities here include Persians, Azeries, Kurds, Baluchis, Lurs, Turkmans, Arabs, Jews, Armenians and Assyrians among Iranians (Sahar, 2007). As the country is composed of multi-ethnic tribes, people vary with their native tongues. However, Iran’s official language is Farsi (Parsi), also known as modern Persian. Farsi also used as medium of education and administration, although provincial media network used the mother tongues as mode of communicating reports. Other dialects used by natives are Kurdish, Lurish, Baluchis, Taleshi, Gilaki and Mazandarani (Sahar, 2007). Often, these dialects are spoken differently in every village. Some Iranian however, specially those who earned foreign education, speaks Indo-European language except for Turkic, Arabic, Hebrew, Assyrian and Armenian languages (Sahar, 2007). Iran is home to religious people too. Many of them expressed faith that is founded on theocracy although they are socially practicing religious diversity as a nation. Some religious denominations here include Mithraism and Zoroastrianism (Sahar, 2007). Others practice Buddhism, an influenced introduced during the Partisan's Era of the Parthian empire. Due to this, it can be evidently observed that there are some Buddhist temples in Iranian towns and cities (Sahar, 2007). But as other religious denomination has become widespread, other faith have spread in the region. These are Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Since 16th century, the Shia branch of Islam turned to be the official denomination of Islam in the country (Sahar, 2007). Politics and Economy As Iran’s neighbors are Turkey, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkmenistan, the nation shared with either the stability or instability of the region, economically and politically (Friedman, 2011; Zangeneh, 2010). On one side, Iran is also affected by the conflict situation in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is also vulnerable to poverty and violent conditions in Pakistan, as well as the inconsistent condition of other neighboring countries. At the height of wars, Iran could have been host country of evacuating people from Afghanistan and Pakistan, although it maintained its vulnerability as transit area for alleged terrorist organizations within the region (Friedman, 2011; Zangeneh, 2010). Being a country with dominant arid lands, it relies on the trading relations to support its economy. Its economic relations might be directly related with immediate neighboring countries but the country maintain foreign relations too other developing nations (Friedman, 2011; Zangeneh, 2010). As country enriched with history from pre-Islam period, pre-revolution time, and toward post-revolution which led to the establishment of Islamic Republic of Iran, it has also its political colorfulness and distinction which attract serious curiosity (Friedman, 2011; Zangeneh, 2010). These days, the country is lead by President Ahmadi Nejad. It has become of international interest in this cold-war period why this country continually operates its nuclear program (Friedman, 2011; Zangeneh, 2010). Figure 2. Tehran Nuclear Research Center (GlobalSecurity.org, 2011) In the 1950s, the Tehran Nuclear Research Center was not considered as threat to the United States specially so that Iran has signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) in 1968 and ratified it again in 1970 to make that commitment as a national policy (Basuchoudhary & Meredith, 2009). However, as they have started concealing in 2002 the Nuclear Program at Natanz Uranium, it has become a serious political interest to restudy these facilities albeit its leaders have subscribed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (Basuchoudhary & Meredith, 2009). The international pressures from United Kingdom, France, and Germany compelled Iran to suspend its nuclear program. United States of America is also getting serious interest of these facilities and interested to review the domestic condition of the country to determine the causes which prompted them to sustain its nuclear facility operation (Basuchoudhary & Meredith, 2009). Moreover, Iran’s present economy is being challenged as a consequence of Iraq War when oil prices erratically fluctuate as international market held its reign of control. Many of it’s populace that are earning income and are doing business in Iraq are severely affected with the employed economic sanction and control inflicted by international bodies who have high command of the economic wheel (Farzanegan, 2009). Amid this economic consideration, the country is likewise severely suffering with social insecurity, human rights violations, ailing private investment, absence of uniformity in the application and enforcement of laws and policies, high risk brought by political instability, massive corruption, and poor exports and imports trade relations owning to its protectionist or conservative policies (Farzanegan, 2009). .    References Sahar, Ivan. 2007. Iran Geography, Foreign Media Service, Iran: Ivan Sahar Company. Iran. 2007. Sahar, Ivan. Nuclear Program of Iran, Foreign Media Service, Ivan Sahar Company. Iran, 2007, http://www.ivansahar.com/nuclear-program-of-iran.htm, George Friedman. The Real Struggle in Iran and Implications for U.S. Dialogue. Stratfor: Global Intelligence. Texas, USA. 2011. Zangeneh, Hamid. "Iran: Past, Present and the Future," MPRA Paper 26283, University Library of Munich, Germany. 2010. Basuchoudhary, Atin & Meredith, Rich, 2009."War with Iran: Will brinkmanship deter Iran from building the bomb?," MPRA Paper 19764, University Library of Munich, Germany. 2009. Farzanegan, Mohammad Reza."Macroeconomic of populism in Iran," MPRA Paper 15546, University Library of Munich, Germany. 2009. GlobalSecurity.org. Tehran Nuclear Research Center. Weapons of Mass Destruction. 2011. http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world/iran/tehran-tnrc7.htm. Accessed: December 24, 2011. Read More