1. When did Iran become a country?
“Iran” means the land of Aryans. Aryans were the first inhabitants of Iran’s plateau. According to Hegel, German philosopher, Iranian monarchy is the first empire in human history.
Etymologically speaking, Aryan means noble, an attribute which can be seen in modern Iranians – A 12000 years-old attribute.
Thousands of years ago, Iran used to be home to many civilizations. For instance, the burnt city (Shahre Sookhte) civilization in Sistan, Ilam civilization in northern Khuzestan, Jiroft civilization in Kerman, Siyalk hills civilization in Kashan, Ourartu civilization in Azerbaijan, Giyan hills civilization in Nahavand, Manayiyan civilization in Kurdestan and Azerbaijan, Kasis civilization in Lorestan where still some signs have been left.
The greatest civilization was Ilamis. The city of Shoosh in the southwest of Iran used to be an affluent and magnificent city.
Ilami was one of the three languages which royal scripts were written in.
Aryans are a wide branch of a white race whose original homeland was probably extended from north of the Black Sea and Caspian lake through to around Jaxartes (Seyhoon) and Oxus (Jeyhoon) rivers. They were divided into various upon their arrival in Iran. The most important ones were Medes, Parthians, and Persians. The history of ancient Persia is considered to last from the formation of the Median government up to the end of the Sassanid era when Arabs invaded Iran.
2. Where did the Medes come from?
The Medes were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Hegmataneh was the capital of the Medes. They were overthrown in 550 BC by Great Cyrus, and the monarchy transferred to the Persians.
3. What was the Achaemenid Empire?
The Achaemenid Empire, also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire based in Western Asia founded by Cyrus the Great.
4. Who conquered the Persian Empire?
In 334 B.C., Alexander, the Great of Macedonia invades Central Asia. Great Darius loses three battles with Alexander and is finally defeated in 331 B.C. He is murdered in 330 B.C. The great Persian Empire is no more.
5. What was the Seleucid empire known for?
The Seleucid Empire was the Persian kingdom of the Macedonian dynasty of the Seleucids, whose rule began with the collapse of Alexander’s empire and faded away between Roman and Parthian growth of power in the 1st century BCE.
6. Who founded the Parthian empire?
According to tradition (somewhat disputed), the first ruler of the Parthians and founder of the Parthian empire was Arsaces I (ASHK I), who had been a governor under Diodotus, king of the Bactrian Greeks, and who revolted and fled westward to establish his own rule (c. 250–c. 211 bc).
At the time, Iran had three parliaments. The Nobles parliament, which was indeed two parliamentary advisory councils for the king. The other one was the Assembly of Elites – The Senate.
Zoroastrianism was the main religion and worshipped their ancestors. The other religions were free to practice. Ashk, the 22nd was the person who collected the Avesta.
Of all the historical monuments of this era, the Anahita Temple in Kangavar. The ruins of the temple of Kangavar, the high relieves from Mehrdad and Goudarz in Bisotun.
7. Who were the Sassanids?
The SassanidEmpire or Sassanian Dynasty is the name used for the Persian dynasty, which lasted from 224 to 651 AD. The Sassanid Empire, which succeeded the Parthian Empire, was recognized as one of the two great powers in Western Asia, alongside the Roman Empire and later the Byzantine Empire, for more than 400 years. The capital city of Sassanids was Ctesiphon near modern Baghdad.
8. Who was Mani?
Mani, of Iranian origin, was the prophet and the founder of Manichaeism. A religion of late antiquity strongly influenced by Gnosticism. He set his Manichaeism ideology, which was an eclectic range of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Christianity, and mythology.
9. What is the pre-Islamic period?
In Iran, PRE-ISLAMIC PERIODS
• The Medes (800 B.C.-550 B.C). Founder: Deioces (Cyaxares)
• Achaemenids (559 B.C. – 330 B.C.). Founder: Cyrus, the great. Great kings: Darius, the great and Xerxes.
• Seleucids (330 B.C. – 129 B.C.). Founder: Seleucus I.
• Parthians (256 B.C. – 224 A.D.). Founder: Ashk I. Great kings: Mehrdad I and Ashk XIII.
• Sassanids (224 A.D – 652 A.D.). Founder: Ardashir I. Great kings: Shapur I, Shapur II, and Anushirvan.
Pre-Islamic Arabia is the Arabian Peninsula prior to the emergence of Islam in 610 CE. Some of the settled communities developed into distinctive civilizations, who and are limited to archaeological evidence, accounts written outside of Arabia and Arab oral traditions later recorded by Islamic scholars.
10. How did Iran become a Muslim country?
There happened many changes in society, religion, and politics of Iran’s history after the establishment of Islam in Iran.
Its resulted from the victory of Muslim Arabs over Sassanids leading to the conquering Iran by them.
Conquering Iran was not so simple. Cities accepted their dominance sooner than rural areas where they refused their ruling resulting in the fact that Arabs had to conquer an area many times.
It took 20 years to completely conquer Iran. The nonstop rebellions in Iran led to the fall of the Arabic government of Umayyads owing to the fact that Abbasids exploited Iranians to eliminate the central government of Arabs.
After a while, however, they began to kill the Iranians. Iranians never accepted the Arab invaders. Gradually local governments would declare independence.
For the first time since the advent of Islam in Iran’s history, the eastern regions of Iran such as Khorasan was brought to independence by Taherids.
Saffarids made use of another foreign language instead of Arabic for the first time. Since the era of Samanids (819-999 A.D.), there emerged a modern Persian writing system, and the Arabic alphabet was introduced with the Persian language.
The governors of Buyids (945-1055 A.D.) conquered Shiraz and established their government. Subsequently, they made their way to Baghdad and conquering the city. They turned caliphate into a propaganda tool and took the real power into their own hands. Ghaznavids (977-1186 A.D.) introduced themselves in Iran’s history as the Muslim worriers and invaded some territories such as India.
11. Who were saljughids of Iran?
They took the throne by defeating the Ghaznavids, and the entire country fell under their control. They consolidated their power with the help of the great knowledgeable ministers of Iran. Even the Abbasid caliph came under their influence. The Saljughids managed to win in a war against the Byzantine. It was after this victory that the Crusades began to break out. It was not until 1099 A.D. when officially the wars started. Eventually, they were overthrown by Kharazm-shahids.
12. Who were the Kharzm-Shahids?
It was another government in Iran’s history that was established upon the Mongol’s invasion on Iran’s soil. It led to the fall of the Kharazm-shahids as well as looting in cities, and the extermination of people.
Subsequently, Iran’s economy and agriculture were wholly wrecked. The word “Gurkani” derives from “Gurkan,” a Persianized form of the Mongolian word “Kuragan,” meaning “son-in-law.”
Baghdad seized in the next Mongolian attack organized by Hulagu Khan. The Abbasids fell, and the caliph murdered.
The survivors who were ruling Iran by the name of Ilkhanids converted to Islam under the influence of some ministers and counselors such as Khaje Nasireddin Tusi, Shamseddin Muhammad Juweyni and Rashideddin Fadhl Allah Hamedani and especially the Persian-Islamic culture of Iranians.
13. What was the Timurid Dynasty?
The Timurid dynasty, self-designated as Gurkani, was a Sunni Muslim dynasty or clan of Turco-Mongol origin descended from the warlord Timur.
14. What were the Safavids known for?
The Safavid shahs ruled over one of the gunpowder empires and one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Iran.
They established the Twelver school of Shia Islam as the official religion of the empire, marking one of the most important turning points in Muslim history.
Isfahan was chosen as the capital of Iran in the period of Shah Abbas, the great and reached the zenith of glory in as much as numerous monuments have remained from that time up to now.
Isfahan was conquered by Afghans, and Safavids were subsequently overthrown.
15. Who was Afsharid?
The Afsharid dynasty was an Iranian dynasty that originated from the Afshar tribe in Iran’s north-eastern province of Khorasan, ruling Iran in the mid-eighteenth century.
Nader Shah defeated Afghans and established Afsharids dynasty by bringing the whole country under his control. Also, he invaded India and brought along some valuable spoils such as the giant Koh-i-Noor and Darya-ye Noor diamonds with himself to Iran.
The peacock throne, which was considered to be a gift from Indians, can now be visited in jewelry museum of Tehran.
He fought against the Ottomans for three times and them away from Iran.
16. Who killed Nader Shah?
Nader Shah was assassinated on 20 June 1747, at Quchan in Khorasan. He was surprised in his sleep by around fifteen conspirators, and stabbed to death. Nader was able to kill two of the assassins before he died.
17. Who were the Zand Dynasty?
The Zand Dynasty was an Iranian dynasty of Lak, a branch of Lurs origin founded by Karim Khan Zand that initially ruled southern and central Iran in the 18th century. Shiraz was chosen to be the capital city in this era and turned into a magnificent and large city. Karim Khan’s monuments in Shiraz include the famous Arg of Karim Khan, Vakil Bazaar, and several mosques and gardens.
It later quickly came to expand to include much of the rest of contemporary Iran, as well as Azerbaijan, Bahrain, and parts of Iraq and Armenia.
18. Who were the Qajar Dynasty?
The Qajar dynasty was an Iranian royal dynasty of Turkic origin, specifically from the Qajar tribe, ruling over Iran from 1789 to 1925. The Qajars led by the former hostage, Agha Mohammad Khan. The Qajar family took full control of Iran in 1794, deposing Lotf ‘Ali Khan, the last Shah of the Zand dynasty, and re-asserted Iranian sovereignty over large parts of the Caucasus.
Agha Mohammad Khan declared Tehran as his capital. Fath-Ali Shah, Nasereddin Shah, and Mozaffareddin Shah are among the kings of this dynasty. The influence of powers such as Britain and Tsarist Russia was rising in Iran. These powers separated large pieces of land in Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, and Khorasan from Iran’s soil, By imposing treaties such as Torkamanchay, Golestan, and Paris on the Iranian government.
19. Who were the two kings of the Pahlavi dynasty?
The two Pahlavi kings were Reza Shah Pahlavi and his son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi.
During the Pahlavi era, the oil industry of Iran nationalized by the leadership of Dr. Mohammad Mosaddegh.
Bahrain separated from Iran in this period. In 1979 Iranians started a revolution, known as the Islamic revolution of Iran.in order to have a democratic and religious government. The reign of the Pahlavis ended in 1979 when the Islamic Revolution led by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini took over the government.
20. What is POST-Revolution period in Iran?
In 1979, the Islamic revolution overthrew the monarchy. Two months later, the Islamic Republic of Iran got to be the new name for the country’s government, which was approved by 98% of voters.
After the temporary government of Bazargan, Iranian students seized the U.S. embassy based on the word that it was acting as a nest of spies working against the fledgling Iranian government.
Since then, the United States has cut off diplomatic relations with Iran. Because of the war crimes of Israel in Palestine, the Iranian government has never recognized Israel as an official government. However, it differentiates between the Jews in the world and the citizens of Israel.
In 1980, with the help of Arabic and western countries, Saddam Hussein dispatched the Iraqi military to Iran to conquer this country.
Eventually, after eight years of war and thousands of Iranians, having being killed, the ceasefire was called in 1988.
Ayatollah Khomeini passed away in the same year. Iran’s Assembly of Experts chose Ayatollah Khamenei as the new leader of Iran.
He is still holding the supreme authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran. After the revolution, several different events have happened in Iran. The study of the post-revolution history gives you essential tips of the recent years about in this country.
In Iran, several presidents have come to power as the second authority in rank. Iranians have seen various models of planning and attitudes. Banisadr, Rajayei, Khamenei, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Khatami, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The current president of Iran since 2013 is Hassan Rouhani.
The most important event of recent years is the talks between Iran and the six world powers and a historic agreement in the world to solve the atomic worries to the peaceful program of Iran and lifting the sanctions (JCPOA). But in 2017, President Trump decided to exit from this international agreement!
