什麼是伊朗

正式名稱伊朗伊斯蘭共和國（Islamic Republic of Iran）

舊稱波斯（Persia）

南亞國家。面積1,643,510平方公里。人口約63,442,000（2001）。首都︰德黑蘭。伊朗人（波斯人）占人口的45%；其他民族還包括了庫爾德人、盧爾人、巴赫蒂亞里人和俾路支人。語言︰法爾斯語（波斯語；爲官方語）。宗教︰伊斯蘭教（國教）；多數是什葉派。貨幣︰里亞爾（Rls）。伊朗位於海拔460公尺以上的高原，四周山脈圍繞。全境一半以上的地區是鹽漠和荒蕪之地。約十分之一的土地爲可耕地，其他四分之一的土地適於放牧。伊朗有豐富的石油，儲量佔世界的9%，亦爲該國的經濟基礎。政府形式爲伊斯蘭教共和國，一院制。總統是國家暨政府首腦，但最高政治和宗教權威是宗教領袖。

伊朗在西元前100,000年便有人居住，但歷史記載始於西元前3,000年左右的埃蘭人。西元前728年左右米底亞人在此繁盛，但後爲波斯人推翻（西元前550年），西元前4世紀時又爲亞歷山大大帝征服。西元前247～西元226年間安息人（參閱Parthia）建立了一個操希臘語的帝國，其後控制權轉至薩珊王朝手中。640年阿拉伯穆斯林征服這裏，統治伊朗850年。1502年薩非王朝建立，並持續到1736年。1779年開始受卡札爾王朝統治，但19世紀時該國家經濟受俄羅斯和大英兩帝國的控制。禮薩.汗（參閱Reza Shah Pahlavi）在一次政變中取得政權（1921）。其子穆罕默德.禮薩.沙.巴勒維因計畫現代化和西化而於宗教領袖失和，於1979年被推翻；什葉派教士何梅尼後來建立了一個伊斯蘭教共和國，壓制了西方的影響。1980年代毀滅性的兩伊戰爭因陷於困境而停止。1990年代政府已逐漸以較自由的方式領導國家事務。

Iran

formerlyPersiaCountry, South Asia. Area: 634,562 sq mi (1,643,510 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 62,304,000. Capital: Tehran. Iranians (Persians) constitute 45% of its population; other ethnic groups include the Kurds, the Lurs, the Bakhtyari, and the Balochi. Language: Farsi (Persian) (official). Religion: Islam (official); most are Shiites. Currency: rial. Iran occupies a high plateau more than 1,500 ft (460 m) above sea level and is surrounded by mountains. More than half of its surface area consists of salt deserts and other wasteland. About one-tenth of its land is arable, and another one-fourth is suitable for grazing. Iran's rich petroleum reserves account for about 9% of world reserves and are the basis of its economy. It is an Islamic republic with one legislative house; its head of state and government is the president, but the supreme political and religious authority is the religious leader. Habitation in Iran dates to c. 100,000 BC, but recorded history began with the Elamites c. 3000 BC. The Medes flourished from c. 728 BC but were overthrown (550 BC) by the Persians, who were in turn conquered by Alexander the Great in the 4th century BC. The Parthians (see Parthia) created a Greek-speaking empire that lasted from 247 BC to AD 226, when control passed to the Sasanians. Arab Muslims conquered them in 640 and ruled Iran for 850 years. In 1502 the Safavids established a dynasty that lasted until 1736. The Qajars ruled from 1779, but in the 19th century the country was economically controlled by the Russian and British empires. Reza Khan (see R. Shah Pahlavi) seized power in a coup (1921). His son Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi alienated religious leaders with a program of modernization and westernization and was overthrown in 1979; Shiite cleric Ruhollah Khomeini then set up a fundamentalist Islamic republic, and Western influence was suppressed. The destructive Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s ended in a stalemate. During the 1990s the government gradually moved to a more liberal conduct of state affairs.