Shortly before the 18th century BCE, various Indo-European peoples reached the Iranian plateau, forcing the cattle herdsmen living in the area. Until the 10th century BCE, Indo-European peoples continued to arrive in the area that became part of the Mesopotamian cultural area. According to countryaah, the people of the region became known by various names: The Medes came from the name of the greatest clan; Iranians descended from Sanskrit – ayriana, the nobles – who were spoken in India. Designation Persian shailing from Greece, and having a background in the mythical prehistory the Greeks attributed to them. It was written as parsis, farsis, fars or partos according to epoch and sources. This people ruled the mountain areas and conquered under the Xerxes Plains of Mesopotamia. Around the year 550 BCE, this expansion reached Asia Minor in the west and Afghanistan in the east. For the next few hundred years, the borders were pushed further out to Greece, Egypt, Turkestan and India.
- According to abbreviationfinder, IR is the 2 letter abbreviation for the country of Iran.
In the late 4th century BCE, this entire vast empire fell into the hands of Alexander of Macedonia, but his successors were unable to hold together on its eastern parts (See also Syria). After fierce resistance, the Persians again succeeded in the 2-3. century to gain independence, which during the Sasanids was preserved to the 7th century – in perpetual conflict with the Romans and Byzantines.
In 641, the country was conquered by the Arabs (see Saudi Arabia), who initiated an Islamization of it, but like almost no other province in the Arab Empire, the country retained its distinctiveness in terms of language, art and writing. When the caliphate in Baghdad was hit by a sudden crisis, Persia largely gained independence from Tahir’s descendants. He had been the last Arab Viceroy. This status continued during the changing Persian and Turkish dynasties. Despite the changing political situation, a flourishing development in culture and science took place. The most important exponent of this development was the poet, mathematician, philosopher and astronomer Ummar al-Khayyam.
In 1258, a new era began in the country’s history when it was invaded by Mongols under Kublai Khan’s leadership. After 3 centuries of Mongol rule, the battles between Timur Lenk’s descendants and the Ottomans ended up opening a playing field for the Persian Ismail Shah. Under his grandson, Abbas I (1557-1629), he succeeded in uniting the country, throwing the Turks out of the western part of the country, the Portuguese out of the south, where they had occupied the Ormuz region and conquering part of Afghanistan.. It was also during this period that the Shiite branch of Islam became dominant – opposite the Sunni branch that dominated in the rest of the Arab world. For a brief period, Iran had the hegemony over the territory from India to Syria. But the country was soon confronted with Russian expansion through Central Asia and the English approaching from the Gulf and Afghanistan.
1909 England and Russia divide the country between themselves
Iran’s strategic importance increased around 1900 when oil was discovered in the country. The corrupt Iranian sovereignty, economic problems and the manipulation of the great powers gave rise to the development of a strong nationalist movement inspired by the ideas of the Pan-Islamic and Syrian intellectuals. This development in 1907 led to the preparation of a more modern constitution, which had a democratic and reform-oriented content.
In 1909, England and Russia divided the country into economic zones of influence. an English company guaranteed the right to the extraction of oil. During World War I, the two great powers occupied the country, and this, together with widespread corruption and the ineffectiveness of the state apparatus, led to a revolution in 1921, led by journalist Sayyid Tabatai and garden commander Reza Khan.
Reza initially became the Revolutionary War Minister, in 1923 being appointed Prime Minister. Two years later, the National Assembly deposed Tabatai and Reza took the throne. He repealed all the treaties granting foreigners rights in Iran, abolished the order for women to wear veil, reformed the education and health system, subjected all foreign trade to a state monopoly and removed the oil concessions favoring the English.
Reza’s attempt to develop a modern, militarily strong and internationally neutral state encountered strong opposition from the European powers. During World War II, he insisted on preserving the country’s neutrality, and in 1941 banned the transportation of allied weapons through Iran to the Soviet Union. In August, both major powers invaded the country. The army was beaten the month after, the shah deposed and sent into exile. He was replaced by his son, Mohammed Reza Pahlevi, who was educated in Europe and far more lenient to foreign interests. Under British-Soviet protection, he ruled until the end of the war.