1.
Asia
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Asia covers an area of 44,579,000 square kilometres, about 30% of Earths total land area and 8. 7% of the Earths total surface area. The continent, which has long been home to the majority of the population, was the site of many of the first civilizations. Asia is notable for not only its large size and population. In general terms, Asia is bounded on the east by the Pacific Ocean, on the south by the Indian Ocean, the western boundary with Europe is a historical and cultural construct, as there is no clear physical and geographical separation between them. The most commonly accepted boundaries place Asia to the east of the Suez Canal, the Ural River, and the Ural Mountains, and south of the Caucasus Mountains, China and India alternated in being the largest economies in the world from 1 to 1800 A. D. The accidental discovery of America by Columbus in search for India demonstrates this deep fascination, the Silk Road became the main East-West trading route in the Asian hitherland while the Straits of Malacca stood as a major sea route. Asia has exhibited economic dynamism as well as robust population growth during the 20th century, given its size and diversity, the concept of Asia—a name dating back to classical antiquity—may actually have more to do with human geography than physical geography. Asia varies greatly across and within its regions with regard to ethnic groups, cultures, environments, economics, historical ties, the boundary between Asia and Africa is the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez, and the Suez Canal. This makes Egypt a transcontinental country, with the Sinai peninsula in Asia, the border between Asia and Europe was historically defined by European academics. In Sweden, five years after Peters death, in 1730 Philip Johan von Strahlenberg published a new atlas proposing the Urals as the border of Asia, the Russians were enthusiastic about the concept, which allowed them to keep their European identity in geography. Tatishchev announced that he had proposed the idea to von Strahlenberg, the latter had suggested the Emba River as the lower boundary. Over the next century various proposals were made until the Ural River prevailed in the mid-19th century, the border had been moved perforce from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea into which the Ural River projects. The border between the Black Sea and the Caspian is usually placed along the crest of the Caucasus Mountains, the border between Asia and the loosely defined region of Oceania is usually placed somewhere in the Malay Archipelago. The terms Southeast Asia and Oceania, devised in the 19th century, have had several different geographic meanings since their inception. The chief factor in determining which islands of the Malay Archipelago are Asian has been the location of the possessions of the various empires there. Lewis and Wigen assert, The narrowing of Southeast Asia to its present boundaries was thus a gradual process, Asia is larger and more culturally diverse than Europe. It does not exactly correspond to the borders of its various types of constituents. From the time of Herodotus a minority of geographers have rejected the three-continent system on the grounds there is no or is no substantial physical separation between them
2.
Western Asia
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Western Asia, West Asia, Southwestern Asia or Southwest Asia is the westernmost subregion of Asia. The concept is in limited use, as it overlaps with the Middle East. The term is used for the purposes of grouping countries in statistics. The total population of Western Asia is an estimated 300 million as of 2015, in an unrelated context, the term is also used in ancient history and archaeology to divide the Fertile Crescent into the Asiatic or Western Asian cultures as opposed to ancient Egypt. As a geographic concept, Western Asia almost always includes the Levant, Mesopotamia, the term is used pragmatically and has no correct or generally agreed-upon definition. In contrast to this definition, the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in its 2015 yearbook also includes Armenia and Azerbaijan, unlike the UNIDO, the United Nations Statistics Division excludes Iran from Western Asia and include Turkey, Georgia, and Cyprus in the region. These four countries are listed in the European category of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, the Olympic Council of Asias multi-sport event West Asian Games are contested by athletes representing these thirteen countries. Among the regions sports organisations are the West Asia Basketball Association, West Asian Billiards and Snooker Federation, West Asian Football Federation, Western Asia was in use as a geographical term in the early 19th century, even before Near East became current as a geopolitical concept. Use of the term in the context of contemporary geopolitics or world economy appears to date from the 1960s, Western Asia is located directly south of Eastern Europe. The region is surrounded by seven major seas, the Aegean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea, the Persian Gulf, the Arabian Sea, the Red Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. The Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut deserts in eastern Iran naturally delimit the region somewhat from Asia itself, three major tectonic plates converge on Western Asia, including the African, Eurasian, and Arabian plates. The boundaries between the plates make up the Azores-Gibraltar Ridge, extending across North Africa, the Red Sea. The Arabian Plate is moving northward into the Anatolian plate at the East Anatolian Fault, several major aquifers provide water to large portions of Western Asia. In Saudi Arabia, two large aquifers of Palaeozoic and Triassic origins are located beneath the Jabal Tuwayq mountains and areas west to the Red Sea. Cretaceous and Eocene-origin aquifers are located beneath large portions of central and eastern Saudi Arabia, including Wasia, flood or furrow irrigation, as well as sprinkler methods, are extensively used for irrigation, covering nearly 90,000 km² across Western Asia for agriculture. Western Asia is primarily arid and semi-arid, and can be subject to drought, the region consists of grasslands, rangelands, deserts, and mountains. Water shortages are a problem in parts of West Asia, with rapidly growing populations increasing demands for water. Major rivers, including the Tigris and Euphrates, provide sources for water to support agriculture
3.
Afghanistan
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Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located within South Asia and Central Asia. It has a population of approximately 32 million, making it the 42nd most populous country in the world. It is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east, Iran in the west, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north and its territory covers 652,000 km2, making it the 41st largest country in the world. The land also served as the source from which the Kushans, Hephthalites, Samanids, Saffarids, Ghaznavids, Ghorids, Khiljis, Mughals, Hotaks, Durranis, the political history of the modern state of Afghanistan began with the Hotak and Durrani dynasties in the 18th century. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan became a state in the Great Game between British India and the Russian Empire. Following the Third Anglo-Afghan War in 1919, King Amanullah unsuccessfully attempted to modernize the country and it remained peaceful during Zahir Shahs forty years of monarchy. A series of coups in the 1970s was followed by a series of wars that devastated much of Afghanistan. The name Afghānistān is believed to be as old as the ethnonym Afghan, the root name Afghan was used historically in reference to a member of the ethnic Pashtuns, and the suffix -stan means place of in Persian. Therefore, Afghanistan translates to land of the Afghans or, more specifically in a historical sense, however, the modern Constitution of Afghanistan states that he word Afghan shall apply to every citizen of Afghanistan. An important site of historical activities, many believe that Afghanistan compares to Egypt in terms of the historical value of its archaeological sites. The country sits at a unique nexus point where numerous civilizations have interacted and it has been home to various peoples through the ages, among them the ancient Iranian peoples who established the dominant role of Indo-Iranian languages in the region. At multiple points, the land has been incorporated within large regional empires, among them the Achaemenid Empire, the Macedonian Empire, the Indian Maurya Empire, and the Islamic Empire. Archaeological exploration done in the 20th century suggests that the area of Afghanistan has been closely connected by culture and trade with its neighbors to the east, west. Artifacts typical of the Paleolithic, Mesolithic, Neolithic, Bronze, urban civilization is believed to have begun as early as 3000 BCE, and the early city of Mundigak may have been a colony of the nearby Indus Valley Civilization. More recent findings established that the Indus Valley Civilisation stretched up towards modern-day Afghanistan, making the ancient civilisation today part of Pakistan, Afghanistan, in more detail, it extended from what today is northwest Pakistan to northwest India and northeast Afghanistan. An Indus Valley site has found on the Oxus River at Shortugai in northern Afghanistan. There are several smaller IVC colonies to be found in Afghanistan as well, after 2000 BCE, successive waves of semi-nomadic people from Central Asia began moving south into Afghanistan, among them were many Indo-European-speaking Indo-Iranians. These tribes later migrated further into South Asia, Western Asia, the region at the time was referred to as Ariana
4.
Armenia
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Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a sovereign state in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia. The Republic of Armenia constitutes only one-tenth of historical Armenia, Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia, in the 1st century BC the Kingdom of Armenia reached its height under Tigranes the Great. Armenia became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion, in between the late 3rd century to early years of the 4th century, the state became the first Christian nation. The official date of adoption of Christianity is 301 AD. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine and Sasanian Empires around the early 5th century, under the Bagratuni dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the fell in 1045. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea between the 11th and 14th centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire, during World War I, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide. By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, in 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, into full Union republics. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church, the worlds oldest national church, as the countrys primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet was invented by Mesrop Mashtots in 405 AD, Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Council of Europe and the Collective Security Treaty Organization. Armenia supports the de facto independent Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, which was proclaimed in 1991, the native Armenian name for the country is Հայք. The name in the Middle Ages was extended to Հայաստան, by addition of the Persian suffix -stan, the further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states—the Ḫayaša-Azzi. The exonym Armenia is attested in the Old Persian Behistun Inscription as Armina, the ancient Greek terms Ἀρμενία and Ἀρμένιοι are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus. Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and he relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a descendant of Hayk
5.
Azerbaijan
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Azerbaijan, officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, is a country in the South Caucasus region, situated at the crossroads of Southwest Asia and Southeastern Europe. It is bound by the Caspian Sea to the east, Russia to the north, Georgia to the northwest, Armenia to the west and Iran to the south. The exclave of Nakhchivan is bound by Armenia to the north and east, Iran to the south and west, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic proclaimed its independence in 1918 and became the first democratic state in the Muslim orient world. The country was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1920 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, the modern Republic of Azerbaijan proclaimed its independence on 30 August 1991, prior to the official dissolution of the USSR in December 1991. In September 1991, the Armenian majority of the disputed Nagorno-Karabakh region seceded to form the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, the region and seven adjacent districts outside it became de facto independent with the end of the Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1994. These regions are recognized as part of Azerbaijan pending a solution to the status of the Nagorno-Karabakh. Azerbaijan is a unitary semi-presidential republic, the country is a member state of the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the NATO Partnership for Peace program. It is one of six independent Turkic states, a member of the Turkic Council. Azerbaijan has diplomatic relations with 158 countries and holds membership in 38 international organizations and it is one of the founding members of GUAM, the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Its term of office began on 19 June 2006, Azerbaijan is also a member state of the Non-Aligned Movement, holds observer status in World Trade Organization and is a correspondent at the International Telecommunication Union. The Constitution of Azerbaijan does not declare an official religion and all political forces in the country are secularist. However, the majority of the population are of a Shiite Muslim background, Azerbaijan has a high level of human development which ranks on par with most Eastern European countries. It has a rate of economic development and literacy, as well as a low rate of unemployment. According to the Davos World Economic Forum, Azerbaijans economy has scored 37th place within 138 countries in 2016, Global Competitiveness Index 2015 indicates that Azerbaijan scores highest in its region. ASAN services, established with Presidential Decree, are known for eliminating bribery. ASAN Service has been awarded with United Nations Public Service Award 2015, the ruling party, the New Azerbaijan Party, has been accused of authoritarianism and human rights abuses. The original etymology of name is thought to have its roots in the once-dominant Zoroastrianism. In the Avesta, Frawardin Yasht, there is a mention of âterepâtahe ashaonô fravashîm ýazamaide, the name Atropates itself is the Greek transliteration of an Old Iranian, probably Median, compounded name with the meaning Protected by the Fire or The Land of the Fire
6.
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic
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The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is a landlocked exclave of the Republic of Azerbaijan. The region covers 5,500 km2 with a population of 410,000, bordering Armenia to the east and north, Iran to the south and west, the area that is now Nakhchivan became part of the Safavid dynasty of Iran in the 16th century. In 1828, after the last Russo-Persian War and the Treaty of Turkmenchay, in June 1918, the region came under Ottoman occupation. Under the terms of the Armistice of Mudros, the Ottomans agreed to pull their troops out of the Transcaucasus to make way for British occupation at the close of the First World War. The Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic is an area of Azerbaijan, governed by its own elected legislature. The region continues to suffer from the effects of the Armenia-Azerbaijan War, the administrative capital city is Nakhchivan. Vasif Talibov has been the leader since 1995, variations of the name Nakhchivan include Nakhichevan, Naxcivan, Naxçivan, Nachidsheuan, Nakhijevan, Nakhchawan, Nakhitchevan, Nakhjavan, and Nakhdjevan. Hübschmann notes, however, that it was not known by name in antiquity. Instead, he states the name evolved to Nakhchivan from Naxčawan. The prefix Naxč derives from Naxič or Naxuč and awan is Armenian for place, Nakhchivan was also mentioned in Ptolemys Geography and by other classical writers as Naxuana. Armenian tradition says that Nakhchivan was founded by Noah, the oldest material culture artifacts found in the region date back to the Neolithic Age. The region was part of the states of Urartu and later Media and it became part of the Satrapy of Armenia under Achaemenid Persia c.521 BC. In 189 BC, Nakhchivan became part of the new Kingdom of Armenia established by Artaxias I, within the kingdom, the region of present-day Nakhchivan was part of the Ayrarat, Vaspurakan and Syunik provinces. The areas status as a trade center allowed it to prosper, as a result. According to the Armenian historian Faustus of Byzantium, when the Sassanid Persians invaded Armenia, in 428, the Armenian Arshakuni monarchy was abolished and Nakhchivan was annexed by Sassanid Persia. In 623, possession of the passed to the Byzantine Empire. It happened in the province of Gokhtan, which corresponds to Nakhchivans modern Ordubad district, in 705, after suppressing an Armenian revolt, Arab viceroy Muhammad ibn Marwan decided to eliminate the Armenian nobility. In Nakhchivan, several hundred Armenian nobles were locked up in churches and burnt, the violence caused many Armenian princes to flee to the neighboring Kingdom of Georgia or the Byzantine Empire
7.
Enclave and exclave
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An enclave is a territory, or a part of a territory, that is entirely surrounded by the territory of one other state. Territorial waters have the same attributes as land, and enclaves may therefore exist within territorial waters. An exclave is a portion of a state or territory geographically separated from the part by surrounding alien territory. Enclave is sometimes used improperly to denote a territory that is partly surrounded by another state. Vatican City and San Marino, enclaved by Italy, and Lesotho, unlike an enclave, an exclave can be surrounded by several states. The Azeri exclave of Naxçıvan is an example of an exclave. Semi-enclaves and semi-exclaves are areas that, except for possessing an unsurrounded sea border, Enclaves and semi-enclaves can exist as independent states, while exclaves always constitute just a part of a sovereign state. A pene-enclave is a part of the territory of one country that can be approached conveniently — in particular by wheeled traffic — only through the territory of another country, pene-enclaves are also called functional enclaves or practical enclaves. Many pene-exclaves partially border their own territorial waters, a pene-enclave can also exist entirely on land, such as when intervening mountains render a territory inaccessible from other parts of a country except through alien territory. A commonly cited example is the Kleinwalsertal, a part of Vorarlberg, Austria. The word enclave is French and first appeared in the century as a derivative of the verb enclaver. In law, this created a servitude of passage for the benefit of the owner of the surrounded land, the first diplomatic document to contain the word enclave was the Treaty of Madrid, signed in 1526. Later, the term began to be used also to refer to parcels of countries, counties, fiefs, communes, towns, parishes. This French word eventually entered the English and other languages to denote the same concept although local terms have continued to be used, in India, the word pocket is often used as a synonym for enclave. In British administrative history, subnational enclaves were usually called detachments or detached parts, in English ecclesiastic history, subnational enclaves were known as peculiars. The word exclave, modeled on enclave, is a extension of the concept of enclave. Enclaves exist for a variety of historical, political and geographical reasons, in particular, this state of affairs persisted into the 19th century in the Holy Roman Empire, and these domains exhibited many of the characteristics of sovereign states. Prior to 1866 Prussia alone consisted of more than 270 discontiguous pieces of territory, thus, over time enclaves have tended to be eliminated. This exchange thus effectively de-enclaved another two dozen second-order enclaves and one third-order enclave, eliminating 197 of the Indo-Bangladesh enclaves in all, the residents in these enclaves had complained of being effectively stateless
8.
Iraq
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The capital, and largest city, is Baghdad. The main ethnic groups are Arabs and Kurds, others include Assyrians, Turkmen, Shabakis, Yazidis, Armenians, Mandeans, Circassians, around 95% of the countrys 36 million citizens are Muslims, with Christianity, Yarsan, Yezidism, and Mandeanism also present. The official languages of Iraq are Arabic and Kurdish, two major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, run south through Iraq and into the Shatt al-Arab near the Persian Gulf. These rivers provide Iraq with significant amounts of fertile land, the region between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, historically known as Mesopotamia, is often referred to as the cradle of civilisation. It was here that mankind first began to read, write, create laws, the area has been home to successive civilisations since the 6th millennium BC. Iraq was the centre of the Akkadian, Sumerian, Assyrian and it was also part of the Median, Achaemenid, Hellenistic, Parthian, Sassanid, Roman, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, Ayyubid, Mongol, Safavid, Afsharid, and Ottoman empires. Iraqs modern borders were mostly demarcated in 1920 by the League of Nations when the Ottoman Empire was divided by the Treaty of Sèvres, Iraq was placed under the authority of the United Kingdom as the British Mandate of Mesopotamia. A monarchy was established in 1921 and the Kingdom of Iraq gained independence from Britain in 1932, in 1958, the monarchy was overthrown and the Iraqi Republic created. Iraq was controlled by the Arab Socialist Baath Party from 1968 until 2003, after an invasion by the United States and its allies in 2003, Saddam Husseins Baath Party was removed from power and multi-party parliamentary elections were held in 2005. The American presence in Iraq ended in 2011, but the Iraqi insurgency continued and intensified as fighters from the Syrian Civil War spilled into the country, the Arabic name العراق al-ʿIrāq has been in use since before the 6th century. There are several suggested origins for the name, one dates to the Sumerian city of Uruk and is thus ultimately of Sumerian origin, as Uruk was the Akkadian name for the Sumerian city of Urug, containing the Sumerian word for city, UR. An Arabic folk etymology for the name is rooted, well-watered. During the medieval period, there was a region called ʿIrāq ʿArabī for Lower Mesopotamia and ʿIrāq ʿajamī, for the region now situated in Central and Western Iran. The term historically included the south of the Hamrin Mountains. The term Sawad was also used in early Islamic times for the region of the plain of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. In English, it is either /ɪˈrɑːk/ or /ɪˈræk/, the American Heritage Dictionary, the pronunciation /aɪˈræk/ is frequently heard in U. S. media. Since approximately 10,000 BC, Iraq was one of centres of a Caucasoid Neolithic culture where agriculture, the following Neolithic period is represented by rectangular houses. At the time of the pre-pottery Neolithic, people used vessels made of stone, gypsum, finds of obsidian tools from Anatolia are evidences of early trade relations
9.
Pakistan
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Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a federal parliamentary republic in South Asia on the crossroads of Central Asia and Western Asia. It is the sixth-most populous country with a population exceeding 200 million people, in terms of area, it is the 33rd-largest country in the world with an area covering 881,913 square kilometres. It is separated from Tajikistan by Afghanistans narrow Wakhan Corridor in the north, Pakistan is unique among Muslim countries in that it is the only country to have been created in the name of Islam. As a result of the Pakistan Movement led by Muhammad Ali Jinnah and it is an ethnically and linguistically diverse country, with a similarly diverse geography and wildlife. Initially a dominion, Pakistan adopted a constitution in 1956, becoming an Islamic republic, an ethnic civil war in 1971 resulted in the secession of East Pakistan as the new country of Bangladesh. The new constitution stipulated that all laws were to conform to the injunctions of Islam as laid down in the Quran. Pakistan has an economy with a well-integrated agriculture sector. The Pakistani economy is the 24th-largest in the world in terms of purchasing power and it is ranked among the emerging and growth-leading economies of the world, and is backed by one of the worlds largest and fastest-growing middle classes. The post-independence history of Pakistan has been characterised by periods of military rule, the country continues to face challenging problems such as illiteracy, healthcare, and corruption, but has substantially reduced poverty and terrorism and expanded per capita income. It is also a member of CERN. Pakistan is a signatory to the Kyoto Protocol, the Paris Agreement, the name Pakistan literally means land of the pure in Urdu and Persian. It is a play on the word pāk meaning pure in Persian and Pashto, the letter i was incorporated to ease pronunciation and form the linguistically correct and meaningful name. Some of the earliest ancient human civilisations in South Asia originated from areas encompassing present-day Pakistan, the earliest known inhabitants in the region were Soanian during the Lower Paleolithic, of whom stone tools have been found in the Soan Valley of Punjab. The Vedic Civilization, characterised by Indo-Aryan culture, laid the foundations of Hinduism, Multan was an important Hindu pilgrimage centre. The Vedic civilisation flourished in the ancient Gandhāran city of Takṣaśilā, the Indo-Greek Kingdom founded by Demetrius of Bactria included Gandhara and Punjab and reached its greatest extent under Menander, prospering the Greco-Buddhist culture in the region. Taxila had one of the earliest universities and centres of education in the world. At its zenith, the Rai Dynasty of Sindh ruled this region, the Pala Dynasty was the last Buddhist empire, which, under Dharampala and Devapala, stretched across South Asia from what is now Bangladesh through Northern India to Pakistan. The Arab conqueror Muhammad bin Qasim conquered the Indus valley from Sindh to Multan in southern Punjab in 711 AD, the Pakistan governments official chronology identifies this as the time when the foundation of Pakistan was laid
10.
Turkey
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Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey, is a transcontinental country in Eurasia, mainly in Anatolia in Western Asia, with a smaller portion on the Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. Turkey is a democratic, secular, unitary, parliamentary republic with a cultural heritage. The country is encircled by seas on three sides, the Aegean Sea is to the west, the Black Sea to the north, and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. The Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, and the Dardanelles, Ankara is the capital while Istanbul is the countrys largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Approximately 70-80% of the countrys citizens identify themselves as ethnic Turks, other ethnic groups include legally recognised and unrecognised minorities. Kurds are the largest ethnic minority group, making up approximately 20% of the population, the area of Turkey has been inhabited since the Paleolithic by various ancient Anatolian civilisations, as well as Assyrians, Greeks, Thracians, Phrygians, Urartians and Armenians. After Alexander the Greats conquest, the area was Hellenized, a process continued under the Roman Empire. The Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm ruled Anatolia until the Mongol invasion in 1243, the empire reached the peak of its power in the 16th century, especially during the reign of Suleiman the Magnificent. During the war, the Ottoman government committed genocides against its Armenian, Assyrian, following the war, the conglomeration of territories and peoples that formerly comprised the Ottoman Empire was partitioned into several new states. Turkey is a member of the UN, an early member of NATO. Turkeys growing economy and diplomatic initiatives have led to its recognition as a regional power while her location has given it geopolitical, the name of Turkey is based on the ethnonym Türk. The first recorded use of the term Türk or Türük as an autonym is contained in the Old Turkic inscriptions of the Göktürks of Central Asia, the English name Turkey first appeared in the late 14th century and is derived from Medieval Latin Turchia. Similarly, the medieval Khazar Empire, a Turkic state on the shores of the Black. The medieval Arabs referred to the Mamluk Sultanate as al-Dawla al-Turkiyya, the Ottoman Empire was sometimes referred to as Turkey or the Turkish Empire among its European contemporaries. The Anatolian peninsula, comprising most of modern Turkey, is one of the oldest permanently settled regions in the world, various ancient Anatolian populations have lived in Anatolia, from at least the Neolithic period until the Hellenistic period. Many of these peoples spoke the Anatolian languages, a branch of the larger Indo-European language family, in fact, given the antiquity of the Indo-European Hittite and Luwian languages, some scholars have proposed Anatolia as the hypothetical centre from which the Indo-European languages radiated. The European part of Turkey, called Eastern Thrace, has also been inhabited since at least forty years ago. It is the largest and best-preserved Neolithic site found to date, the settlement of Troy started in the Neolithic Age and continued into the Iron Age
11.
Turkmenistan
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Turkmenistan has been at the crossroads of civilizations for centuries. In medieval times, Merv was one of the cities of the Islamic world and an important stop on the Silk Road. Annexed by the Russian Empire in 1881, Turkmenistan later figured prominently in the movement in Central Asia. In 1924, Turkmenistan became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union, Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic, Turkmenistan possesses the worlds fourth largest reserves of natural gas resources. Most of the country is covered by the Karakum Desert, since 1993, citizens have received government-provided electricity, water and natural gas free of charge. Turkmenistan was ruled by President for Life Saparmurat Niyazov until his death in 2006, Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedow was elected president in 2007. According to Human Rights Watch, Turkmenistan remains one of the world’s most repressive countries, after suspending the death penalty, the use of capital punishment was formally abolished in the 2008 constitution. Historically inhabited by the Indo-Iranians, the history of Turkmenistan begins with its annexation by the Achaemenid Empire of Ancient Iran. In the 8th century AD, Turkic-speaking Oghuz tribes moved from Mongolia into present-day Central Asia, part of a powerful confederation of tribes, these Oghuz formed the ethnic basis of the modern Turkmen population. In the 10th century, the name Turkmen was first applied to Oghuz groups that accepted Islam, There they were under the dominion of the Seljuk Empire, which was composed of Oghuz groups living in present-day Iran and Turkmenistan. Turkmen soldiers in the service of the played a important role in the spreading of Turkic culture when they migrated westward into present-day Azerbaijan. In the 12th century, Turkmen and other tribes overthrew the Seljuk Empire, in the next century, the Mongols took over the more northern lands where the Turkmens had settled, scattering the Turkmens southward and contributing to the formation of new tribal groups. The sixteenth and eighteenth centuries saw a series of splits and confederations among the nomadic Turkmen tribes, by the 16th century, most of those tribes were under the nominal control of two sedentary Uzbek khanates, Khiva and Bukhoro. Turkmen soldiers were an important element of the Uzbek militaries of this period, in the 19th century, raids and rebellions by the Yomud Turkmen group resulted in that groups dispersal by the Uzbek rulers. According to Paul R. Spickard, Prior to the Russian conquest, Russian forces began occupying Turkmen territory late in the 19th century. From their Caspian Sea base at Krasnovodsk, the Russians eventually overcame the Uzbek khanates, in 1916 the Russian Empires participation in World War I resonated in Turkmenistan, as an anticonscription revolt swept most of Russian Central Asia. In 1924 the Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic was formed from the tsarist province of Transcaspia, by the late 1930s, Soviet reorganization of agriculture had destroyed what remained of the nomadic lifestyle in Turkmenistan, and Moscow controlled political life. The Ashgabat earthquake of 1948 killed over 110,000 people, during the next half-century, Turkmenistan played its designated economic role within the Soviet Union and remained outside the course of major world events
12.
Mount Damavand
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Mount Damāvand, a potentially active volcano, is a stratovolcano which is the highest peak in Iran and the Middle East as well as the highest volcano in Asia. It has a place in Persian mythology and folklore. This peak is located in the middle of the Alborz range, adjacent to Varārū, Sesang, Gol-e Zard, the mountain is located near the southern coast of the Caspian Sea, in Amol County, Mazandaran Province,66 kilometres northeast of the city of Tehran. Mount Damāvand is the 12th most prominent peak in the world, and it is the highest volcanic mountain in Asia, and part of the Volcanic Seven Summits mountaineering challenge. Damavand is a significant mountain in Persian mythology and it is the symbol of Iranian resistance against despotism and foreign rule in Persian poetry and literature. In Zoroastrian texts and mythology, the three-headed dragon Aži Dahāka was chained within Mount Damāvand, in a later version of the same legend, the tyrant Zahhāk was also chained in a cave somewhere in Mount Damāvand after being defeated by Kāveh and Fereydūn. The mountain is said to hold magical powers in the Shahnameh, Damāvand has also been named in the Iranian legend of Arash as the location from which the hero shot his magical arrow to mark the border of Iran, during the border dispute between Iran and Turan. The poem Damāvand by Mohammad Taqī Bahār is also one example of the mountains significance in Persian literature. Mount Damavand first erupted in the Pleistocene almost 1.78 million years ago, after several known eruptions around 600,000 and 280,000 years ago, it finally erupted about 7300 years ago in the Holocene. Its steep cone is formed of ash and lava flows that are made of trachyte, andesite. The Quaternary lavas are located on the Jurassic sediments. The volcano is crowned by a crater with sulfuric deposits. There are also fumaroles, hot springs, and mineral deposits of travertine, Mount Damavand could be considered as a potentially active volcano, because there are fumaroles near the summit crater emitting sulfur, which were known to be active on July 6,2007. Mineral hot springs are located on the volcanos flanks and at the base. The most important of these hot springs are located in Abe Garm Larijan in a village by the name Larijan in the district of Larijan in Lar Valley, the water from this spring is useful in the treatment of chronic wounds and skin diseases. Near these springs there are public baths with small pools for public use, the best major settlement for mountain climbers is the new Iranian Mountain Federation Camp in the village of Polour, located on the south of the mountain. There are at least 16 known routes to the summit, with varying levels of difficulty, some of them are very dangerous and require rock climbing. The most popular route is the Southern Route which has step stamps, the longest route is the Northeastern and it takes two whole days to reach the summit starting from downhill village of Nāndal and a night stay at Takht-e Fereydoun, a two-story shelter
13.
Caspian Sea
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The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed inland body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the worlds largest lake or a full-fledged sea. It is in a basin located between Europe and Asia. It is bounded by Kazakhstan to the northeast, Russia to the northwest, Azerbaijan to the west, Iran to the south, the Caspian Sea lies to the east of the Caucasus Mountains and to the west of the vast steppe of Central Asia. In its northern part, the Caspian Depression lies 28 to 130 m below sea level, the sea bed in the southern part reaches as low as 1023 m below sea level, which is the second lowest natural depression on earth after Lake Baikal. The ancient inhabitants of its coast perceived the Caspian Sea as an ocean, probably because of its saltiness, the sea has a surface area of 371,000 km2 and a volume of 78,200 km3. It has a salinity of approximately 1. 2%, about a third of the salinity of most seawater, the word Caspian is derived from the name of the Caspi, an ancient people who lived to the southwest of the sea in Transcaucasia. Strabo wrote that to the country of the Albanians belongs also the territory called Caspiane, which was named after the Caspian tribe, as was also the sea, but the tribe has now disappeared. Moreover, the Caspian Gates, which is the name of a region in Irans Tehran province, the Iranian city of Qazvin shares the root of its name with that of the sea. In fact, the traditional Arabic name for the sea itself is Bahr al-Qazwin, in classical antiquity among Greeks and Persians it was called the Hyrcanian Ocean. In Persian antiquity, as well as in modern Iran, it is known as the دریای خزر, Daryā-e Khazar, ancient Arabic sources refer to it as Baḥr Gīlān meaning the Gilan Sea. Turkic languages refer to the lake as Khazar Sea, in Turkmen, the name is Hazar deňizi, in Azeri, it is Xəzər dənizi, and in modern Turkish, it is Hazar denizi. An exception is Kazakh, where it is called Каспий теңізі, old Russian sources call it the Khvalyn or Khvalis Sea after the name of Khwarezmia. In modern Russian, it is called Каспи́йское мо́ре, Kaspiyskoye more, the Caspian Sea, like the Black Sea, Namak Lake, and Lake Urmia, is a remnant of the ancient Paratethys Sea. It became landlocked about 5.5 million years ago due to tectonic uplift and a fall in sea level. Due to the current inflow of water, the Caspian Sea is a freshwater lake in its northern portions, and is most saline on the Iranian shore. Currently, the salinity of the Caspian is one third that of Earths oceans. The Caspian Sea is the largest inland body of water in the world, the coastlines of the Caspian are shared by Azerbaijan, Iran, Kazakhstan, Russia, and Turkmenistan. The Caspian is divided into three distinct regions, the Northern, Middle, and Southern Caspian
14.
Karun
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The Kārun is Irans most affluent and only navigable river. The Karun continues toward the Persian Gulf, forking into two branches on its delta - the Bahmanshir and the Haffar - that join Arvand Roud. The important Island of Abadan is located between two branches of the Karun. The port city of Khorramshahr is divided from the Island of Abadan by the Haffar branch, juris Zarins and other scholars have identified the Karun as one of the four rivers of Eden, the others being the Tigris, the Euphrates and either the Wadi Batin or the Karkheh. In early classical times, the Karun was known as the Pasitigris, the modern medieval and modern name, Karun, is a corruption of the name Kuhrang, which is still maintained by one of the two primary tributaries of the Karun. It originates in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran, on the slopes of 4,221 m Zard-Kuh, the river flows south and west through several prominent mountain ridges, and receives additional water from the Vanak on the south bank and the Bazuft on the north. These tributaries add to the catchment of the river above the Karun-4 Dam.25 kilometres downstream, the Khersan flows into an arm of the reservoir from the southeast. The river passes through this reservoir and flows through a canyon, now in a northwest direction, past Izeh. The Karun then turns north into the reservoir of Shahid Abbaspour Dam, the Karun flows southwest into the impoundment of Masjed Soleyman Dam, then turns northwest. Finally, it leaves the foothills and flows south past Shushtar, the largest river by discharge in Iran, the Karun Rivers watershed covers 65,230 square kilometres in parts of two Iranian provinces. The river is around 950 kilometres long and has a discharge of 575 cubic metres per second. The largest city on the river is Ahvaz, with over 1.3 million inhabitants, other important cities include Shushtar, Khorramshahr, Masjed-Soleyman, and Izeh. Much of Khuzestans transport and resources are connected in one way or another to the Karun, since the British first discovered oil at Masjed-Soleyman, the Karun has been an important route for the transport of petroleum to the Persian Gulf, and remains an important commercial waterway. Water from the Karun provides irrigation to over 280,000 hectares of the surrounding plain, the Karun River valley was once inhabited by the Elamite civilization which rose about 2,700 B. C. At several points in history, Mesopotamian civilizations such as Ur and Babylon overthrew the Elamites and gained control of the Karun, however, the Elamite empire lasted until about 640 B. C. when the Assyrians overran it. The city of Susa, near the city of Shush between the Dez and Karkheh rivers, was one of their largest before it was destroyed by the invaders. In two of several competing theories about the origins and location of the Garden of Eden, the Karun is presumed to be the Gihon River that is described in the Biblical book of Genesis. The name of the river is derived from the peak, Kuhrang
15.
Lake Urmia
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Lake Urmia is an endorheic salt lake in Iran. The lake is between the provinces of East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan in Iran, and west of the portion of the Caspian Sea. At its full size, it was the largest lake in the Middle East and the sixth-largest saltwater lake on Earth with an area of approximately 5,200 km2,140 km length,55 km width. The lake has shrunk to 10% of its size due to damming of the rivers that flow into it. Urmia Lake, along with its once approximately 102 islands, are protected as a park by the Iranian Department of Environment. Currently, the lake is named after the capital city of Urmia. However, in the early 1930s, it was called Lake Rezaiyeh after Reza Shah Pahlavi, after the Iranian Revolution in the late 1970s the lake was renamed Urmia. Its Old Persian name was Chichast, in medieval times it came to be known as Lake Kabuda, from the word for azure in Persian, or կապույտ in Armenian. Its Latin name was Lacus Matianus so it is referred to in texts as Lake Matianus or Lake Matiene. Locally, the lake is referred to in Persian as دریاچه ارومیه, Daryāche-ye Orūmiye, in Azerbaijani as Urmu gölü, ﺍﻭﺭﻣﻮ ﮔﺆﻟﻮ, the traditional Armenian name is Կապուտան ծով, Kaputan tsov, literally blue sea. One of the mentions of Urmia Lake is from the Assyrian records from 9th century BC. There, in the records of Shalmaneser III, two names are mentioned in the area of Urmia Lake, Parsuwash and Matai and it is not completely clear whether these referred to places or tribes or what their relationship was to the subsequent list of personal names and kings. But Matais were Medes and linguistically the name Parsuwash matches the Old Persian word pārsa, the lake was the center of the Mannaean Kingdom. A potential Mannaean settlement, represented by the mound of Hasanlu, was on the south side of the lake. Mannae was overrun by the people who were called Matiani or Matieni and it is not clear whether the lake took its name from the people or the people from the lake, but the country came to be called Matiene or Matiane, and gave the lake its Latin name. The main cations in the water include Na+, K+, Ca2+, Li+ and Mg2+, while Cl−, SO2−4. The Na+ and Cl− concentration is roughly four times the concentration of natural seawater, sodium ions are at slightly higher concentration in the south compared to the north of the lake, which could result from the shallower depth in the south, and a higher net evaporation rate. The lake is divided north and south, separated by a causeway in which a 1. 5-kilometre gap provides little exchange of water between the two parts
16.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
17.
Persian Gulf
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The Persian Gulf is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Indian Ocean through the Strait of Hormuz, the Shatt al-Arab river delta forms the northwest shoreline. The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 Iran–Iraq War and it is the namesake of the 1991 Gulf War, the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed Iraqs invasion of Kuwait. The gulf has many fishing grounds, extensive coral reefs, and abundant pearl oysters, the body of water is historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf. Some Arab governments refer to it as the Arabian Gulf or The Gulf, the name Gulf of Iran is used by the International Hydrographic Organization. The Persian Gulf is geologically young, having been formed around 15,000 years ago. Its length is 989 kilometres, with Iran covering most of the northern coast, the Persian Gulf is about 56 km wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 metres. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are the subject of territorial disputes between the states of the region. The International Hydrographic Organization defines the Persian Gulfs southern limit as The Northwestern limit of Gulf of Oman and this limit is defined as A line joining Ràs Limah on the coast of Arabia and Ràs al Kuh on the coast of Iran. The Persian Gulf and its areas are the worlds largest single source of crude oil. Safaniya Oil Field, the worlds largest offshore oilfield, is located in the Persian Gulf, large gas finds have also been made, with Qatar and Iran sharing a giant field across the territorial median line. Using this gas, Qatar has built up a substantial liquefied natural gas, the oil-rich countries that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as the Persian Gulf States. In 550 BC, the Achaemenid Empire established the first ancient empire in Persis, consequently, in the Greek sources, the body of water that bordered this province came to be known as the Persian Gulf. In the travel account of Pythagoras, several chapters are related to description of his travels accompanied by the Achaemenid king Darius the Great, to Susa and Persepolis, and the area is described. This water channel separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate, has enjoyed an Iranian Identity since at least 2200 years ago. Before being given its present name, the Persian Gulf was called many different names, the classical Greek writers, like Herodotus, called it the Red Sea. In Babylonian texts, it was known as the sea above Akkad, the name of the gulf, historically and internationally known as the Persian Gulf after the land of Persia, has been disputed by some Arab countries since the 1960s
18.
Gulf of Oman
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The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman is a strait that connects the Arabian Sea with the Strait of Hormuz, which then runs to the Persian Gulf. It borders Pakistan and Iran on the north, Oman on the south, Iran Oman Pakistan United Arab Emirates Gulf of Oman desert and semi-desert The Book of Duarte Barbosa by Duarte Barbosa, Mansel Longworth Dames. ISBN 81-206-0451-2 The Natural History of Pliny. by Pliny, Henry Thomas Riley, P.117 The Countries and Tribes of the Persian Gulf by Samuel Barrett Miles -1966. P.148 The Life & Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, P.279 The Outline of History, Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind. by Herbert George Well. The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge by Johann Jakob Herzog, Philip Schaff, Albert Hauck
19.
Mountain
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A mountain is a large landform that stretches above the surrounding land in a limited area, usually in the form of a peak. A mountain is steeper than a hill. Mountains are formed through tectonic forces or volcanism and these forces can locally raise the surface of the earth. Mountains erode slowly through the action of rivers, weather conditions, a few mountains are isolated summits, but most occur in huge mountain ranges. High elevations on mountains produce colder climates than at sea level and these colder climates strongly affect the ecosystems of mountains, different elevations have different plants and animals. Because of the less hospitable terrain and climate, mountains tend to be used less for agriculture and more for resource extraction and recreation, the highest mountain on Earth is Mount Everest in the Himalayas of Asia, whose summit is 8,850 m above mean sea level. The highest known mountain on any planet in the Solar System is Olympus Mons on Mars at 21,171 m, there is no universally accepted definition of a mountain. Elevation, volume, relief, steepness, spacing and continuity have been used as criteria for defining a mountain, whether a landform is called a mountain may depend on local usage. The highest point in San Francisco, California, is called Mount Davidson, notwithstanding its height of 300 m, similarly, Mount Scott outside Lawton, Oklahoma is only 251 m from its base to its highest point. Whittows Dictionary of Physical Geography states Some authorities regard eminences above 600 metres as mountains, in addition, some definitions also include a topographical prominence requirement, typically 100 or 500 feet. For a while, the US defined a mountain as being 1,000 feet or taller, any similar landform lower than this height was considered a hill. However, today, the United States Geological Survey concludes that these terms do not have technical definitions in the US, using these definitions, mountains cover 33% of Eurasia, 19% of South America, 24% of North America, and 14% of Africa. As a whole, 24% of the Earths land mass is mountainous, there are three main types of mountains, volcanic, fold, and block. All three types are formed from plate tectonics, when portions of the Earths crust move, crumple, compressional forces, isostatic uplift and intrusion of igneous matter forces surface rock upward, creating a landform higher than the surrounding features. The height of the feature makes it either a hill or, if higher and steeper, major mountains tend to occur in long linear arcs, indicating tectonic plate boundaries and activity. Volcanoes are formed when a plate is pushed below another plate, at a depth of around 100 km, melting occurs in rock above the slab, and forms magma that reaches the surface. When the magma reaches the surface, it builds a volcanic mountain. Examples of volcanoes include Mount Fuji in Japan and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the magma does not have to reach the surface in order to create a mountain, magma that solidifies below ground can still form dome mountains, such as Navajo Mountain in the US
20.
Drainage basin
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A drainage basin or catchment area is any area of land where precipitation collects and drains off into a common outlet, such as into a river, bay, or other body of water. Drainage basins connect into other drainage basins at elevations in a hierarchical pattern, with smaller sub-drainage basins. Other terms used to describe drainage basins are catchment, catchment basin, drainage area, river basin and water basin. In closed drainage basins the water converges to a point inside the basin, known as a sink, which may be a permanent lake. The drainage basin acts as a funnel by collecting all the water within the covered by the basin. Each drainage basin is separated topographically from adjacent basins by a perimeter, drainage basins are similar but not identical to hydrologic units, which are drainage areas delineated so as to nest into a multi-level hierarchical drainage system. Hydrologic units are defined to allow multiple inlets, outlets, or sinks, in a strict sense, all drainage basins are hydrologic units but not all hydrologic units are drainage basins. Drainage basins of the oceans and seas of the world. Grey areas are endorheic basins that do not drain to the oceans, the following is a list of the major ocean basins, About 48. 7% of the worlds land drains to the Atlantic Ocean. The two major mediterranean seas of the world also flow to the Atlantic, The Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico basin includes most of the U. S. The Mediterranean Sea basin includes much of North Africa, east-central Africa, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe, Turkey, and the areas of Israel, Lebanon. Just over 13% of the land in the world drains to the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Oceans drainage basin also comprises about 13% of Earths land. It drains the eastern coast of Africa, the coasts of the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf, the Indian subcontinent, Burma, antarctica comprises approximately eight percent of the Earths land. The five largest river basins, from largest to smallest, are the basins of the Amazon, the Río de la Plata, the Congo, the Nile, and the Mississippi. The three rivers that drain the most water, from most to least, are the Amazon, Ganga, endorheic drainage basins are inland basins that do not drain to an ocean. Around 18% of all land drains to endorheic lakes or seas or sinks, the largest of these consists of much of the interior of Asia, which drains into the Caspian Sea, the Aral Sea, and numerous smaller lakes. Some of these, such as the Great Basin, are not single drainage basins but collections of separate, in endorheic bodies of standing water where evaporation is the primary means of water loss, the water is typically more saline than the oceans. An extreme example of this is the Dead Sea, drainage basins have been historically important for determining territorial boundaries, particularly in regions where trade by water has been important
21.
Transport in Iran
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Transport in Iran is inexpensive because of the governments subsidization of the price of gasoline. The downside is a draw on government coffers, economic inefficiency because of highly wasteful consumption patterns, contraband with neighboring countries. In 2008, more than one million people worked in the transportation sector, Iran has a long paved road system linking most of its towns and all of its cities. In 2011 the country had 173,000 kilometres of roads, in 2008 there were nearly 100 passenger cars for every 1,000 inhabitants. Trains operate on 11,106 km of railroad track, the country’s major port of entry is Bandar-Abbas on the Strait of Hormuz. After arriving in Iran, imported goods are distributed throughout the country by trucks, the Tehran-Bandar-Abbas railroad, opened in 1995, connects Bandar-Abbas to the railroad system of Central Asia via Tehran and Mashhad. Other major ports include Bandar e-Anzali and Bandar e-Torkeman on the Caspian Sea and Khorramshahr, dozens of cities have airports that serve passenger and cargo planes. Iran Air, the airline, was founded in 1962 and operates domestic. All large cities have mass transit systems using buses, and several companies provide bus service between cities. Tehran, Mashhad, Shiraz, Tabriz, Ahwaz and Esfahan have underground mass transit rail lines, the Ministry of Roads and Transportation is in charge of studying and deciding pricing policy of the transportation, as well as issuing licenses for the establishment of transportation firms. In addition, the Ministry is in charge of implementing comprehensive, as of 2016, plans for foreign direct investment in the transport sector include over 5,600 km of highways,745 km of freeways, and close to 3,000 km of main roads. These projects and others are worth $25 billion, Iran says it needs more than $40 billion to complete 258 major unfinished transportation projects. Total,11,106 km Plan to increase total railways length from 13,500 km in 2016 to 20,000 km by 2025, the majority of transportation in Iran is road-based. The government plans to transport 3. 5% of the volume and 8. 5% of the freight volume by rail. The railway network expands by about 500 km per year according to the Ministry of R&T, in December 2014, a rail line from Iran opened to Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. Afghanistan - planned Azerbaijan - break-of-gauge 1,435 mm /1,520 mm Armenia - planned - break of gauge 1,435 mm /1,520 mm Iraq - part under construction, part planned. One long link from Arak via Kermanshah to Baghdad one short link of about 50 km links Khorramshahr to Basra and is due for completion in 2006, pakistan - break-of-gauge 1,435 mm /1,676 mm - missing link from Bam to Zahedan completed 2009. The metro will have a length of 430 kilometres once all nine lines are constructed by 2028
22.
Transhumance
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Transhumance is a type of nomadism or pastoralism, a seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions, it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and lower valleys in winter, herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Generally only the travel, with a certain number of people necessary to tend them. In contrast, horizontal transhumance is more susceptible to being disrupted by climatic, economic or political change, traditional or fixed transhumance occurs or has occurred throughout the inhabited world, particularly Europe and western Asia. It is often of importance to pastoralist societies, as the dairy products of transhumance flocks. In many languages there are words for the summer pastures. The term transhumance is also used in correlation with nomadic pastoralism – the regular migration of people. The word transhumance comes from French and derives from the Latin words trans across, transhumance developed on every inhabited continent. Although there are cultural and technological variations, the underlying practices for taking advantage of remote seasonal pastures are similar. Transhumance is a form of pastoralism or nomadism, in the Balkans, the Sarakatsani, Aromanian and Yörük peoples traditionally spent summer months in the mountains and returned to lower plains in the winter. When the area was part of the Austro-Hungary and Ottoman empires, in summer, some groups went as far north as the Balkan Mountains, and they would spend the winter on warmer plains in the vicinity of the Aegean Sea. The Morlach were a population of Vlach shepherds who lived in the Dinaric Alps, but as national states appeared in the area of the former Ottoman Empire, new state borders were developed that divided the summer and winter habitats of many of the pastoral groups. These prevented easy movement across borders, particularly at times of war, in most parts of Wales, farm workers and sometimes the farmer would spend the summer months at a hillside summer house, or hafod, where the livestock would graze. During the late autumn the farm family and workers would drive the flocks down to the valleys, both Hafod and Hendref survive in Wales as place names and house names. Today, cattle and sheep that summer on many farms are still transported to lowland winter pastures. In many hilly and mountainous areas of Scotland, agricultural workers spent summer months in bothies or shielings, major drovers roads in the eastern part of Scotland include the Cairnamounth, Elsick Mounth and Causey Mounth. This practice has died out, but was practised within living memory in the Hebridean Islands. Today much transhumance is carried out by truck, with upland flocks being transported under agistment to lower-lying pasture during winter, in southern England, where the climate is mild and the hills low, transhumance historically took the opposite form to more mountainous areas
23.
Pasture
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Pasture is land used for grazing. Pasture lands in the narrow sense are enclosed tracts of farmland, grazed by domesticated livestock, such as horses, cattle, the vegetation of tended pasture, forage, consists mainly of grasses, with an interspersion of legumes and other forbs. Pasture is typically grazed throughout the summer, in contrast to meadow which is ungrazed or used for grazing only after being mown to make hay for animal fodder. Pasture in a wider sense additionally includes rangelands, other unenclosed pastoral systems, soil type, minimum annual temperature, and rainfall are important factors in pasture management. Sheepwalk is an area of grassland where sheep can roam freely, the productivity of sheepwalk is measured by the number of sheep per area. This is dependent, among other things, on the underlying rock, sheepwalk is also the name of townlands in County Roscommon, Ireland and County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. Unless factory farming, which entails in its most intensive form entirely trough-feeding, in more humid regions, pasture grazing is managed across a large global area for free range and organic farming. Grassland Heathland Machair Maquis Moorland Potrero Prairie Rangeland Rough pasture Savanna Steppe Wood pasture Veld Transhumance
24.
Post-Soviet states
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On March 11,1990, Lithuania was the first to declare its independence, with Estonia and Latvia following suit in August 1991. All three Baltic states claimed continuity from the states that existed prior to their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1944 and were admitted to the United Nations on 17 September 1991. The remaining 12 republics all subsequently seceded,12 of the 15 states, excluding the Baltic states, initially formed the CIS and most joined CSTO, while the Baltic states focused on European Union and NATO membership. The 15 post-Soviet states are divided into the following five groupings. Each of these regions has its own set of traits, owing not only to geographic and cultural factors. In addition, there are a number of de facto independent, the dissolution of the Soviet Union took place as a result and against the backdrop of general economic stagnation, even regression. In all, the process triggered severe economic declines, with Gross Domestic Product dropping by more than 40% overall between 1990 and 1995. This decline in GDP was much more intense than the 27% decline that the United States suffered in the wake of the Great Depression between 1930 and 1934. The economic shocks associated with wholesale privatization resulted in the deaths of roughly 1 million working age individuals throughout the former Soviet bloc in the 1990s, by 2007,10 of the 15 post-Soviet states had recovered and reached GDP greater than what they had in 1991. Only Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan had GDP significantly below the 1991 level, the recovery in Russia was marginal, with GDP in 2006-2007 just nudging above the 1991 level. Combined with the aftershocks of the 1998 economic crisis it led to a return of more interventionist economic policies by Vladimir Putins administration. Change in Gross Domestic Product in constant prices, 1991-2015 *Economy of most Soviet republics started to decline in 1989-1990, **The year when GDP decline switched to GDP growth. List of the present Gross domestic product, The post-Soviet states listed according to their Human Development Index scores, only organizations that are mainly composed of post-Soviet states are listed in this section, organizations with wider memberships are not discussed. The 15 post-Soviet states are divided in their participation to the blocs, Belarus, Russia. It was conceived as an organization to the USSR. It currently consists of nine of the 15 former Soviet republics, with one participating state, Georgia withdrew from the CIS in August 2008. The sole exception to the above has been their recent membership in the Community of Democratic Choice, the Central Asian states of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan are members of the CIS and participate in several regional organizations that have Russia as a primary mover. Such organizations are the Eurasian Economic Community, Collective Security Treaty Organization, the last two groups only became distinct once Uzbekistan withdrew from GUAM and sought membership in EurAsEc and CSTO
25.
Shatt al-Arab
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The southern end of the river constitutes the border between Iraq and Iran down to the mouth of the river as it discharges into the Persian Gulf. The river is significant because it forms a natural border between Iran and the Arab world. It varies in width from about 232 metres at Basra to 800 metres at its mouth and it is thought that the waterway formed relatively recently in geologic time, with the Tigris and Euphrates originally emptying into the Persian Gulf via a channel further to the west. The Karun river, a tributary joins the waterway from the Iranian side, deposits large amounts of silt into the river. The area is judged to hold the largest date palm forest in the world, in the mid-1970s, the region included 17 to 18 million date palms, an estimated one-fifth of the worlds 90 million palm trees. But by 2002, war, salt, and pests had wiped out more than 14 million of the palms, many of the remaining 3 to 4 million trees are in poor condition. In Middle Persian literature and the Shahnama, the name اروند Arvand is used for the Tigris, Iranians also used this name specifically to designate the Shatt al-Arab during the later Pahlavi period, and continue to do so after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. The Iranian cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr and the Iraqi city, the tribes on both sides of the lower waterway, however, are Marsh Arabs, and the Ottoman Empire claimed to represent them. Tensions between the empires that extended across a wide range of religious, cultural and political conflicts. The Second Treaty of Erzurum was signed by the two parties in 1847 after protracted negotiations, which included British and Russian delegates. A protocol between the Ottomans and the Persians was signed in Istanbul in 1913, which declared that the Ottoman-Persian frontier run along the thalweg, in 1937, Iran and Iraq signed a treaty that settled the dispute over control of the Shatt al-Arab. By the late 1960s, the build-up of Iranian power under Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, in April 1969, Iran abrogated the 1937 treaty over the Shatt al-Arab, and as such, Iran ceased paying tolls to Iraq when its ships used the Shatt al-Arab. Iraq threatened war over the Iranian move, but when on 24 April 1969 an Iranian tanker escorted by Iranian warships sailed down the Shatt al-Arab, Iraq being the militarily weaker state did nothing. The Iranian abrogation of the 1937 treaty marked the beginning of a period of acute Iraqi-Iranian tension that was to last until the Algiers Accords of 1975, all United Nations attempts to intervene as mediators were rebuffed. Under Saddam Hussein, Baathist Iraq claimed the entire waterway up to the Iranian shore as its territory, in response, Iran in the early 1970s became the main patron of Iraqi Kurdish groups fighting for independence from Iraq. In 1980, Hussein released a statement claiming to abrogate the treaty that he signed, international law, however, holds that in all cases no bilateral or multilateral treaty can be abrogated by one party only. The main thrust of the movement on the ground was across the waterway which was the stage for most of the military battles between the two armies. The waterway was Iraqs only outlet to the Persian Gulf, and thus, its shipping lanes were greatly affected by continuous Iranian attacks
26.
Littoral
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The littoral zone is the part of a sea, lake or river that is close to the shore. In coastal environments the littoral zone extends from the water mark. It always includes this intertidal zone and is used to mean the same as the intertidal zone. However, the meaning of littoral zone can extend well beyond the intertidal zone, what is regarded as the full extent of the littoral zone, and the way the littoral zone is divided into subregions, varies in different contexts. The use of the term varies from one part of the world to another. For example, military commanders speak of the littoral in ways that are different from marine biologists. The adjacency of water gives a number of characteristics to littoral regions. The erosive power of water results in particular types of landforms, such as sand dunes, the natural movement of the littoral along the coast is called the littoral drift. Biologically, the availability of water enables a greater variety of plant and animal life. In addition, the local humidity due to evaporation usually creates a microclimate supporting unique types of organisms. The word littoral is used both as a noun and an adjective and it derives from the Latin noun litus, litoris, meaning shore. In oceanography and marine biology, the idea of the zone is extended roughly to the edge of the continental shelf. Starting from the shoreline, the zone begins at the spray region just above the high tide mark. From here, it moves to the region between the high and low water marks, and then out as far as the edge of the continental shelf. These three subregions are called, in order, the zone, the eulittoral zone and the sublittoral zone. The supralittoral zone is the area above the high tide line that is regularly splashed. Seawater penetrates these elevated areas only during storms with high tides, organisms here must cope also with exposure to fresh water from rain, cold, heat and predation by land animals and seabirds. At the top of this area, patches of dark lichens can appear as crusts on rocks, some types of periwinkles, Neritidae and detritus feeding Isopoda commonly inhabit the lower supralittoral
27.
Sistan and Baluchestan Province
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Sistan and Baluchestan Province is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the southeast of the country, bordering Pakistan and Afghanistan, the province is the largest in Iran, with an area of 181,785 km² and a population of 2.5 million. The counties of the province are Chabahar, Qasar-qand, Dalgan, Hirmand, Iranshahr, Khash, Konarak, Nikshahr, Saravan, Sarbaz, Soran, Zabol, Zaboli, Zahedan and Zehak. The population comprises the Baluch who form a majority in the province, followed by the large minority. Smaller communities of Kurds, the expatriate Brahui, and other resident and itinerant ethnic groups such as the Gypsies are also found in the province, the province comprises two sections, Sistan in the north and Baluchestan in the south. In the south, east and west of Sistān and Balūchestān, in the far north of Sistān and Balūchestān, the people are mostly Persians and speak a dialect of the Persian language known as Sistani/Seestani, similar to the Dari Persian language in Afghanistan. Many scholars, orators, and literary personalities have sprung up from this part of Iran, amongst which are Farrukhi Sistani, Yaqub bin Laith as-Saffar, ayatollah Sistani is also from Sistān, though he currently resides in Najaf, Iraq. In the epigraphs of Bistoon and Persepolis, Sistan is mentioned as one of the territories of Darius the Great. The name Sistan, as mentioned above, is derived from Saka, during the Arsacid Dynasty, the province became the seat of Suren-Pahlav Clan. From the Sassanid period till the early Islamic period, Sistan flourished considerably, during the reign of the second caliph of Islam, Omar ibn Al-Khattab, this territory was conquered by the Arabs and an Arab commander was assigned as governor. The famous Persian ruler Yaqub-i Laith Saffari, whose descendants dominated this area for many centuries, in 916 CE, Baluchestan was ruled by the Daylamids and thereafter the Seljuqids, when it became a part of Kerman. Dynasties such as the Saffarids, Samanids, Qaznavids, and Seljuqids, in 1508 CE, Shah Ismail I of the Safavid dynasty conquered Sistan, and during the reign of Nader Shah there was further turmoil. The province today is the most underdeveloped, desolate, and poorest of Irans provinces, the government of Iran has been trying to reverse this situation by implementing new plans such as creating the Chabahar Free Trade-Industrial Zone. It has weekly trains for Kovaitah, recently a railway from Bam, Iran to Zahedan has been inaugurated. There may be plans to build lines from Zahedan to Chabahar. Sistan Province has two passenger airports, Zahedan Airport Chabahar Airport Port of Chabahar in South of province is the main port to be connected by a new railway to Zahedan in future. Industry is new to the province, efforts have been done and tax, customs and financial motivations have caused more industrial investment, new projects, new producing jobs and improvement of industry. The most important factories are, – Khash cement factory with production of 2600 tons cement daily, factories under construction, – Cotton cloth and fishing net weaving factories and the brick factory can be named as well
28.
Communications in Iran
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Iran’s telecommunications industry is almost entirely state-owned, dominated by the Telecommunication Company of Iran. Iran had more than 1 mobile phone per inhabitant by 2012, Iran has a population of 80 million with some 56% of Iranians under the age of 25. In 2008, there were more than 52,000 rural offices, the number of fixed telephone lines is above 24 million, with penetration factor of 33. 66%. In 2012, there were 43 million internet users in Iran, Iran is among the first five countries which have had a growth rate of over 20 percent and the highest level of development in telecommunication. Iran has been awarded the UNESCO special certificate for providing services to rural areas. By the end of 2009, Irans telecom market was the fourth-largest market in the region at $9.2 billion and is expected to grow to $12.9 billion by 2014 at a CAGR of 6.9 percent. According to the Electronic Journal on Information Systems in Developing Countries, about 150,000 people are employed in the ICT sector, including around 20,000 in the software industry. There were 1,200 registered information technology companies in 2002,200 of which were involved in software development, Software exports stood around $50 million in 2008. The government runs the broadcast media, which includes three radio stations and two national television networks, as well as dozens of local radio and television stations. In 2000 there were 252 radios,158 television sets,219 telephone lines, computers for home use became more affordable in the mid-1990s, and since then demand for access to the Internet has increased rapidly. In 1998, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications began selling Internet accounts to the general public, in 2006, the Iranian telecom industrys revenues were estimated at $1.2 billion. By the end of 2009, Irans telecom market was the fourth-largest market in the region at $9.2 billion and is expected to grow to $12.9 billion by 2014 at a CAGR of 6.9 percent. Given the recent developments of the industry, the objectives are very likely to be achieved, according to one report, Iran has seen above average growth, specially in mobile subscriber numbers. Mobile data services are available but account for a proportion of total data consumption in 2014. Some telecom parameters of 2012 &2014 are as below, More than 23 million Iranians have access to the Internet and over 45 million own mobile phones. Tech-savvy citizens use text messages to communicate with friends and browse the Internet — which the government controls in terms of access, the press in Iran is privately and government owned and reflects a diversity of political and social views. Since the late 1990s the court has shut down many pro-reform newspapers, most Iranian newspapers are published in Persian, but newspapers in English and other languages also exist. The most widely circulated periodicals are based in Tehrān, popular daily and weekly newspapers include Ettelaat, Kayhan, Resalat, Iran Daily and the Tehran Times
29.
Zagros Mountains
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The Zagros Mountains form the largest mountain range in Iran, Iraq and southeastern Turkey. This mountain range has a length of 1,500 km. The highest point in the Zagros Mountains is Dena, the Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates, the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate. This collision primarily happened during the Miocene and folded the rocks that had been deposited from the Carboniferous to the Miocene in the geosyncline in front of the Iranian Plate. The process of collision continues to the present and as the Arabian Plate is being pushed against the Eurasian Plate, the Zagros Mountains, a relatively dense GPS network which covered the Iranian Zagros also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in the southeast Zagros is ~10 mm/yr, the north-south Kazerun strike-slip fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, normal shortening in the southeast, the sedimentary cover in the SE Zagros is deforming above a layer of rock salt whereas in the NW Zagros the salt layer is missing or is very thin. This different basal friction is partly responsible for the different topographies on either side of the Kazerun fault. Higher topography and narrower zone of deformation in the NW Zagros is observed whereas in the SE, deformation was spread more, stresses induced in the Earths crust by the collision caused extensive folding of the preexisting layered sedimentary rocks. Subsequent erosion removed softer rocks, such as mudstone and siltstone while leaving harder rocks, such as limestone and this differential erosion formed the linear ridges of the Zagros Mountains. The depositional environment and tectonic history of the rocks were conducive to the formation and trapping of petroleum, salt domes and salt glaciers are a common feature of the Zagros Mountains. Salt domes are an important target for exploration, as the impermeable salt frequently traps petroleum beneath other rock layers. The Zagros Mountains have a totally sedimentary origin and are primarily of limestone. In the Elevated Zagros or the Higher Zagros, the Paleozoic rocks could be found mainly in the upper and higher sections of the peaks of the Zagros Mountains along the Zagros main fault. On the both sides of this fault, there are Mesozoic rocks, a combination of Triassic and Jurassic rocks that are surrounded by Cretaceous rocks on the both sides. The Folded Zagros is formed mainly of Tertiary rocks, with the Paleogene rocks south of the Cretaceous rocks, the mountains are divided into many parallel sub-ranges, and orogenically have the same age as the Alps. Irans main oilfields lie in the central foothills of the Zagros mountain range. The southern ranges of the Fars Province have somewhat lower summits and they contain some limestone rocks showing abundant marine fossils
30.
Alborz
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This mountain range is divided into Western, Central, and Eastern Alborz Mountains. The Western Alborz Range runs south-southeastward almost along the western coast of the Caspian Sea, Mount Damavand, the highest mountain in Iran, is located in the Central Alborz Mountains. The name Alborz is derived from that of Harā Barazaitī, a mountain in the Avesta. Harā Barazaitī reflects Proto-Iranian *Harā Bṛzatī, *Bṛzatī is the feminine form of the adjective *bṛzant- high, the ancestor of modern Persian boland and Barz/Berazandeh, cognate with Sanskrit Brihat. Harā may be interpreted as watch or guard, from an Indo-European root *ser- protect, in Middle Persian, Harā Barazaitī became Harborz, Modern Persian Alborz, which is a cognate with Elbrus, the highest peak of the Caucasus. Zoroastrians may identify the range with the place of the Peshyotan. In his epic Shahnameh, the poet Ferdowsi speaks of the mountains as though they lay in India, all these names reflect the same Iranian language compound, and share an identification as the legendary mountain Harā Bərəzaitī of the Avesta. The Alborz mountain range forms a barrier between the south Caspian and the Iranian plateau and it is only 60–130 km wide and consists of sedimentary series dating from Upper Devonian to Oligocene, prevalently Jurassic limestone over a granite core. Continental conditions regarding sedimentation are reflected by thick Devonian sandstones and by Jurassic shales containing coal seams, marine conditions are reflected by Carboniferous and Permian strata that are composed mainly of limestones. In the Eastern Alborz Range, the far eastern section is formed by Mesozoic rocks, the central part of the Central Alborz Range is formed mainly of the Triassic and Jurassic rocks, while the northwestern section of the range is made mainly of the Jurassic rocks. Very thick beds of the Tertiary green volcanic tuffs and lavas are found mainly in the southwestern, the collisions finally caused the folding of the Upper Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and Paleogene rocks, and the Cenozoic volcanism to form the Alborz Mountains mainly in the Miocene. In the southern slopes or the Elburz Range forest steppe ecoregion, juniper is the most common tree in the inaccessible areas and high elevations, while shrubs are pistachio, maple, and almond. But in the slopes, the Caspian Hyrcanian mixed forests ecoregion is lush. The natural vegetation of this region grows in distinct zones, the Hyrcanian forests on the lowest levels, beech forests in the middle zone, and oak forests in higher regions. The wild cypress is the dominant form of vegetation in some valleys, the extinct Caspian tiger also lived in the Alborz Mountains. Due to the snowy winters of the Alborz Mountains, there are several ski resorts in different places of the range. Some consider that a few of these are among the best in the world, some of most important ones are Dizin, Shemshak, Tochal, and Darband. Mount Damavand is featured twice as a multiplayer map in the game Battlefield 3
31.
Hindu Kush
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It forms the western section of the Hindu Kush Himalayan Region. It divides the valley of the Amu Darya to the north from the Indus River valley to the south, the eastern end of the Hindu Kush in the north merges with the Karakoram Range. Towards its southern end, it connects with the Spin Ghar Range near the Kabul River, the Hindu Kush range were a historically significant center of Buddhism with sites such as the Bamiyan Buddhas. The range and communities settled in it hosted ancient monasteries, important trade networks, Buddhism declined, then vanished, after Islam arrived in the region. The Hindu Kush range has also been the passageway during the invasions of the Indian subcontinent and this collision created the Himalayas, including the Hindu Kush. The Hindu Kush range remains geologically active and are still rising, the origins of the name Hindu Kush are uncertain, with multiple theories being propounded by different scholars and writers. The Persian-English dictionary indicates that the word koš is derived from the verb, the word and suffix -kush means kill, slay, death. In his travel memoirs about India, the 14th century Moroccan traveller Muhammad Ibn Battuta mentioned crossing into India via the passes of the Hindu Kush. In his Rihla, he mentions these mountains and the history of the range in slave trading, to Arab geographers, states Allan, Hindu Kush was the frontier boundary where Hindustan started. According to McColl, yet another possibility is that the name may be from the ancient Avestan language, the mountain range was also called Paropamisadae by Hellenic Greeks in the late first millennium BC. Some scholars remove the space, and refer to Hindu Kush as Hindukush, the mountains have historical significance in the Indian subcontinent and China. The Hindu Kush range was a center of Buddhism with sites such as the Bamiyan Buddhas. It has also been the passageway during the invasions of the Indian subcontinent, a region where the Taliban and Al Qaeda grew, Buddhism was widespread in the ancient Hindu Kush region. Ancient artwork of Buddhism include the giant rock carved statues called the Bamiyan Buddha and these statues were blown up by the Taliban Islamists. One of the early Buddhist schools, the Mahāsāṃghika-Lokottaravāda, was prominent in the area of Bamiyan, the Chinese Buddhist monk Xuanzang visited a Lokottaravāda monastery in the 7th century CE, at Bamiyan, Afghanistan. Some manuscripts are in the Gāndhārī language and Kharoṣṭhī script, while others are in Sanskrit, after the Islamic conquest of the region and Islam becoming the state religion, Buddhism vanished and locals became Muslims. The significance of the Hindu Kush mountain range has been recorded since the time of Darius I of Persia, alexander the Great entered the Indian subcontinent through the Hindu Kush as his army moved past Bactria into the Afghan valley in the spring of 329 BCE. He moved towards the Indus valley river region in 327 BCE, the region became a part of the Kushan Empire in centuries around the start of the common era
32.
Dasht-e Kavir
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Dasht-e Kavir, also known as Kavir-e Namak and the Great Salt Desert, is a large desert lying in the middle of the Iranian plateau. It is about 800 km by 320 km with a surface area of about 77,600 km2. It is named after the salt marshes located there, central in the desert lies the Kavir Buzurg, which is about 320 km long and 160 km wide. In the west lies the Daryahcheh-e Namak, of 1,800 km2 and it contains some large salt plates in a mosaic-like shape. It is part of a 4,000 km2 protected ecological zone, one of the most desolate places of Dasht-e Kavir is the Rig-e Jenn. The Dasht-e Kavirs climate is arid and receives little rain and snow each year, however, the surrounding mountains on all side, provide plenty of runoff to create vast seasonal lakes, marshlands and playas. Temperatures can reach 50 °C in summer, and the temperature in January is 22 °C. Day and night temperatures during a year can differ up to 70 °C, the desert soil is covered with sand and pebbles, there are marshes, seasonal lakes and seasonal river beds. The hot temperatures cause extreme vaporization, which leaves the marshes, heavy storms frequently occur and they can cause sand hills reaching up to 40 m in height. Some parts of Dasht- e Kavir have a more steppe-like appearance, the Kavir was a series of vast lakes in the immediate post-glacial time, stretching to about 3,000 years ago. There are inscriptions at teppeh Sialk noting a visit by the queen to the ruler of town, identified as Tell-i Bakun, southeast of Yazd. Common plant species like shrubs and grasses can only be found in some valleys, the most widespread plant is mugwort. The Persian ground jay is a species living in some parts of the desert plateaus, along with Houbara bustards, larks. Persian gazelles live in parts of steppe and desert areas of the central plateau, wild sheep, camels, goats and Persian leopards are common in mountainous areas. Night life brings on wild cats, wolves, foxes, in some parts of the desert, the Persian onager and sometimes even the Asiatic cheetah can be seen. Lizards and snakes live in different places in the central plateau, the extreme heat and many storms in Dasht-e Kavir cause extensive erosion, which makes it almost impossible to cultivate the lands. The desert is almost uninhabited and knows little exploitation, camel and sheep breeding and agriculture are the sources of living to the few people living on its soil. Human settling is restricted to some oases, where wind-blocking housing constructions are raised to deal with the weather conditions
33.
Dasht-e Lut
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Dasht-e Loot, also spelled Dasht-i-Loot and known as the Loot Desert, is a large salt desert in Kerman and Sistan and Baluchistan Province, Iran and is the worlds 25th largest desert. The surface of the sand there has been measured at temperatures as high as 70 °C and it was inscribed to the UNESCO World Heritage Sites list on July 17,2016. Iran is climatically part of the Afro-Asian belt of deserts, which stretches from the Cape Verde islands off West Africa all the way to Mongolia near Beijing, China. The patchy, elongated, light-colored feature in the foreground is the northernmost of the Dasht dry lakes that stretch southward 300 kilometers, in near-tropical deserts, elevated areas capture most precipitation. As a result, the desert is largely an abiotic zone, irans geography consists of a plateau surrounded by mountains and divided into drainage basins. Dasht-e Loot is one of the largest of these basins,480 kilometers long and 320 kilometers wide. Area of the desert is about 51,800 square kilometres, the other large basin is the Dasht-e Kavir. During the spring wet season, water flows down from the Kerman mountains, but it soon dries up, leaving behind only rocks, sand. The eastern part of Dasht-e Loot is a low plateau covered with salt flats, in contrast, the center has been sculpted by the wind into a series of parallel ridges and furrows, extending over 150 km and reaching 75 metres in height. This area is riddled with ravines and sinkholes. The southeast is a vast expanse of sand, like a Saharan erg, with dunes 300 metres high, precision of measurements is 0.5 K to 1 K. The hottest part of Dasht-e Loot is Gandom Beryan, a plateau covered in dark lava. According to a legend, the name originates from an accident where a load of wheat was left in the desert which was then scorched by the heat in a few days. Dasht-e Kavir Geography of Iran International rankings of Iran Sykes, Percy, NASA image and info NASA survey on temperatures around the globe
34.
Oasis
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In geography, an oasis is an isolated area of vegetation in a desert, typically surrounding a spring or similar water source, such as a pond or small lake. Oases also provide habitat for animals and even if the area is big enough. The location of oases has been of importance for trade and transportation routes in desert areas, caravans must travel via oases so that supplies of water. Thus, political or military control of an oasis has in many cases meant control of trade on a particular route. For example, the oases of Awjila, Ghadames, and Kufra, oases are formed from underground rivers or aquifers such as an artesian aquifer, where water can reach the surface naturally by pressure or by man-made wells. Occasional brief thunderstorms provide subterranean water to sustain natural oases, such as the Tuat, substrata of impermeable rock and stone can trap water and retain it in pockets, or on long faulting subsurface ridges or volcanic dikes water can collect and percolate to the surface. Any incidence of water is used by migrating birds, which also pass seeds with their droppings which will grow at the waters edge forming an oasis. It can also be used to plant crops, the word oasis came into English via Latin, oasis from Ancient Greek, ὄασις óasis, which in turn is a direct borrowing from Demotic Egyptian. The word for oasis in the later attested Coptic language is wahe or ouahe which means a dwelling place, people who live in an oasis must manage land and water use carefully, fields must be irrigated to grow plants like apricots, dates, figs, and olives. The most important plant in an oasis is the date palm and these palm trees provide shade for smaller trees like peach trees, which form the middle layer. By growing plants in different layers, the farmers make best use of the soil, many vegetables are also grown and some cereals, such as barley, millet, and wheat, are grown where there is more moisture. Great Man-Made River – the worlds largest irrigation project, developed in Libya to connect cities with fossil water. Guelta Mirage Oasification Qanat Wadi Water supply référence, Jardins au désert |Battesti, Jardins au désert, Evolution des pratiques et savoirs oasiens, Jérid tunisien, Paris, Éditions IRD, coll. À travers champs,2005,440 p. ISBN 2-7099-1564-2 Open Archives, book in free access / in French The dictionary definition of oasis at Wiktionary
35.
Armenian Highlands
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The Armenian Highlands is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus. that together form the northern sector of the Middle East. To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea, to its southeast is the Iranian plateau, where the elevation drops rapidly by about 600 metres to 1,500 metres above sea level. The Caucasus extends to the northeast of the Armenian Highlands, to the southwest of the Armenian Highlands is Upper Mesopotamia. During the Middle Ages, Turkmens settled in numbers in the Armenian Highlands. The region was mainly inhabited by Armenians, and minorities of Georgians and Assyrians. The Christian population of the Western half of the region was exterminated during the Armenian Genocide of 1915, today, the region is mainly inhabited by Armenians, Kurds, Azerbaijanis, Turks, and Georgians. Their total area is about 400,000 km2, historically, the Armenian Highlands have been the scene of great volcanic activity. The Armenian Highlands are rich in water resources, most of the Armenian Highlands is in eastern Turkey, and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, southern Georgia, and western Azerbaijan. Its northeastern parts are known as Lesser Caucasus, which is a center of Armenian culture. From 4000 to 1000 BC, tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were produced in this region. It is also believed to be one of the possible locations of the Garden of Eden. The Armenian Plateau has been called the epicenter of the Iron Age, in the Early Iron Age, the Kingdom of Van controlled much of the region, until it was overthrown by the Medes and Orontid dynasty. In Gilgamesh, the land of Aratta is placed in a space that could be describing the Armenian plateau. From the early era and on, the region came directly under Safavid Iranian rule. The apricot was known by the Romans as the prunus armenicus and was brought to Europe from the Armenian plateau, history of Armenia Geography of Armenia Hewsen, Robert H. Armenia, A Historical Atlas
36.
Georgia (country)
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Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi, Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres, and its 2016 population is about 3.72 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy, during the classical era, several independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, a unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Thereafter the kingdom declined and eventually disintegrated under hegemony of various powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire. Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various treaties with Iran. Since the establishment of the modern Georgian republic in April 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil, the countrys Western orientation soon led to the worsening of relations with Russia, culminating in the brief Russo-Georgian War in August 2008. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and it contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia and a part of the international community consider the regions to be part of Georgias sovereign territory under Russian military occupation. Georgia probably stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurğān, in the 11th and 12th centuries adapted via Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān, starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages. This term itself might have established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi, the medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the name Sakartvelo consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i, specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, ancient Greeks and Romans referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians. Today the full, official name of the country is Georgia, before the 1995 constitution came into force the countrys name was the Republic of Georgia. The territory of modern-day Georgia was inhabited by Homo erectus since the Paleolithic Era, the proto-Georgian tribes first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. The earliest evidence of wine to date has found in Georgia. In fact, early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, the classical period saw the rise of a number of early Georgian states, the principal of which was Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east
37.
Ahvaz
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Ahvaz or Ahwaz is a city in the southwest of Iran, and the capital of the oil and natural gas wealthy Khuzestan province. At the 2011 census, its population was 1,112,021, Irans only navigable river, Karun passes by the middle of the city. It has a history dating back to the Achaemenid period. In the ancient times, it had one of the main centers of the Academy of Gondishapur. It is home to several universities, institutions, prominent companies, in Iran, it is known for its ethnic diversity. It is home to Persians, Lurs, Iranian Arabs, Jews, Iranian Armenians and Mandaeans, the word Ahvaz is a Persianized form, which in turn itself is derived from a Persian word. Thus, Ahvaz in Persian means the Huz-i people, which refers to the original inhabitants of Khūzestān. The name of the region appears in medieval Syriac sources as ܒܝܬ ܗܘܙܝܐ Beṯ Huzáyé, the term Huz, meanwhile, is the Old Persian rendition of Suz, the native Elamite name of the region. See Origin of the name Khuzestan and Elam#Etymology for more details, Ahvaz is the analog of Avaz and Avaja which appear in Dariuss epigraph. This word appears in Naqsh-Rostam inscription as Khaja or Khooja too and it became the seat of the province, and was also referred to as Hūmšēr. During the Sassanid era, a system and several dams were constructed. Examples of Sassanid-era dams are Band-e Bala-rud, Band-e Mizan, Band-e Borj Ayar, the city replaced Susa, the ancient capital of Susiana, as the capital of what was then called Khuzestān. The city had two sections, the nobles of the city lived in one part while the other was inhabited by merchants. When the Arabs invaded the area in 640, the part of the city home to the nobility was demolished but the Hūj-ī-stānwāčār Market of Khūz State, the merchant area, remained intact. During the Umayyad and Abbasid eras, Ahvaz flourished as a center for the cultivation of sugarcane and it is discussed by such respected medieval historians and geographers as ibn Hawqal, Tabari, Istakhri, al-Muqaddasi, Yaqubi, Masudi, and Mostowfi Qazvini. Nearby stood the Academy of Gundishapur, where the teaching hospital is said to have been first established. Ahvaz was devastated in the bloody Mongol invasions of the 13th and 14th centuries, the dam and irrigation channels, no longer maintained, eroded and finally collapsed early in the 19th century. During this time Ahvaz was primarily inhabited by the original Khuzhis, although most Arab migrants fled the city, a few stayed
38.
Tigris
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The Tigris is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq, the Tigris is 1,850 km long, rising in the Taurus Mountains of eastern Turkey about 25 km southeast of the city of Elazig and about 30 km from the headwaters of the Euphrates. The river then flows for 400 km through Turkish territory before becoming the border between Syria and Turkey and this stretch of 44 km is the only part of the river that is located in Syria. Close to its confluence with the Euphrates, the Tigris splits into several channels, First, the artificial Shatt al-Hayy branches off, to join the Euphrates near Nasiriyah. Second, the Shatt al-Muminah and Majar-al-Kabir branch off to feed the Central Marshes, further downstream, two other distributary channels branch off, which feed the Hawizeh Marshes. The main channel continues southwards and is joined by the Al-Kassarah, finally, the Tigris joins the Euphrates near al-Qurnah to form the Shatt-al-Arab. According to Pliny and other ancient historians, the Euphrates originally had its outlet into the sea separate from that of the Tigris, Baghdad, the capital of Iraq, stands on the banks of the Tigris. The port city of Basra straddles the Shatt al-Arab, in ancient times, many of the great cities of Mesopotamia stood on or near the Tigris, drawing water from it to irrigate the civilization of the Sumerians. Notable Tigris-side cities included Nineveh, Ctesiphon, and Seleucia, while the city of Lagash was irrigated by the Tigris via a canal dug around 2400 B. C, the Tigris has long been an important transport route in a largely desert country. Shallow-draft vessels can go as far as Baghdad, but rafts are needed for transport upstream to Mosul, General Francis Rawdon Chesney hauled two steamers overland through Syria in 1836 to explore the possibility of an overland and river route to India. One steamer, the Tigris, was wrecked in a storm which sank, Chesney proved the river navigable to powered craft. Later, the Euphrates and Tigris Steam Navigation Company was established in 1861 by the Lynch Brothers trading company and they had 2 steamers in service. By 1908 ten steamers were on the river, tourists boarded steam yachts to venture inland as this was the first age of archaeological tourism, and the sites of Ur and Ctesiphon became popular to European travelers. In the First World War, during the British conquest of Ottoman Mesopotamia, Indian, see Siege of Kut and the Fall of Baghdad. The Tigris Flotilla included vessels Clio, Espiegle, Lawrence, Odin, armed tug Comet, armed launches Lewis Pelly, Miner, Shaitan, Sumana, and stern wheelers Muzaffari/Mozaffir. These were joined by Royal Navy Fly-class gunboats Butterfly, Cranefly, Dragonfly, Mayfly, Sawfly, Snakefly, and Mantis, Moth, the Ancient Greek form Tigris was borrowed from Old Persian Tigrā, itself from Elamite Tigra, itself from Sumerian Idigna. The Sumerian form was borrowed into Akkadian as Idiqlat, and from there into the other Semitic languages, another name for the Tigris used in Middle Persian was Arvand Rud, literally swift river. Today, however, Arvand Rud refers to the confluence of the Euphrates, in Kurdish, it is also known as Ava Mezin, the Great Water
39.
Zayanderud
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Zāyandé-Rūd or Zāyanderūd, also spelled as Zayandeh-Rood or Zayanderood, is the largest river of the Iranian Plateau in central Iran. The Zayandeh starts in the Zard-Kuh subrange of the Zagros Mountains in Chaharmahal and it flows 400 kilometres eastward before ending in the Gavkhouni swamp, a seasonal salt lake, southeast of Isfahan city. The Zayandeh used to have significant flow all year long, unlike many of Irans rivers which are seasonal, in the early 2010s, the lower reaches of the river dried out completely after several years of seasonal dry-outs. Zayandeh River water gave life to the people of central Iran mainly in Isfahan, before the drying-out, water diverted per person was 240 litres per day in urban areas and 150 litres per day in villages. In the 1970s, the flow of the river was estimated at 1.2 cubic kilometres per annum, people have lived on the banks of Zayandeh River for thousands of years. The earliest evidence of occupation along the River is found in a cave site called Qaleh Bozi near Dizicheh at SW of Isfahan. More than 40,000 years ago, groups of Paleolithic hunters used Qaleh Bozi caves as shelter for seasonal or temporary occupations and left their stone tools, an ancient prehistoric culture, the Zayandeh River Civilization, flourished along the banks of the Zayandeh in the 6th Millennium BC. Zayandeh River crosses the city of Isfahan, a major cultural, in the 17th century, Shaikh Bahai, designed and built a system of canals, to distribute Zayandeh water to Isfahans suburbs. The Zayandeh river bed is spanned by many historical Safavid era bridges, arthur Pope and his wife Phyllis Ackerman are buried in a small tomb in pleasant surroundings in its banks. Richard Frye has also requested to be buried there, until the 1960s in Isfahan Province the distribution of water followed the Tomar, a document claimed to date from the 16th Century. The Tomar divided the flow of the Zayandeh River into 33 parts which were then allotted to the eight major districts within the region. At the district level the water flow was divided either on a basis, or by the use of variable weirs. For centuries Isfahan city had been a settlement, noted for its surrounding fertile lands. Until the 1960s industrial demand for water was minimal, which enabled the water resources to be utilized primarily for agriculture. The creation of steel works and other new industries demanded water. The Chadegan Reservoir dam project in 1972 was a hydroelectric project to help with stabilizing water flow. The dam was initially named Shah Abbas Dam after Shah Abbas I, the most influential king of the Safavid dynasty, since 1972, the Chadegan Reservoir has helped prevent seasonal flooding of the Zayandeh River. Water discharge is increased during Persian New Year to allow the river to flow through Esfahan once more during the public holiday, 80% of the Zayandehs extracted water is used for agriculture, 10% for human consumption, 7% for industry and 3% for other uses
40.
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
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Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, known as Mohammad Reza Shah, was the Shah of Iran from 16 September 1941 until his overthrow by the Iranian Revolution on 11 February 1979. Mohammad Reza Shah took the title Shāhanshāh on 26 October 1967 and he was the second and last monarch of the House of Pahlavi of the Iranian monarchy. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi held several titles, including that of Āryāmehr. His dream of the Great Civilization in Iran led to an industrial and military expansion as well as economic. Mohammad Reza Pahlavi came to power during World War II after an Anglo-Soviet invasion forced the abdication of his father, various additional controversial policies were enacted, including the banning of the communist Tudeh Party, and a general suppression of political dissent by Irans intelligence agency, SAVAK. According to official statistics, Iran had as many as 2,200 political prisoners in 1978, by 1979, political unrest had transformed into a revolution which, on 17 January, forced him to leave Iran. Soon thereafter, the Iranian monarchy was abolished, and Iran was declared an Islamic republic led by Ruhollah Khomeini. Facing likely execution should he return to Iran, he died in exile in Egypt, whose President, due to his status as the last de facto Shah of Iran, he is often known as simply the Shah. Born in Tehran to Reza Pahlavi and his wife, Tadj ol-Molouk, Mohammad Reza was the eldest son of the first Shah of the Pahlavi dynasty, Reza Shah. He was born with a sister, Ashraf Pahlavi. However, Shams, Mohammad Reza, Ashraf, Ali Reza, nevertheless, Reza Shah was always convinced that his sudden quirk of good fortune had commenced in 1919 with the birth of his son who was dubbed khoshghadam. Mohammad Reza described his father in his book Mission for My Country as one of the most frightening men he had ever known, depicting Reza Khan as a dominating man with a violent temper. Reza Khan often impressed on his son his belief that history was made by men such as himself. From women, and apparently from women alone that the future Shah received whatever psychological nourishment he was able to get as a child, traditionally, male children were considered more preferable than females, and as a boy, Mohammed Reza was often spoiled by his mother and sisters. Mohammed Reza was very close to his twin sister Ashraf as she noted, It was this twinship, no matter how I would reach out in the years to come-sometimes even desperately-to find an identity and a purpose of my own, I would remain inextricably tied to my brother. Always, the center of my existence was, and is, in 1973, Mohammad Reza told the Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci, A king who does not need to account to anyone for what he says and does is unavoidably doomed to loneliness. However, I am not entirely alone, because a force others cant perceive accompanies me, I have lived with God besides me since I was 5 years old. Since, that is, God sent me those visions, in his 1961 book Mission for My Country, Mohammad Reza wrote, From the time I was six or seven, I have felt that perhaps there is a supreme being, who is guiding me
41.
Wildlife of Iran
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The wildlife of Iran includes its flora and fauna and their natural habitats. Iran had lost all its elephants, lions and tigers by the 21st century, more than one-tenth of the country is forested. The most extensive growths are found on the mountain rising from the Caspian Sea, with stands of oak, ash, elm, cypress. On the plateau proper, areas of scrub oak appear on the mountain slopes, and villagers cultivate orchards and grow the plane tree, poplar, willow, walnut, beech, maple. Wild plants and shrubs spring from the land in the spring and afford pasturage. More than 2,000 plant species are grown in Iran, the land covered by Irans natural flora is four times that of the Europes. Irans wildlife is composed of animal species including bears, gazelles, wild pigs, wolves, jackals, panthers, Eurasian lynx. Other domestic animals include, sheep, goats, cattle, horses, water buffalo, donkeys, the pheasant, partridge, stork, eagles and falcon are also native to Iran. As of 2001,20 of Irans mammal species and 14 bird species are endangered, at least 74 species of Iranian wildlife are on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, a sign of serious threats against the country’s biodiversity. The Persian leopard is said to be the largest of all the subspecies of leopards in the World, the main range of this species in Iran closely overlaps with that of bezoar ibex. Hence, it is found throughout Alborz and Zagros mountain ranges, the leopard population is very sparse, due to loss of habitat, loss of natural prey, and population fragmentation. Apart from Bezoar ibex, wild sheep, boar, deer, the Syrian elephant roamed southern Iran, before vanishing here in ancient times. In ancient times, the Persian lions territory covered much of the country, including the southern region, where the Makran Desert lies. In the 1870s, they were restricted to the region, which includes the Zagros Mountains and the area of Shiraz, its name being linked to the Farsi word for Lion. The last lions of Iran were reportedly seen in Khuzestan and Fars Provinces, in the 1940s, arzhan National Park in Shiraz County, Fars Province, had temporarily been considered for its reintroduction, as part of Project Lion. The last tiger in Iran was reportedly seen in Golestan National Park, in 1958
42.
Oak
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An oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus of the beech family, Fagaceae. There are approximately 600 extant species of oaks, the common name oak also appears in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus, as well as in those of unrelated species such as Grevillea robusta and the Casuarinaceae. North America contains the largest number of oak species, with approximately 90 occurring in the United States, the second greatest center of oak diversity is China, which contains approximately 100 species. Oaks have spirally arranged leaves, with lobate margins in many species, also, the acorns contain tannic acid, as do the leaves, which helps to guard from fungi and insects. Many deciduous species are marcescent, not dropping dead leaves until spring, in spring, a single oak tree produces both male flowers and small female flowers. The fruit is a nut called an acorn, borne in a structure known as a cupule, each acorn contains one seed and takes 6–18 months to mature. The live oaks are distinguished for being evergreen, but are not actually a distinct group, the oak tree is a flowering plant. Oaks may be divided into two genera and a number of sections, The genus Quercus is divided into the following sections, Quercus, the white oaks of Europe, Asia and North America. Styles are short, acorns mature in 6 months and taste sweet or slightly bitter, the leaves mostly lack a bristle on their lobe tips, which are usually rounded. The type species is Quercus robur, Mesobalanus, Hungarian oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia. Styles long, acorns mature in about 6 months and taste bitter, the section Mesobalanus is closely related to section Quercus and sometimes included in it. Cerris, the Turkey oak and its relatives of Europe and Asia, styles long, acorn mature in 18 months and taste very bitter. The inside of the shell is hairless. Its leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Protobalanus, the live oak and its relatives, in southwest United States. Styles short, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter, the inside of the acorn shell appears woolly. Leaves typically have sharp tips, with bristles at the lobe tip. Lobatae, the red oaks of North America, Central America, styles long, acorns mature in 18 months and taste very bitter
43.
Fraxinus
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Fraxinus /ˈfræksᵻnəs/, English name ash, is a genus of flowering plants in the olive and lilac family, Oleaceae. It contains 45–65 species of medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. The genus is widespread across much of Europe, Asia and North America, the trees common English name, ash, traces back to the Old English æsc, while the generic name originated in Latin. Both words also mean spear in their respective languages, the leaves are opposite, and mostly pinnately compound, simple in a few species. The seeds, popularly known as keys or helicopter seeds, are a type of known as a samara. Rowans or mountain ashes have leaves and buds superficially similar to those of true ashes, species are organized according to phylogenetic analysis. – California ash or two-petal ash Fraxinus anomala Torr, ex S. Watson – singleleaf ash Fraxinus quadrangulata Michx. – blue ash Fraxinus lowellii – Lowell ash Fraxinus trifoliata Section Melioides sensu lato Fraxinus chiisanensis Fraxinus cuspidata Torr. – fragrant ash Fraxinus platypoda Fraxinus spaethiana Lingelsh, – Späths ash Section Melioides sensu stricto Fraxinus uhdei Lingelsh. – Shamel ash or tropical ash Fraxinus latifolia Benth, – Oregon ash Fraxinus papillosa Lingelsh. – Chihuahua ash Fraxinus americana L. – white ash or American ash Fraxinus profunda Bush – pumpkin ash Fraxinus pennsylvanica Marshall – green ash Fraxinus velutina Torr, – velvet ash or Arizona ash Fraxinus berlandieriana DC. – Mexican ash Fraxinus caroliniana Mill, – Carolina ash Fraxinus texensis Sarg. – Texas ash Section Pauciflorae Fraxinus greggii A. ex DC, – Afghan ash Fraxinus dimorpha Section Fraxinus Fraxinus nigra Marshall – black ash Fraxinus mandschurica Rupr. – Manchurian ash Fraxinus holotricha Koehne Fraxinus angustifolia Vahl – narrow-leafed ash Fraxinus angustifolia subsp, oxycarpa – Caucasian ash Claret ash or raywood ash Fraxinus angustifolia subsp. – European ash Fraxinus pallisiae Wilmott – Pallis ash Fraxinus sogdiana Bge Section Ornus Fraxinus griffithii C. B. Clarke – Griffiths ash Fraxinus micrantha Lingelsh, – Chinese ash or Korean ash Fraxinus japonica – Japanese ash Fraxinus longicuspis Fraxinus floribunda Wall. – Himalayan manna ash Fraxinus ornus L. – manna ash or flowering ash Fraxinus bungeana DC, – Bunges ash Fraxinus paxiana Lingelsh. The emerald ash borer is a wood-boring beetle accidentally introduced to North America from eastern Asia via solid wood packing material in the late 1980s to early 1990s and it has killed tens of millions of trees in 15 states in the United States and adjacent Ontario in Canada. It threatens some seven billion ash trees in North America, the public is being cautioned not to transport unfinished wood products, such as firewood, to slow the spread of this insect pest. The disease has infected about 90% of Denmarks ash trees, in 2016, the ash tree was reported as in danger of extinction in Europe
44.
Elm
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Elms are deciduous and semi-deciduous trees comprising the flowering plant genus Ulmus in the plant family Ulmaceae. The genus first appeared in the Miocene geological period about 20 million years ago, Elms are components of many kinds of natural forests. Some individual elms reached great size and age, however, in recent decades, most mature elms of European or North American origin have died from Dutch elm disease, caused by a microfungus dispersed by bark beetles. In response, disease-resistant cultivars have been developed, capable of restoring the elm to forestry, eight species are endemic to North America, and a smaller number to Europe, the greatest diversity is found in Asia. The classification adopted in the List of elm species, varieties, cultivars, a large number of synonyms have accumulated over the last three centuries, their currently accepted names can be found in the list List of elm Synonyms and Accepted Names. Botanists who study elms and argue over elm identification and classification are called pteleologists, as part of the sub-order urticalean rosids they are distant cousins of cannabis, hops, and nettles. The name Ulmus is the Latin name for these trees, while the English elm, the genus is hermaphroditic, having apetalous perfect flowers which are wind-pollinated. Elm leaves are alternate, with simple, single- or, most commonly, doubly serrate margins, usually asymmetric at the base, the fruit is a round wind-dispersed samara flushed with chlorophyll, facilitating photosynthesis before the leaves emerge. All species are tolerant of a range of soils and pH levels but, with few exceptions. The elm tree can grow to height, often with a split trunk creating a vase-shape profile. Dutch elm disease devastated elms throughout Europe and much of North America in the half of the 20th century. It derives its name Dutch from the first description of the disease and its cause in the 1920s by the Dutch botanists Bea Schwarz, DED is caused by a micro-fungus transmitted by two species of Scolytus elm-bark beetle which act as vectors. The disease affects all species of elm native to North America and Europe, fungal spores, introduced into wounds in the tree caused by the beetles, invade the xylem or vascular system. The tree responds by producing tyloses, effectively blocking the flow from roots to leaves, woodland trees in North America are not quite as susceptible to the disease because they usually lack the root-grafting of the urban elms and are somewhat more isolated from each other. In France, inoculation with the fungus of over three hundred clones of the European species failed to find a single variety possessed of any significant resistance. The second, far more virulent strain of the disease Ophiostoma novo-ulmi was identified in Europe in the late 1960s, Elm phloem necrosis is a disease of elm trees that is spread by leafhoppers or by root grafts. This very aggressive disease, with no cure, occurs in the Eastern United States, southern Ontario in Canada. It is caused by phytoplasmas which infect the phloem of the tree, infection and death of the phloem effectively girdles the tree and stops the flow of water and nutrients
45.
Cupressaceae
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Cupressaceae is a conifer family, the cypress family, with worldwide distribution. The family includes 27–30 genera, which include the junipers and redwoods and they are monoecious, subdioecious or dioecious trees and shrubs 1–116 m tall. The bark of trees is commonly orange- to red- brown and of stringy texture, often flaking or peeling in vertical strips. The leaves are arranged spirally, in decussate pairs or in decussate whorls of three or four, depending on the genus. On young plants, the leaves are needle-like, becoming small and scale-like on mature plants of genera, some genera. Most are evergreen with the leaves persisting 2–10 years, but three genera are deciduous or include deciduous species, the seed cones are either woody, leathery, or berry-like and fleshy, with one to several ovules per scale. The bract scale and ovuliferous scale are fused together except at the apex, as with the foliage, the cone scales are arranged spirally, decussate or whorled, depending on the genus. The seedlings usually have two cotyledons, but in some species up to six, despite the wide overall distribution, many genera and species show very restricted relictual distributions, and many are endangered species. The one exception in the former Taxodiaceae is the genus Sciadopitys, which is distinct from the rest of the Cupressaceae. Many of the species are important timber sources, especially in the genera Calocedrus, Chamaecyparis, Cryptomeria, Cunninghamia, Cupressus, Sequoia, Taxodium and these and several other genera are also important in horticulture. Junipers are among the most important evergreen shrubs, groundcovers and small trees, with hundreds of cultivars selected, including plants with blue, grey. Chamaecyparis and Thuja also provide hundreds of dwarf cultivars as well as trees, including Lawsons cypress, dawn redwood is widely planted as an ornamental tree because of its excellent horticultural qualities, rapid growth and status as a living fossil. Giant sequoia is an ornamental tree and is occasionally grown for timber. Giant sequoia, Leyland cypress, and Arizona cypress are grown to an extent as Christmas trees. Sugi is the tree of Japan, and Ahuehuete the national tree of Mexico. Coast redwood and giant sequoia were jointly designated the tree of California and are famous California tourist attractions. Redwood National and State Parks and several parks including Giant Sequoia National Monument protect almost half the remaining stands of Coast Redwoods, bald cypress is the state tree of Louisiana. Bald cypress, often festooned with Spanish moss, of southern swamps are another tourist attraction and they can be seen at Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida
46.
Willow
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Most species are known as willow, but some narrow-leaved shrub species are called osier, and some broader-leaved species are referred to as sallow. Some willows are low-growing or creeping shrubs, for example, the dwarf willow rarely exceeds 6 cm in height, though it spreads widely across the ground. Willows all have abundant watery bark sap, which is charged with salicylic acid, soft, usually pliant, tough wood, slender branches. The roots are remarkable for their toughness, size, and tenacity to life, the leaves are typically elongated, but may also be round to oval, frequently with serrated edges. Most species are deciduous, semievergreen willows with coriaceous leaves are rare, e. g. Salix micans, all the buds are lateral, no absolutely terminal bud is ever formed. The buds are covered by a single scale, usually, the bud scale is fused into a cap-like shape, but in some species it wraps around and the edges overlap. The leaves are simple, feather-veined, and typically linear-lanceolate, usually they are serrate, rounded at base, acute or acuminate. The leaf petioles are short, the often very conspicuous, resembling tiny, round leaves. On some species, however, they are small, inconspicuous, in color, the leaves show a great variety of greens, ranging from yellowish to bluish. Willows are dioecious, with male and female flowers appearing as catkins on separate plants and this scale is square, entire, and very hairy. The anthers are rose-colored in the bud, but orange or purple after the flower opens, they are two-celled, the filaments are threadlike, usually pale brown, and often bald. The ovary is one-celled, the style two-lobed, and the ovules numerous, almost all willows take root very readily from cuttings or where broken branches lie on the ground. The few exceptions include the willow and peachleaf willow. One famous example of such growth from cuttings involves the poet Alexander Pope and this twig was planted and thrived, and legend has it that all of Englands weeping willows are descended from this first one. Willows are often planted on the borders of streams so their interlacing roots may protect the bank against the action of the water, frequently, the roots are much larger than the stem which grows from them. Willows are very cross-compatible, and numerous hybrids occur, both naturally and in cultivation, a well-known ornamental example is the weeping willow, which is a hybrid of Peking willow from China and white willow from Europe. The hybrid cultivar Boydii has gained the Royal Horticultural Societys Award of Garden Merit, Willows are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species, such as the mourning cloak butterfly. Ants, such as ants, are common on willows inhabited by aphids, coming to collect aphid honeydew
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This article incorporates public domain material from the Library of Congress Country Studies website http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/.
This article incorporates 
