PERSIA 



PERSIA 



In the central highlands there are a few 

 streams flowing into inland lakes or losing 

 themselves in the sand. The only rivers of any 

 size are the Safid Rug, near the Persian Gulf, 

 and the Karun, emptying into the Caspian Sea; 

 these are navigable by light steamers only. Be- 

 sides a number of small fresh-water lakes, Per- 

 sia has three large but shallow salt lakes, Sies- 

 !-t of the Great Salt Desert, Urumiah in 

 the northwest and Niriz in the south. 



In summer one may experience many changes 

 of temperature in Persia, traveling from the 

 cold mountain peaks through the clear, dry 

 heat of the table-lands to the sheltered, warm 

 valleys below. The shores of the Caspian are 

 tropically hot and humid, and along the Persian 

 Gulf it is so hot and dry that even the scorch- 

 ing gulf winds give relief. In this region the 

 heat lasts throughout the year, but the eastern 

 plains are bleak during the winter months. 



History and Government 



Persia, next to Egypt and China, is the old- 

 est country in the world. The northern part 

 of the Iranian plateau was occupied by the 

 Medes, who in 633 H. < . conquered the Persians 

 and Assyrians. At the end of that century, 

 however, Cyrus tl, f Persia conquered 



Medea and founded a mighty empire extending 

 from the Oxus and Indus rivers to the Medi- 

 ::- :: His son, Cambyses II, the Tyrant, 

 added Tyre. Cyprus and Egypt to the empire, 

 but Darius I in an attempt to extend the em- 

 pire over Greece was defeated in one of the 

 world's decisive battl> at Marathon, in 490 B.C. 

 Grecian victory made it certain that the 

 chief influence in civilizing Persia should be 

 Western rat her than Oriental. 



Darius orinmat.d the Eastern syMem of 

 satrap government, dividing the country into 

 pn>\ rr each of which was placed a 



satrap, or governor, n-spdii.-ihle to the km<:. 



m I, with an army and fleet surpa- 

 any that had previou-ly \iMi d. was defeated 

 by the Greeks at Salamis in 480 B.C. and at 

 Mycale and Plataea in 479; these defeats shat- 

 tered all hope of Persian supremacy in Greece 

 and in Europe. The expense of this great army 

 exhausted the kingdom and Persia's decadence 

 DtfUL 



;() B.C., Alexander the Great conquered 

 tin- country and it remained under Grecian rule 

 for a century. The kingdom then passed suc- 

 cessively nito tin- hands of the Saracens and 

 Turk-, and m 1251 it was conquered by the 

 igols und< t ti. A century I 



aderTimur (which 



see), only to \- divided among his son* 

 m\.idi d ly tl In 



ili- .-ixtri-nili Abbas reunited lin- 



king . continued for a hun- 



dred \. H-. \\inn nvil war again disrupted th. 

 country. 



In 17!*.~> unity was restored by Agh 

 hammed, of the Kadjar race, who added Geor- 



gia and Khorassan and founded the present 

 dynasty. Later, coming into conflict with Rus- 

 sia on the Caucasian frontier and the Caspian 

 Sea, Persia lost several districts along the Kur, 

 and Georgia in 1801. In 1813 Daghestan, Shir- 

 van and Bakin and the right of navigation on 

 the Caspian Sea were ceded to Russia. In 1826 

 Russia was given Persian Armenia and an in- 

 demnity of $6,000,000. To pay this sum re- 

 quired heavy taxation, which led to an insur- 

 rection in 1829, when almost all of the Russian 

 legation was murdered by a Persian mob. As 

 a penalty, more concessions were exacted by 

 Russia. 



Internal dissatisfaction continued, and in 

 1834, assisted by Great Britain and Russia, 

 Mohammed Shah obtained the crown, but he 

 and his son, Nasr-ed-Din, came into conflict 

 with England for encroaching upon Afghan 

 ritory ; they were forced to sign a treaty in 1853, 

 promising not to interfere in II. rat. a commer- 

 cial center of Afghanistan. In 1870 Russia 

 ognized Persia's jurisdiction over Atrek. Nasr- 

 ed-Din was assassinated in 1896 and his son suc- 

 ceeded him. In 1906 Parliamentary government 

 was established, and in 1907 the throne was 

 nm-ii to All M 



By a Russian- Knnli>h treaty in 1!H)7. tin- 

 country was divided into three >phi-rr of in- 

 fluence: the Russian, extending o\ rr 305,000 

 square miles along the Russian frontier; tin- 

 British sphere, covering 137,000 square mile* on 

 the western frontier; the remainder formed the 

 in-lit- ny looks upon with 



envious eyes. Knuland and Ku**ia agreed to 

 respect the intern* 1 to aid m 



admim-tiatioi) of finance*, hut how |nti: 



iitioli \\ill continue !* Utxettam Tin- alli- 

 ance between Russia ami Kngland was a di; 

 1 to bring about the 7Yi//< 



With 1 heek th.- |>0\\. 



In I'.xi'i civil w.ir broke out, the shah was 

 deposed and exiled by the Nationalist party and 



