Iran's Culture

Iran’s Culture

Fernando Martinez

When we talk about Iran’s culture, you have to start with the country’s geography. “Iran is located in southwestern Asia, largely on a high plateau situated between the Caspian Sea to the north and the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the south. Its area is 636,300 square miles”(Beeman, 2011). Since the country sits on a tectonic plate it frequently has earthquakes. Iran has two large deserts and the climate can be either way due to extreme variations in altitude and rainfall. “The greatest of its peaks is the volcanic cone of Mt. Damavand (elev. 18,955 ft.), a mountain that figures about as prominently in the culture of Iran as Mt. Fuji does in that of Japan”(Daniel, 2001). A little over 60% of Iran’s land is wasteland and it is due to the lack of water in the area.

Iran’s demography starts with its 65 million people that are well balanced between men and women (51/49). The country has a young population with 75% of it being under 30 years of age. “Iran is a multiethnic, multicultural society as a result of millennia of migration and conquest”(Beeman, 2011). Most of the people in Iran speak Persian while the other half speaks Indo-European, Ural-Altaic (Turkic), or Semitic.

Iran’s government and economy has become a rich one in the past decade. The country has gone from an agricultural nation to an oil producing nation. Due to the production of oil in the country, Iran does not have to worry about money. “Iran has made the transition in the last twenty years from a nominal constitutional monarchy to a democratic theocracy”(Beeman, 2011). The country does elect their president, parliament and assembly of experts. Iranian political parties are banned but their government is opposed by a few armed political groups.

Iran’s people push for education and it is patterned on the French education system. People have to battle to get into college and...