The Comprehensive Geography of Iran

The Comprehensive Geography of Iran is a suitable answer to the lack of a scientific and comprehensive collection of the country’s geographical features. The foundation of this work is based on the principles and aspects that make it an outstanding work in nature. The Comprehensive Geography of Iran consists of five volumes, the content of each of which is as follows:

The first volume begins with an introduction stating the necessity of compiling this work. Afterwards, the sources of studying Iran are examined and introduced in detail, and the characteristics of the country’s natural and biological environment are described in the following chapters:

The location and boundaries of the land (including mathematical, relative, regional, and global locations).

The earth’s structure (including the general characteristics of the tectonics, earth movements, development processes in various eras, seismicity, and mineral resources).

Geomorphology (landforms including mountains and valleys, Zagros and Alborz mountain ranges, coastal lowlands, and particular issues of tectonics and terrain roughness forms).

Iran’s climate (including the determining factors of climate, temperature and heat, precipitation and its influential factors and regional distribution, evaporation and relative humidity, and climatic zoning).

Natural water resources (including general characteristics of water resources, seas, lakes, rivers, marshes and swamps, springs, and mineral waters).

The characteristics of the country’s soils (including the general characteristics of the soils, the soils of the plains, valleys, foothills, plateaus, the Caspian region, mountainous regions, and soil erosion and its problems).

Flora (including dispersion, diversity and density of vegetation, distribution and diversity of tree species, shrubs and grass species, types of forests, general characteristics and types of pastures, industrial-medicinal plants, plants of swamp basins, Iranian flowers, destruction of vegetation, and environmental-ecological issues).

Fauna (including ecologically valuable areas and landscapes, national parks and environmental issues).

The second volume begins with an introduction stating the importance of historical geography and studies on the settlement system. Afterwards, the following chapters include:

The characteristics of the historical-political geography of Iran (the name of Iran and its historical past, the borders of the land, the factors influential in the geographical unity, the ancient borders and their alterations, the regionalization of Iran in various historical periods, and the ethnolinguistic groups of the dialects of the country).

Biological-historical methods (including the role of the geographical factors in the shaping of Iranian society and culture, sedentism and the formation of human settlements, the role of geographical factors in the construction of the nomadic lifestyle, coexistence and historical relations between cities, villages, and nomads, and the associations between cities and surrounding areas).

Political-legal characteristics (including political divisions, political-administrative units, borders, neighbours and neighbouring countries, organizations and institutions, parties, unions, legal rules and regulations, the Constitution, civil rights, armed forces, and international relations).

Demographic characteristics of Iran (including general characteristics and population composition and distribution, demographic qualities, education and literacy, employment, growth and development, urban and rural population, mobility and migration, and future population survey).

Welfare facilities and socio-cultural affairs (including various levels of education, health and treatment, welfare and national income, mass communication media, radio and television, press and periodical literature, books and public libraries, telecommunications, global communication networks, spatial planning, and long-term and medium-term programs of socio-economic development).

The third volume begins with an introduction explaining the position of the biological trilogy (the nomadic, rural, and urban life) and the following chapters include:

Nomads and nomadic life (the characteristics of the nomadic system, population, dispersion, and social structure of nomads, prominent nomads and independent clans, economic activities and socio-economic developments of nomads, nomadic lifestyle and its issues).

Village and rural settlement (including the history of rural settlement, the number, size, and distribution of villages, zoning and regional characteristics of villages, the social organization of villages, rural exploitation and production systems, traditional land ownership relations, exploitation methods and systems, water and land measurement units, rural economic activities, patterns of rural residence and housing, history of rural developments, the Land Reform and its consequences, rural development after the Islamic revolution, the organizations and institutions of rural development, and rural programs).

City and urbanization (including the history of the establishment of cities, the historical role and functions of cities, the contemporary city and urbanization, the number, distribution and characteristics of cities, modern urbanism and urbanization, structural transformations of cities, urban functions and hierarchies of cities, centralization and urban issues, significant position of Tehran metropolis and the future of cities).

The fourth volume begins with an introduction stating the status of the economic system and activities, and the following chapters include:

The economic system (the general characteristics of the economic system, economic-monetary institutions and organizations, national income and production, and various economic activities).

Agriculture and natural resources (including the extent and distribution of natural resources, the importance of the agricultural sector in the country’s economy, the history of agricultural activity, the organizational forms of traditional production, the initiation and expansion of new methods of agricultural production, the market and marketing of farm products, animal husbandry, pasture and forestry, hunting and fishing, and poultry and bee breeding).

Mines and energy (including extractive industries, oil industry, oil resources and reserves, oil production level, the role of oil extraction in the country’s economy, gas industry, resources and deposits of Iran’s gas, the role of the gas industry in Iran’s economy, petrochemical industries, and water and electricity industries).

Industry and industrial units (including the history of industrial activity, traditional and handicraft industries, modern industries, the beginning of industrialization and expansion of modern industries, types of units and industrial zoning, heavy industries, industrial machinery, automobile manufacturing, light industries, food industries, home appliance industries, chemical and pharmaceutical industries, woodworking industries, and electronic industries).

Services, transportation and commerce (including roads and transportation, trade and business, domestic and foreign commerce, banks and financial-credit institutions, quantity and quality of exports and imports, and insurance).

Appendix Volume (including the detailed table of contents, lists and indexes of the proper nouns, names of people, places, institutions and organizations, statistical tables, documents, and maps).