Tehran

Tehran is the capital of the Islamic Republic of Iran in the Middle East.http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/tehran/tehran.php The city sits at the base of the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran's Tehran Province, about 60 miles south of the Caspian Sea.http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/contents/About-Iran/About.Iran.html It is estimated that nearly 8.5 million people resided in Tehran as of 2010, making it the 18th most populated city in the world.http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/bigcities.htm Tehran is the main administrative, commercial, educational, financial and industrial hub of the country, accounting for about 30 percent of Iran’s public-sector workforce.http://olden.tehran.ir/Default.aspx?tabid=12513 The city is home to 45 percent of Iran's large industrial firms, which include automobiles, electronics, weaponry, textiles, carpets and chemicals.http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/Teheran::sub::Economy

The majority of Tehran residents speak various dialects of Farsi (Persian) corresponding to their place of origin. The city's native language is the Tehrani dialect of Persian. Other dialects include Esfahani, Shirazi, Yazdi, Khuzestani, Dari and Judeo-Persian. Over 93 percent of Iranians practice Shia Islam, particularly Jafari Shiite of Islam.http://www.daftar.org/eng/aboutiran_eng.asp#

Tehran was once a small village outside the city of Rey, an important Persian city along the Silk Road that linked northern Iran to central Asia and China.http://www.iranchamber.com/history/articles/contribution_iranian_civilization_silkroad.php After the Mongols attacked and destroyed Rey in 1220, the survivors fled and settled in Tehran. Over the centuries, Tehran grew into a small, moderately prosperous trading center.http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iran/tehran/history In the mid-1500s, Safavid king Tahmasb I took an interest in the city, by then called Tehran, and arranged for gardens, brick houses and caravanserais to be lain throughout. A wall of 114 towers was also built for the town's protection.http://www.lonelyplanet.com/iran/tehran/history In the early 1700s, Karim Khan Zand ordered a palace, a harem and a government office to be built in Tehran, but later moved his government to the city Shiraz. Tehran became the capital of Persia around 1778, when the Qajar king Agha Mohammad Khan was crowned in the city.http://www.iranchamber.com/history/qajar/qajar.php

As the governmental center of Iran, Tehran has been the prime location for protests, demonstrations, riots and attacks throughout the 20th century and the Iranian Revolution of 1978. During the Iran-Iraq War between 1980 and 1988, Tehran's residential and industrial locales were repeatedly attacked by Scud missile and air strikes, resulting in thousands of civilian casualties.http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/war/iran-iraq.htm In 1999, Iranian student demonstrators took to the streets to call for basic civil rights reform. The police retaliated by raiding the University of Tehran dormitories, which led to a violent five-day riot. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3879535.stm In 2006, women's rights activists held a peaceful demonstration in Tehran Square, but were attacked by Iranian police with batons and pepper spray. One woman was injured and nearly 70 were detained and interrogated.http://humanrightsfirst.us/defenders/hrd_iran/alert092706_khoini.htm

Tehran sits at an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet above sea level.http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/tehran/tehran.php The city is home to the highest mountain peak in the country, Mount Damavand (18,598 feet tall), an extinct volcano covered in snow for most of the year.http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/tehran/tehran.php Tehran's latitude is 35 45' N and its longitude is 51 30' E, which is roughly the same latitude as San Francisco, California and Tokyo, Japan.http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/city.html?n=246 Tehran's metropolis spreads out over a large plateau, with small rivers snaking through the surrounding province.http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/contents/About-Iran/About.Iran.html Dams of the Karaj, Latian and Lar Rivers supply Tehran's drinking water and parts of the country's electrical power.http://www.iranchamber.com/cities/tehran/tehran.php

Tehran is a strategic crossroads for trade due to its location along the southern border of the Alborz Mountains between Turkey on the west to China and India to the east. It is also situated at the intersection of roads coming from both the western and southern parts of Iran.http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/contents/About-Iran/About.Iran.html8 To the south of the city's center is the arid desert, though the bareness of the space allows for development and expansion of Tehran's southern suburbs.http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/contents/About-Iran/About.Iran.html

• Miliad Tower: The fourth tallest TV and telecommunications tower in the world (nearly 1,500 feet tall).http://www.miladskytower.com/en/
• Azadi (Freedom) Monument: Built in 1971 to celebrate the 2,500th anniversary of the Persian Empire, this monument is instantly recognizable for its upside-down "Y" shape.http://www.cbc.ca/news/citizenbytes/2009/06/iran_monument_daughter_of_the.html
• National Jewels Treasury: A display of the most expensive jewels in the world, collected over centuries.http://www.cbi.ir/Page/AboutTreasuryNationalJewels_en.aspx
• Golestan Palace: Belonging to a group of royal buildings, the palace is the oldest historical monument in Tehran.http://www.golestanpalace.ir/En_Site/collections/E-history.htm
• Tehran Bazaar: A monument of the Fathali Shah Qajar era and the main commercial market in Iran, the bazaar is comprised of corridors, a network of alleys and numerous shops.http://www.itto.org/tourismattractions/?sight=29
• National Museum of Iran: The museum showcases the rich heritage of Iran with over 300,000 items.http://www.nationalmuseumofiran.ir/WebForms/En/General/Default.aspx

• Shahram Nazeri: Singerhttp://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/34772355/ns/entertainment-celebrities/deck/ent.mobile.msn.com/ent.mobile.msn.com/en-us/37407260
• Hossein Derakhshan: Bloggerhttp://www.newsweek.com/2009/12/02/the-blogfather-and-the-spy.html
• Shohreh Aghdashloo: Actresshttp://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Tehran,%20Iran
• Golshifteh Farahani: Actresshttp://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Tehran,%20Iran
• Niki Karimi: Actresshttp://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Tehran,%20Iran
• David Diaan: Actorhttp://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Tehran,%20Iran
• Bahram Radan: Actorhttp://www.imdb.com/search/name?birth_place=Tehran,%20Iran