Table of Contents

  • GENOA

    Michele Bernardini

    an important port city in Liguria, in northwestern Italy, which during the Middle Ages played a significant role between Europe and the East, including Persia. Genoa was sacked by Muslim raiders from North Africa in 935 but became an economic and commercial power during the First Crusade (1096-1101).

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  • GEOGRAPHY

    Multiple Authors

    Geography of Persia and Afghanistan. Overview of the entry: i. Evolution of geographical knowledge, ii. Human geography, iii. Political geography, iv. Cartography of Persia.

  • GEOGRAPHY i. Evolution of geographical knowledge

    Xavier de Planhol

    Geography of Persia and Afghanistan. The concept of Iran and ancient Iranian geography (Justi; Spiegel, I, pp. 188-243 and especially pp. 210-12; Herzfeld, pp. 671-720; Gnoli, 1980, 1989).

  • GEOGRAPHY ii. Human geography

    Xavier de Planhol

    The primordial component of the land of Iran, since it was a sedentary world as opposed to the nomadic Tūrān, must have been situated above the level of the internal steppes and deserts, in the highland river valleys having both arable alluvial soils and plenty of water from the rainfall in the mountains.

  • GEOGRAPHY iii. Political Geography

    Xavier de Planhol

    The territory of Tajikistan corresponds with the predominantly Iranian ethnic sector of the mountainous southeastern periphery of the Bukhara emirate, which came under Russian influence at the end of the 19th century. 

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  • GEOGRAPHY iv. Cartography of Persia

    CYRUS ALAI

    The world’s oldest known topographical map is a Babylonian clay tablet (ca. 2300 B.C.E.) found at Nuzi in northeastern Iraq. The site covered by this map may have lain between the Zagros mountains and the hills running through Kirkuk.

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  • GEOLOGY

    Eckart Ehlers

    This article is concerned with those aspects of the geology of Persia that are of immediate economic and cultural significance for the country and its inhabitants, primarily (1) geological structure and orohydrographic differentiation of Persia, (2) geology and natural hazards, and (3) geology and natural resources.

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  • GEOPOTHROS

    Cross-Reference

    See GŌDARZ.

  • GEORGIA

    Multiple Authors

    (Pers. Gorjestān; Ar. al-Korj). This series of entries covers Georgia and its relations with Iran.

  • GEORGIA i. The land and the people

    Keith Hitchins

    At a crossroads of great empires to the east, west, and north throughout their history, the Georgians absorbed and adapted elements from the cultures of diverse peoples, while at the same time defending their political and cultural independence against all comers. The Georgians are today distinguished by a unique cultural heritage.

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