(Click thumbnail to enlarge!)

Facts and Figures: 

World Fact Book: Iran — A comprehensive list of basic information about Iran from the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency.
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/ir.html 

Iran: A country study—An online book on Iran from the Library of Congress. http://lcweb2.loc.gov/frd/cs/irtoc.html 

Languages of Iran — An authoritative listing of the spoken living languages of Iran  by the SIL International’s Ethnologue site.
http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=IR

Back to top

Articles and Links: 

Lonely Planet: Iran — An  overview from Lonely Planet’s online magazine.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/destinations/middle_east/iran/ 

Modern Perspectives on Ancient Iran: in ancient times, Iran was called Persia. Trace its history, its invasions, and its connections to other Near Eastern and Western countries at http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook05.html

History of Iran— links to articles by prominent scholars, arranged chronologically http://www.iranchamber.com/history/historic_periods.php 

History, overview— from MidEast web, for older students to use for reviewing and comparing with other sources such as BBC, NYTimes, and the like
 http://www.mideastweb.org/iranhistory.htm 

BBC country page: Middle East
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/default.stm 

Encarta on Iran — A comprehensive overview of Iran and its land, resources, and climate
http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/refpages/search.aspx?q=iran 

Iran: Government— Links to government divisions, ministries, agencies
http://www.parstimes.com/gov_iran.html and from the Library of Congress, http://www.mongabay.com/reference/country_profiles/2004-2005/Iran.html 

Maps of the Islamic Middle East at Princeton University http://www.princeton.edu/~humcomp/dimensions.html 

Art and archaeology at University of Chicago’s Oriental Institute http://oi.uchicago.edu/OI/MUS/HIGH/OI_Museum_Iran.html

Culture:            Ancient and classical Iran http://www.iranian.ws/7000/ 

Nineteenth century: the Quajar shahs, as reflected in art: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/irmd/hd_irmd.htm 

                        Nature of Islamic art     (Metropolitan Museum)                                                                                    http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/orna/hd_orna.htm 

                        Folklore and music: the two traditions
                        http://www.persia.it/html/musica.htm

                        Two sisters who were jealous of their younger sister (folktale)  
                        http://www.arabiannights.org/index2.html 

Daily News:    Links and brief review of the newspaper’s characteristic viewpoint at
                       http://www.worldpress.org/newspapers/MIDEAST/Iran.cfm

Back to top

Oral Narratives from Residents of Greater Mecklenburg County, NC:

You can read and hear Mahboobeh Atai’s narrative at http://education.uncc.edu/more/Narratives_CNCC/Narrative_Month.htm

Find other narratives at the New South Voices site

Back to top

Lesson Plans: 

Annotated Links to resources at Ohio State also explain how to select materials on the Near East http://www.coe.ohio-state.edu/globaled/display.cfm?parent=70&child=81

Iran in 2004— for older students, keyed to a PBS news hour special http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/teachers/lessonplans/world/iran_2-20.html

Geography and maps: Track Marco Polo’s route through Iran at http://edsitement.neh.gov/view_lesson_plan.asp?id=490

World Trek to Iran (2002) by Odyssey: useful links. Middle and high school; preview http://www.worldtrek.org/odyssey/mideast/timeme.html

Islam: Empire of Faith, lesson plans to accompany the PBS special http://www.pbs.org/empires/islam/eduk12plan.html

Islamic Art: annotated links to lessons and activities; additional resources http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/islamic.htm

Contemporary global issues, for older students, from Pittsburgh’s Council on World Affairs  http://www.worldaffairspittsburgh.org/LessonPlans.html

Coup to revolution: PBS special. Grades 11 and 12 http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/globalconnections/mideast/educators/uspolicy/lesson2.html

Return To: Cultural Corner Main Page

Back to top