PERSIA.Per´she-a.
A kingdom of Western Asia. Area, 610,000 square miles. Population, 7,653,600. Temperature ranges from 10° to 110°; winters severe in central territory; summers hot and dry.
The government is an unlimited despotism. The Koran is law, the Shah being looked upon as the vicegerent of the prophet. Persia has no national debt. Persian army numbers 105,500 men on war basis; peace footing, 30,000.
Soil, in some of the extensive valleys, very fertile. Wheat and other cereals, cotton, sugar, rice, tobacco and opium yield well; silk is an important product of the country. Fruit trees and vegetables flourish. Mineral resources undeveloped. Diamonds have been taken from mines in Khorasan for centuries. Pearl fisheries of the Persian Gulf the most extensive in the world.
Commerce centres at Tabriz. Bushire and Lingah principal ports. Imports, by Lingah and Bushire, in 1883, $5,724,665. Exports, by same ports, $3,071,705; opium, $1,403,415; grain and pulse, $342,250. System of telegraph in the hands of Europeans; miles of line, 3,647; of wire, 5,947; offices, 78. Mail service from Julfa to Tabriz and Teheran, thence to Resht, established in 1877.
Capital, Teheran; pop., 100,000. Of total population, 1,963,800 live in cities, 1,909,800 are nomadic tribes, 3,780,000 inhabit country districts and villages. Education among the upper classes advanced; many colleges are sustained by government.
AFGHANISTAN.Af-gan`is-tan´.
Name given to plateau on northwest frontier of India. Estimated area, 278,000 square miles. Temperature at Ghazni, 10° to 15° below zero; at Kandahar, heat in summer reaches 120°. No other country of equal area has such diversities of climate. Distinguished for the mountain passes, through which India has been frequently invaded.
Government is a despotism. Capital, Kabul. Population, 2,500,000, consisting of numerous warlike clans. The Amir is a military dictator, with a yearly revenue of $2,000,000, and a subsidy of $600,000 from India. Two-thirds of inhabitants Mohammedans.
Agricultural and pastoral pursuits the chief industries of the people; wheat the most important crop; rice, barley and millet grown. On terraces, 6,000 and 7,000 feet high, all the vegetables and fruits of Europe grow; in the south, sugar cane and date palm.