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Here are some interesting Pakistan facts for kids which were chosen and researched by children especially for children.

Pakistan Facts | Country Facts

Population: 240 million people live in Pakistan (2023)

Capital city: Islamabad with 1.2 million inhabitants

Name: Islamic Republic of Pakistan

Government: Federal Parliamentary Republic

Languages: English and Urdu

Religion: mainly Muslims (96%)

Climate: Temperate climate in the northwest, but mainly hot and dry

Currency: 1 Pakistani rupee (PKR)

Motto: Unity, Faith, Discipline

National Symbols: Five pointed star and crescent moon, Jasmin (national flower)

Prime Minister: Shehbaz Sharif

National Days: 14 August (Independence Day)

History: The Indus Valley civilisation developed as the first urban culture in South Asia. In 1947, India was divided into India and Pakistan.

Pakistan Facts |Pakistan Geography

Pakistan is located on the Asian continent. Pakistan also has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman of the Indian Ocean.

Pakistan borders four countries: Iran and Afghanistan, China and India.

Pakistan has 5 provinces: Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit Baltistan.

Pakistan sits on the borders of the Indian and the Eurasian plate and thus experiences many violent earthquakes. Attabad Lake was created in 2010 after a massive landslide.

The landscape varies widely from Indus plains and deserts to forested hills and a plateau to the rugged mountains with glaciers. Pakistan is home to five of the 14 highest independent mountains in the world!

Pakistan is about the size of the UK and France combined and slightly less than twice the size of California/USA.

Pakistan Facts for Kids
Pakistan Geography Superlatives

Pakistan is the world's fifth most populated country - after China, India, the USA and Indonesia.

Pakistan's mountain K2 is the second highest mountain in the world, after Mount Everest at 8,848 m/ 29,029 ft. K2 is also known as Mount Godwin-Austen or Chhogori and is the highest point of the Karakoram mountains.

Pakistan also has five other peaks that are over 8,000 m/ 26,246 ft and more than 100 mountain peaks that are higher than 7,000 m/ 22,965 ft.

Punjab Province is the most densely populated region in Pakistan with Lahore, the cultural hub of the country. This is also the most fertile region of the country. The region is nicknamed "Land of five rivers" and was part of the ancient Indus River Civilisations more than 4,000 years ago.

Karachi in Pakistan's South is the l argest and most populous city of the country with more than 16 million inhabitants. This city is the economic hub of Pakistan.

The longest river in Pakistan is the Indus River.

The Thar Desert is a large region in the east of Pakistan and forms a natural border to India. About three quarters of the desert are located in India.

Manchar Lake is not only the largest lake in Pakistan, but also in South Asia.

Pakistan Landmarks and Attractions

Pakistan People | Facts for Kids

Pakistan is home to the world's second largest Muslim population - after Indonesia. Islam is the state religion in Pakistan.

There are many different ethnic groups in Pakistan, with the Punjabis being the largest group and including almost half of the country's population. Over 60% of the people live in rural areas.

Over seven million Pakistanis live abroad, making up the sixth largest diaspora in the world. Diaspora means nationals living outside the country's borders.

Pakistan also has the second largest refugee population in the world and houses many Afghans, Bangladeshi, Burmese and Uyghurs within the country's borders.

The national sport is field hockey. Other popular sports are cricket, polo and soccer.

Famous Pakistani people are:

Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938): writer, he is considered the national poet of Pakistan.

Imran Khan (born 1953): former prime minister of Pakistan (2018-2022) and formerly famous international cricket player (Khan was part of the winning team in the Cricket WorldCup in 1992)

Malala Yousafzai (born 1997): activist for female education and the youngest Nobel laureate ever

Pakistan's biggest cities are:

Karachi: 16.5 million

Lahore: 13 million

Faisalabad: 3.5 million

In Pakistan, cars drive on the left side of the road as they do in the UK and Australia or neighbouring country India.

Road signs on most roads in Pakistan are in English and Urdu.

Pakistan Facts | Languages in Pakistan

Urdu and English are the official languages in the country. Although Urdu is the main language spoken in the country less than 10% of the population in Pakistan speak it as first language.

Urdu is called a lingua franca, a language that is spoken and understood by most people in the country. Urdu is closely to related to Hindi. English is the main language in all schools in Pakistan.

There are about sixty languages spoken in Pakistan. Punjabi or Pashto, Sindhi, Saraiki and Balochi are the main regional languages.

Arabic is widely studied in Pakistan, as the language is used in respect to the Muslim population and teachings of the Holy Quaran.

Pakistan Facts | Animals in Pakistan

Sheep and goats are found in many regions. There are also wildcats, mongooses, porcupines, deer, civets, jackals and wild boars. The Indian pangolin can still be seen in southern plains regions and there are mugger crocodiles in the Indus river.

Snow leopards and the Indus river dolphins are amongst the rarest and most endangered species in Pakistan.

Large goats called markhor can be seen in northern with spiral shaped horns and long fur coat. The markhor is often considered the national animal.

Pakistan is one of the world's country's with the highest deforestation rates. Pollution and hunting practises massively impact the ecosystem as well.

Pakistan for Kids | Food in Pakistan

Food in Pakistan is aromatic and spicy. The dishes vary according to region, but rice and flatbreads called roti or chapati are eaten with most meals.

The dishes have influences from the Indian, British, Middle Eastern and Asian cuisines. Herbs and spices such as turmeric, chill or garam masala are used in most dishes. Chicken and mutton are the most common meats.

Lassi and black tea with milk and sugar are the most common drinks.

Typical Food in Pakistan:

Seekh-Kabab: minced meat grilled on a skewer

Shami-Kabab: minced meat and chickpea patties

Tikka: barbecued mutton, beef or chicken, served with rice of flatbread

Sajji: barbecued leg of lamb or chicken

Shorba: thick souplike vegetarian stew

Biryani: rice dish with chicken and vegetables, herbs and spices

Nihari: slow cooked meat stew is a very popular dish

roti: also referred to as chapati is a flat bread

nan: soft and thick bread baked in a clay oven

lassi: yoghurt-based drink, often spiced with cardamon or cumin and flavoured with fruit such as mango

Muslims do not eat pork, thus pork will not be served.

Fork, knife and spoons are not usually used during meals, as various kinds of nan bread are used for dipping and picking up the liquid or soft foods such as beans, stews or shorba.

Pakistan Facts for Kids Resources

Central Intelligence Agency. "Pakistan". CIA World Fact Book. Updated 11 January 2023. Accessed 17 January 2023

Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation. "Pakistan". Pakistan Tourism. Accessed 17 January 2023. Images on Pakistan Facts for Kids: shutterstock.com, sxc.hu and own images.

Pakistan Facts page: Many thanks go to our young writers Rania and Miraal Khan as well as Fatima Zehra. Please bookmark our page, as we will add more info from other young Pakistani writers soon.
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Pakistan Facts for Kids | Pakistan for Kids | Geography | Landmarks

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Our Pakistan Facts for Kids inform about fun facts and interesting insights about the South Asian country: geography, attractions, food, animals and much more

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Afghanistan was settled around 7000 B.C. and has been in transition for most of its history. Alexander the Great conquered Afghanistan in 330 B.C. and brought the Greek language and culture to the region. Genghis Khan's Mongols invaded in the 13th century. In 1747, Pashtun elders held a council meeting called a Loya Jirga and created the kingdom of the Afghans.

The British and Afghans fought in three wars in the 19th and 20th centuries, but the Afghans finally defeated the British in 1919 and formed an independent monarchy in 1921.

In 1978, the People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan (PDPA) seized power in the country, setting in motion a series of events that would turn the poor, mostly peaceful country into a breeding ground for terrorism. The PDPA's occupation of Afghanistan eventually led to civil war, or a war between citizens of the same country.

Afghan fighters called the mujahedin fought against the PDPA; these rebels later received aid from the United States, Pakistan, China, and Iran. The Soviet Union, now called Russia, supported the PDPA regime. Soviet forces invaded Afghanistan in 1979 and remained in the country until 1989. Civil war continued in Afghanistan after the Soviet departure until the fall of the PDPA regime in 1992.

After the PDPA's fall, various groups fought to gain control of the country. The Taliban emerged in 1994 and quickly began to take over cities across Afghanistan, with military support from Pakistan. During the Taliban's rule, the group was condemned by the international community for murdering innocent Afghan civilians and denying food supplies to starving citizens.

In 2001, following the terrorist attacks in the United States on September 11 of that year, the U.S. government demanded that the Taliban hand over Osama bin Laden, the leader of a terrorist group called al Qaeda, which was based in Afghanistan. The Taliban refused. The United States and its allies then took military action in Afghanistan and drove the Taliban from power in December 2001.

Both the Taliban and al Qaeda fled Afghanistan and relocated to nearby Pakistan, where they set up political and military outposts. Meanwhile, in Afghanistan, the United States and its allies worked with Afghans to set up schools, hospitals, and public facilities following the Taliban's departure. Thousands of girls-who were banned from being educated under Taliban rule-went to school for the first time. Women were free to get jobs and take part in government activities, both of which were forbidden under the Taliban.

In 2004, Afghanistan adopted its current constitution and became an internationally recognized government, electing Hamid Karzai as its first president. Under its constitution, the president and two vice presidents are elected every five years. But the government struggled to extend its authority beyond the capital city of Kabul because the Taliban forces continued to try to regain control of the country.

In 2020, the Taliban and the Afghan government began to discuss a peace treaty, and though some people were concerned that the talks wouldn't progress, U.S. president Donald Trump planned to remove U.S. troops from the country by May 2021. His successor, Joe Biden, extended the date for the withdrawal to August 31 of that year. After nearly 20 years of U.S. occupation in Afghanistan, the United States' longest war was going to end.

But the people who were concerned about the peace treaty talks stalling were right: Following Biden's official announcement in July and the start of the withdrawal of international troops, the Taliban quickly took over multiple cities by force and brought back their extreme practices. By August 15, 2021, the Taliban had taken control of all major cities, including the capital of Kabul. President Ashraf Ghani fled the country, and the Afghan government all but collapsed.

The United States sent military troops to the country to help the American diplomats and support staff at the U.S. embassy in Kabul evacuate safely.

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Afghanistan Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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Afghanistan is located in Central Asia with Iran to the west and Pakistan to the east.

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Turkey is a large peninsula that bridges the continents of Europe and Asia.

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Markets, or bazaars, are a big part of Iranian culture.

OFFICAL NAME: Republic of Iran

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Islamic republic

CAPITAL: Tehran

POPULATION: 83,024,745

OFFICAL LANGUAGE: Farsi

MONEY: Rial

AREA: 636,372 square miles (1,648,105 square kilometers)

MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Elburz, Zagros

MAJOR RIVERS: Karun, Karkeh, Zayandeh

Iran (pronounced ee-RAHN), formerly known as Persia, is situated at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, and the Arab states of the Middle East. This strategic position-and its access to the Persian Gulf in the south-have made Iran an important country throughout its history.

Much of Iran is cut off from the outside world by a beautiful but often lonely landscape. High, rugged mountains create a barrier with Iran's neighbors in the west, and the eastern region is covered by a barren, salty desert.

In Iran's north, a narrow, fertile strip borders the Caspian Sea, and in the south, lowlands rim the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. Most people in Iran live along the edges of a high plateau that runs through the middle of the country.
Map created by National Geographic Maps

PEOPLE & CULTURE

Strong religious beliefs have been part of Iranians' lives for thousands of years. Almost all Iranians are Muslim, or followers of Islam. The religion is central to daily life.

Iran has a long history of scholarship that has created a rich culture of art, literature, poetry, music, cuisine, and architecture. Ancient Iranian thinkers wrote influential texts on philosophy and medicine, and it was an Iranian mathematician who invented algebra. Iran's universities are among the most respected in the Middle East.

Not long ago, Iran was home to many lions, tigers, and other big cats. Unfortunately these sleek hunters are now very rare, and some species have gone extinct. Only a handful of Asiatic cheetahs and Persian leopards remain.

Iran has several reserves and parks where wildlife thrives. One, called Kavir National Park, is located in the north-central region and is known as "Little Africa" because its plants and animals resemble those of Africa. This park is home to Iran's only cheetahs.

Iran's mountains in the north and west have dense forests that offer habitat for brown bears, wild goats, wolves, and leopards. The country's central plateau is home to deer, gazelles, hyenas, and jackals, among other animals.

GOVERNMENT & ECONOMY

Iran's government is controlled by a religious figure called the supreme leader, who is appointed by a group of Islamic clerics called the Assembly of Experts. A president, elected by the people, is second in command.

Iran has extensive oil reserves, but its economy has been hit hard by a trade ban imposed by the United States since the shah was ousted in 1979. Allegations that Iran supports terrorism and a belief that it is developing nuclear weapons has led to further isolation in recent years.

Iran is one of the oldest nations in the world, with a history dating back tens of thousands of years. The country's first great city, Susa, was built on the central plateau around 3200 B.C.

In 559 B.C., the Persian Empire arose in southwestern Iran and conquered the Mesopotamians and Egyptians. The empire eventually extended from the Mediterranean Sea to what is now Pakistan, but it was conquered by the Greeks in 330 B.C.

Around 260 B.C., nomads called Parni ousted the Greeks and ruled for some 500 years. The Sassanids came into power in A.D. 224, and in A.D. 642, Persia became part of the Islamic Empire. In 1501, the kings, or shahs, of the Safavid Empire began their reign.

In the late 18th century, foreign powers, including Russia and Britain, took control of parts of Persia. In 1921, a Persian army officer named Reza Khan took control and sought to end outside influence. In 1935, he renamed the country Iran. His son, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, became shah in 1941.

In 1979, many Iranians who felt Pahlavi was corrupt forced him to flee, ending the reign of the shahs in Iran. Since then, religious leaders have ruled the country. The first was Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, whose ten years in power were marked by a long war with Iraq and tensions with the United States and many other nations. Khomeini died in 1989, but much of those tensions still exist today.

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Iran Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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Iran (pronounced ee-RAHN), formerly known as Persia, is situated at the crossroads of Central Asia, South Asia, and the Arab states of the Middle East.

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Iraq's history is full of unsettling changes. In the past 15 years alone, it has witnessed two major wars, international sanctions, occupation by a foreign government, revolts, and terrorism. But Iraq is a land where several ancient cultures left stamps of greatness on the country, the region, and the world.

Iraq is nicknamed the "cradle of civilization." Thousands of years ago, on the plains that make up about a third of Iraq, powerful empires rose and fell while people in Europe and the Americas were still hunting and gathering and living more primitive lives.

The Sumerians had the first civilization in Iraq around 3000 B.C. The first type of writing, called cuneiform, came out of Uruk, a Sumerian city-state. Around 2000 B.C., the Babylonians came into power in southern Mesopotamia. Their king, Hammurabi, established the first known system of laws.

Babylonian rule ended in 539 B.C. when the Persians took over. In A.D. 646, Arabs overthrew the Persians and introduced Islam to Iraq. Baghdad was soon established as the leading city of the Islamic world. In 1534, the Ottomans from Turkey conquered Iraq and ruled until the British took over almost 400 years later.

Iraq became an independent country in 1932, although the British still had a big influence. In 1979, Saddam Hussein and his Baath Party took control of Iraq and promoted the idea that it should be ruled by Arabs. Hussein ruled as a ruthless dictator. In 1980, he started a long war with Iran, and in 1991, he invaded Kuwait, triggering the first Gulf War.

In 2003, after years of sanctions against Iraq, the United States invaded again out of concern that Saddam Hussein was making dangerous weapons. U.S. military forces quickly reached Baghdad and threw the Baathists from power. Saddam Hussein was captured, tried for crimes against humanity, and executed.

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Iraq Country Profile - National Geographic Kids

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Iraq is dominated by two famous rivers: the Tigris and the Euphrates.

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OFFICIAL NAME: Syrian Arab Republic

FORM OF GOVERNMENT: Presidential republic

CAPITAL: Damascus

POPULATION: 20,384,316

OFFICIAL LANGUAGE: Arabic

MONEY: Syrian pound

AREA: 71,498 square miles (185,178 square kilometers)

MAJOR MOUNTAIN RANGES: Anti-Lebanon, Al-Ansariyyah, Jebel Bishri

MAJOR RIVERS: Euphrates, Khabur

Located in the Middle East, Syria is approximately 1.5 times bigger than the state of Pennsylvania. Bordered on the east by the Mediterranean Sea, Syria also shares borders with the countries of Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Israel, and Lebanon. More than half of Syria is covered by the Syrian Desert, which stretches into several other countries in the Middle East. The Al-Ansariyyah mountains separate the desert from a narrow strip of northeastern land along the Mediterranean Sea known as the coastal plain. In the southeast, the Anti-Lebanon mountains separate Syria from Lebanon.

The Euphrates, the longest river in Western Asia, flows from Turkey through parts of Syria. A massive dam built alongside the river in north-central Syria led to the formation of Lake Assad, the country's largest lake.

PEOPLE AND CULTURE

Most of the Syrian population are Arab, or originally from the Arabian Peninsula and its neighboring territories. Minority groups living in the country include the Kurds, an ethnic group from a mountainous region called Kurdistan, who mostly live in northeast Syria; and the Bedouins, nomadic animal herders who move from place to place throughout North Africa and the Middle East. The majority of Syria's population lives on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea or in the Euphrates River valley.

Most Syrians are Muslim, or people who practice Islam. Some Syrians are Christians, and an even smaller part of the population follow Druze, a religion that combines Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and a few other faiths. Damascus, Syria's capital city, is considered a holy city in the religion of Islam and is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. People have lived there since the second millennium B.C. It's also famous for music, especially classical Arab music.

Popular dishes in Syria include tabbouleh, a vegetarian salad made with tomato, mint, onions, and other ingredients; sujuk, or spicy fermented sausage; and shawarma, or thinly sliced meat stacked in a cone-like shape inside of pita bread. Arabic coffee is one of the most popular drinks and is typically served during family gatherings or when guests are visiting.

Syria is home to fertile plains, high mountains, and sandy deserts; however, thousands of years of human expansion have impacted the country's natural habitats. Brown bears and gray wolves are the largest carnivores that remain in the country. Striped hyenas, red foxes, caracals, and golden jackals still roam parts of Syria, but it's rare to spot many of these species.

In the desert, sand cats, golden hamsters, and venomous snakes such as black desert cobras are common, while birds of prey like bearded vultures, red kites, and white-tailed eagles can be spotted flying through Syria's mountainous regions. The Mediterranean Sea basin is considered a biodiversity hot spot-the Syrian coastline has the most diverse plant and animal life in the country. Three marine protected areas preserve plants and animals off the Syrian coast, where you can spot up to 10 different whale species, endangered Mediterranean monk seals, and loggerhead sea turtles.

Although the country does not have an official national flower, jasmine is beloved in Syria. Damascus is even known as Madinat al-Yasmin, or the City of Jasmine.

GOVERNMENT AND ECONOMY

Syria has a presidential system of government, with a president serving as head of state within the executive branch. Syria's president is elected every seven years by winning the popular vote from Syria's citizens. The president has a broad set of powers, including commanding the country's armed forces, negotiating treaties, and declaring war or states of emergency. The president also oversees the People's Council, a group of 250 elected individuals who make legislation.

Despite being a presidential republic, Syria is considered a highly authoritarian regime, or a government that gives most of the power to one person or group. That's because the al-Assad family has dominated Syrian politics since 1971. Bashar al-Assad has ruled the country as president since 2000, and his father, Hafez al-Assad, ruled the country for 30 years before him.

Petroleum, textiles, and agriculture products are some of the country's main exports, or goods sold to other countries. But an ongoing civil war in the country (see HISTORY below) has made other countries less willing to trade with Syria, and growth will be limited until the war ends.

Humans have settled in Syria for nearly 5,000 years. The earliest recorded civilization in the area was the Kingdom of Ebla, founded around 3,500 B.C. Ebla made its fortune by trading with ancient Egyptians and with nearby Mesopotamian states located by the Euphrates River.

Several empires ruled Syria during these early centuries, including the Babylonian, Persian, Greek, and Roman empires. Muslim Arab armies-some led by the Prophet Muhammad (the founder of Islam)-invaded Syria in the A.D. 600s. The Ottoman Empire, or what's now Turkey, seized power in the 16th century.

The Ottomans ruled Syria until France took over the country in 1920, after World War I. Finally, after nearly 30 years of French occupation, Syria declared independence in 1946. Syria and Egypt united to form what was called the United Arab Republic in 1958, but the countries split apart after just three years.

Syria and other Middle Eastern nations fought several wars with Israel in the mid-20th century. In 1967, Israel took over land located at Syria's southwest border, called the Golan Heights. The two countries continue to have border disputes today.

In 2010, a pro-democracy movement known as the Arab Spring began sweeping through countries in the Middle East and North Africa. Following Arab Spring protests in Syria over the rule of President Bashar al-Assad, a civil war broke out in the country in 2011. Assad's forces used violence to try to stop the protests, but the protests-and the violence against them-continue under his presidency. The war has pitted different Muslim sects in the country against each other and has led to the death of more than 400,000 Syrians.

Millions of Syrians have fled the country since the war started to seek a better life elsewhere. The war has destroyed many of the country's historical sites, including the city of Palmyra, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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This Middle Eastern country is home to some of the oldest cities in the world.

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Saudi Arabia Facts for Kids | World Geography Guide - Twinkl Homework Help

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Instantly access Twinkl’s printable and digital K-12 teaching resources, including worksheets, eBooks, games, PowerPoints, Google Slides, and more!

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Pakistan is a Muslim country in southern Asia. It shares its early history with its neighbor India. Pakistan separated from India in 1947. Pakistan's capital is Islamabad....

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Major trade routes crossed what is now Afghanistan thousands of years ago. The Persians and Macedonian king Alexander the Great ruled the land more than 2,300 years ago. In the 600s ce Arab invaders introduced Islam. In 1219 Genghis Khan made the area part of his Mongol Empire. Beginning in the 1300s Turkic peoples, the Mughal Empire, and the Persians ruled parts of the land.

Ahmad Shah Durrani, a Pashtun leader, unified Afghanistan under his rule in 1747. Great Britain invaded in the 1800s. After winning independence from Britain in 1919, Afghanistan continued as a monarchy. In 1973 Afghans overthrew the king. The country's new leaders made Afghanistan a republic, led by a prime minister.

Soviet Control

In 1978 Communists seized control of Afghanistan's government. The new government mistreated the Islamic majority, and civil war broke out. In December 1979 the Soviet Union sent troops to join government forces in their fight against Muslim rebels. For nearly a decade Islamic forces known as mujahideen fought the Soviets. Millions of Afghans left the country for Pakistan and Iran during that period. The Soviet Army left in 1989.

The Taliban

Various Afghan groups then fought for control. By the late 1990s a group called the Taliban had gained control over most of Afghanistan. The Taliban ruled according to a strict version of Islamic law.

The Taliban angered other countries by allowing terrorists to live in Afghanistan. When the Taliban refused to hand over suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden, the United States and its allies bombed Afghanistan in October 2001. Within months the Taliban abandoned Kabul. In 2004 Afghanistan adopted a new constitution and elected a president.

Allied forces, including troops from the United States and Britain, remained in Afghanistan to help stabilize the country and to support a strong government. The foreign troops also trained the Afghan military so that the Afghans could protect the country once the foreign troops left. The Taliban did not disappear completely, however, and they continued to fight against Afghan forces. The Afghan forces were supported by the Allied troops as well as by troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO troops left Afghanistan in 2014, and the United States began pulling out its troops several years later. In the summer of 2021 the last U.S. troops began to leave Afghanistan. The Afghan military was not able to stop the Taliban from quickly taking control of many parts of the country. In August the Taliban moved into the capital, Kabul, and took control of the whole country.

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Major trade routes crossed what is now Afghanistan thousands of years ago. The Persians and Macedonian king Alexander the Great ruled the land more than 2,300 years ago. In the 600s ce Arab invaders introduced Islam. In 1219 Genghis Khan made the area part of his Mongol Empire.

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The Republic of Turkey lies partly in Asia and partly in Europe. For centuries Turkey was the heart of two great empires-the Christian Byzantine Empire and the Islamic...

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Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East. It is also the largest producer of oil in the world. Saudi Arabia contains the two holiest cities in the religion of...

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The Aryan people came from central Asia to what is now Iran sometime after 2000 . The two main groups of Aryans were the Medes and the Persians. The Persians took control in about 550 bce. They conquered vast territories. The Persian Empire soon stretched from North Africa to the Indus River in south Asia.

Muslim Rule

Arab conquerors brought Islam to Iran in 640. For about 850 years non-Iranian Muslims ruled Iran. Then, in 1502, the Iranian Safavid dynasty took control. A weaker dynasty, the Qajars, ruled from 1779 to the early 1900s. During the Qajars' rule Russia and Great Britain won control over parts of Iran.

The Pahlavi Dynasty

In 1921 Reza Khan, an army officer, seized control of the country. In 1925 he became shah, or king, and took the name Reza Shah Pahlavi. His reign started the Pahlavi dynasty. Reza Shah built modern schools and a railroad. He also gave Iranian women more rights.

Reza Shah's son, Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, took the throne in 1941. The new shah continued to make Iran more modern. However, he also used secret police to stop those who disagreed with him. Many religious leaders felt that the shah's ideas went against Islam. The government threw one of those leaders, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, out of the country in 1964.

From outside Iran, Khomeini led a revolution against the shah. Huge protests forced the shah to leave Iran in 1979.

The Islamic Republic

Khomeini then returned to Iran. He declared himself Iran's political and religious leader for life. He renamed the country the Islamic Republic of Iran. Khomeini's government enforced strict Muslim laws. It also banned Western (U.S. and European) influences. In late 1979 supporters of the revolution seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran. They took 66 Americans as hostages. Some of the hostages were released soon after that, but most were held for more than a year.

In 1980 Iraq invaded Iran, and the Iran-Iraq War began. The war ended in 1988. More than a million people were killed or injured during the war.

Khomeini died in 1989. Iran then chose a new religious leader, Ali Khamenei. Khamenei continued the government's strict policies. He worked with the country's presidents. However, Khamenei and other religious leaders still controlled much of the government.

In the 2000s, people outside of Iran became concerned that the country's leaders were pursuing a nuclear weapons program. The United Nations and others in the international community imposed sanctions on Iran. (Sanctions mean that some countries would not trade with Iran or provide Iran with aid.) The sanctions were in place for years and led to great hardships for the Iranian people. In 2016 many of these sanctions were lifted after Iran cooperated and agreed to get rid of most of its materials that could make nuclear weapons. However, the sanctions were back in place in 2018 after the United States withdrew from the agreement.

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Iran is a country of southwest Asia. For much of its history Iran was known as Persia to the outside world. However, the people of the region have called their country Iran...

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Iraq's history reaches back thousands of years. In about 3300 bce the Sumerians created one of the world's first civilizations in Mesopotamia. Babylonia and Assyria later became great powers in the region. Persia took control of Mesopotamia in about 540 bce. The Persians ruled until the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great took over the area in about 330 bce.

Arab and Ottoman Rule

Beginning in the 100s bce, Mesopotamia spent hundreds of years as a battleground between various peoples. Muslims from Arabia conquered the area in the 630s ce. For a time Baghdad was the center of the Muslim world. Many of the greatest Muslim philosophers, poets, and writers lived there. In 1258 a central Asian group called the Mongols conquered the city. Iraq then became a land of small kingdoms. The Turks took control of the area in the 1500s. Iraq remained part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire until the 1900s.

The Republic of Iraq

During World War I (1914-18) British troops occupied Baghdad and ended Ottoman rule. After the war Iraq remained under British protection. In 1921 Iraq became a monarchy. The country achieved full independence in 1932. A revolution led by a group of army officers ended the monarchy in 1958. Iraq then became a republic.

In the 1960s and 1970s the Iraqi government faced a rebellion by the Kurds. The rebels wanted self-government. Iran aided the Kurds, which angered Iraq. The Kurdish rebellion collapsed in 1975, but occasional fighting continued into the 21st century.

Iran-Iraq and Persian Gulf Wars

Saddam Hussein became Iraq's president in 1979. A year later Iraq invaded Iran. The resulting Iran-Iraq War lasted until 1988. Neither side won a clear victory.

In 1990 Saddam ordered Iraqi troops to invade the neighboring country of Kuwait. Iraq claimed that Kuwait had been part of its territory since 1871. The invasion led to the Persian Gulf War of early 1991. In less than two months, a group of nations led by the United States pushed Iraq's forces out of Kuwait.

Ongoing Troubles

At the end of the Persian Gulf War, weapons inspectors from the United Nations (UN) entered Iraq. The inspectors wanted to make sure that Iraq destroyed some of its weapons and stopped making more. Iraq refused to cooperate with the inspectors.

The United States and the United Kingdom feared that Iraq was building illegal weapons. As a result, U.S. and British forces invaded the country in March 2003. Saddam immediately went into hiding following the initial invasion, and the foreign troops soon took control of the country. Saddam was captured by U.S. troops in December 2003 and was executed three years later. The foreign forces and Iraqi leaders then worked to set up a new government in Iraq. However, some Iraqis continued to fight the foreign troops and the new Iraqi leaders. Violence also broke out between followers of the Sunni and Shiʿite branches of Islam. U.S. forces left Iraq in December 2011.

In 2014 the terrorist group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took over Mosul, the second largest city in Iraq. ISIL used extreme violence to make people follow its strict version of Shariʿah, or Islamic law. ISIL forces captured several more towns in western and northern Iraq. Iraqi and Kurdish forces, with help from other countries, drove ISIL out of most of the country by the end of 2017.

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Iraq's history reaches back thousands of years. In about 3300 bce the Sumerians created one of the world's first civilizations in Mesopotamia. Babylonia and Assyria later became great powers in the region. Persia took control of Mesopotamia in about 540 bce. The Persians ruled until the Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great took over the area in about 330 bce.

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Humans have lived in what is now Syria for more than 4,500 years. Some of the earliest peoples wrote on clay tablets that still exist. The tablets tell about life in Syria at that time. Many other peoples-including Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians-invaded Syria in its early history. Syria later was controlled by the Babylonian, Persian, and Greek empires. In 64 bce the Romans conquered Syria.

Muslim Empires

In the 600s ce Muslim Arab armies invaded Syria. Muslim empires ruled Syria for most of the next 1,300 years. However, Christian Crusaders controlled some areas between about 1100 and 1300. The last of the Muslim empires to rule Syria was the Ottoman Empire. It took control in 1516.

Independence

In 1920 France gained control of Syria. Syria won independence from France in 1946. A series of military leaders then ruled Syria.

Beginning in 1948 Syria and other Arab nations fought several wars with Israel. In 1967 Israel took a piece of land called the Golan Heights from Syria.

In the 1970s Syria sent soldiers into Lebanon during a civil war there. Syrian forces stayed in Lebanon until early 2005. In 1991 Syria fought against Iraq in the Persian Gulf War.

In 2011 a democratic movement called the Arab Spring spread to Syria. Many Syrians began to protest the rule of President Bashar al-Assad. Assad's forces used violence to try to stop the protests. Many protesters were killed, but the uprising continued. By mid-2012 it had grown into a civil war. Leaders of other countries tried to bring an end to the civil war. This effort increased in 2013, after Assad was accused of using chemical weapons against the rebels. The fighting continued, but by October 2018 Assad's forces had recaptured almost all of the territories held by rebels.

In 2013 Islamic militant groups began to take advantage of the upheaval in Syria. An extremist Islamic militant group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) took over eastern areas of Syria. The group imposed a strict version of Shariʿah law there. The United States and other countries helped fight ISIL's advance. By the end of November 2017 ISIL had been driven out of Syria.

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Humans have lived in what is now Syria for more than 4,500 years. Some of the earliest peoples wrote on clay tablets that still exist. The tablets tell about life in Syria at that time. Many other peoples-including Egyptians, Hittites, and Assyrians-invaded Syria in its early history.