TEHRAN (te-rahn'), capital of Persia and of a province of that name, is situated Li 41' N., 25' E., at an elevation of 3,810 ft., on an extensive gravel deposit which slopes down from the foot of the Elburz mountains (some io m. distant) and ex tends for 51 miles beyond the city, on the south. It occupies a radical position in Persia commanding routes in all directions, Isfahan being 224 m. distant on the south, Bushire 677 m., Bagh dad Soo m. west, Tabriz 374 m. north-west, Meshed 471 m. north east, Herat 672 m., and the Caspian sea 7o m. distant.
Streets and Buildings.—Formerly Tehran consisted of a fortified polygon of 4-5 m. circuit surrounded by a battlemented mud wall 20 ft. high flanked with circular towers and having a dry ditch and six gates. In 1869 Nasr-ud-Din Shah decided upon enlarging the city; the old walls and towers were demolished and replaced by a moat and earthen ramparts 12 m. in circumference, constructed on the plan of the fortifications of Pavis as they were before the Franco-German War, and completed in 1874. The city now encloses an area 71 miles square, with 12 gates consisting of lofty archways adorned by turrets. The principal public place is the Maidan Tupkhaneh or Artillery Square, 27o yd. by I20, surrounded by barracks; another square is the great Maidan i-Mashq, the military parade ground, 55o yd. by 35o. From the Tupkhaneh two broad streets planted with poplars run in a northerly direction towards the outer walls, the westerly called the Khaiban-i-Dawlat, where are many foreign residences.
Occupying a space nearly a quarter of a mile square south of the Maidan Tupkhaneh, the site formerly of the ark or citadel, is a collection of gardens, courts and buildings attached to the royal palace, within the precincts of which are the Talar, or throne room, in which is the white marble throne or Takht-i-marmar of Kerim Khan Zand brought from Shiraz; and in the council chamber is the Takht-i-taus, or Peacock throne, not however that of the Mogul emperors brought by Nadir Shah from India, but a throne made for Fath Ali Shah.
A census taken in 1919 gave a population of 250,00o, which is supposed to be a decrease of ioo,000 from the population of 1917-18, due to visitations of famine, influenza and typhus in that year. The great proportion are Farsi-speaking Persians and Shiah Mohammedans. Baha'is are numerous and there are a number of
Armenians (some 5,000) mostly shop-keepers; also some Jews and Chaldeans. Tehran has a municipality under the guidance in 1928 of an energetic army officer and municipal conditions show some progress.
In Tehran there are medical, art, industrial, political science, law, military, agricultural and normal schools, some of which are under foreign direction and all staffed, in part, by foreign instruc tors. The American Presbyterian Mission has also an institution enrolling 67o students, Soo of college grade.
The water supply is almost wholly from kanats bringing water from the Shimran slopes of the Elburz. There are some 4o of them, 5-8 m. in length, the majority fed from underground sources, and entirely dependent upon the snow and rainfall.
The climate of Tehran used to be considered somewhat un healthy, particularly in summer and early autumn, when typhoid, ague and other fevers were frequently prevalent ; but something in the way of sanitation has been effected of late years and there has been a distinct improvement in the health of the city. For the years 1902-12, the average maximum shade temperature was 104.6° F, the average minimum 14-7° ; the highest shade tempera ture registered was 109° and the lowest 6°. The average rainfall over a period of 15 years was 9.3 in.
A state-owned electric light plant provides lighting from sunset to II P.M. There is otherwise no general lighting of the streets at night, except that the municipality provides a few wick lamps in some of the main thoroughfares. A single track of tramway of about 6 m. traverses the city from east to west from the Abdul Azim gate to the Kazvin gate, and from the bazaars to the north. A single line of railway was laid in 1888 to Shah Abdul Azim about 5 m. south of the city. The telephone service within Tehran, and outside it to the principal summer resorts, is effectively main tained by the Societe Anonyme des Tele phones Persans; in 1925-6 the subkribers numbered 1,372. Metalled roads passable for all kinds of motor transport at prac tically all seasons lead via Kazvin to Kermaushah and Resht, to Qum and Sul tanabad (195 m.), and to Isfahan; and partly metalled roads to Meshed (566 m.), to Demavend (39 m.) and to Saveh and Hamadan (213 m.).