Volume I is devoted to the geography, geology, anthropology, economic life, and flora and fauna, setting the physical stage for the human events which follow.

List of plates; Volume editor's preface; Units of measurement; Part I. The Land: 1. Physical geography; 2. Geology; 3. Geomorphology; 4. The origin of the Zagros defiles; 5. Climate; 6. Soils; 7. Hydrography; 8. Vegetation; 9. Mammals; 10. Zoogeographic analysis of the lizard fauna of Iran; 11. Ornithology; Part II. The People: 12. Early man in Iran; 13. Geography of settlement; 14. Population; Part III. Economic Life: 15. Minerals; 16. Industrial activities; 17. Communications, transport, retail trade and service; 18. Agriculture; 19. Water use in north-east Iran; 20. Pastoralism, Nomadism and the social anthropology of Iran; 21. Land reform of Iran; Part IV. Conclusion: 22. The personality of Iran; Bibliography; Conversion tables; Index.