The historical course of Iran's country divisions in the ancient period and providing suggestions for the current system of divisions

The divisions of the country are the container and framework of the structure of the administrative organization of the country at different levels. In Iran, the division of the country's space into smaller units has a long history and since the formation of the first territorial government until today (more than 2500 years), has been used to manage and control the territorial space by governments. In this research, the course and trend of the divisions of Iran in the pre-Islamic historical period (Medes, Achaemenids, Seleucids, Parthians and Sassanids) have been studied analytically. In this regard, the questions examined in this research are: What was the process of country divisions in ancient Iran? What were the most important factors affecting country divisions in ancient Iran?  Examining the divisions of Iran in historical periods on the one hand can be a step towards recognizing the divisions of the country, the criterias affecting the divisions and the limits of authority of the units in the historical periods and on the other hand, can be from the experiences of those periods to improve the system of current divisions the country used. The results of the study show that the most important components affecting the divisions of the country include historical considerations, geographical area, cultural geography (ethnicity and religion), political considerations, security and military considerations, access and communication structure, adherence to aspects for example: Geography, economic considerations, topography and natural geographical features and boundaries of the land. The most important suggestions that can be made for the current system of state divisions are to pay attention to the history of state divisions, decentralization and delegation of powers, decision-making and implementation of policies to the levels of lower divisions under the supervision of the central government. To the cultural geography in the system of national divisions, attention to qualitative criteria in the system of national divisions, attention to the administrative structure of the city, political centralism - administrative and economic decentralization, the need to pay attention to considerations and potentials in improving the levels of national divisions, especially  attention to territorial unity and security and political considerations in the divisions of the country.The political organization of space shows how human spatial interaction is constructed in order to play political roles in the environment and space. One of the issues of political organization of space is the division of the country. Country divisions include the division of the country into different regions through the establishment of contractual borders. In fact, the division of a country is an act that aims to divide the country into smaller units in order to govern it. The model of political management of space and political divisions of territory is always considered as the two main dimensions of administrative-political divisions because administrative-political divisions on the one hand how to plan for land management according to the view of people and government on the political structure and geographical situation, on the other hand, the division of the country includes the division of territory into smaller administrative areas and attention to its special features for better management of the country.

The research method is "applied" in terms of purpose and "analytical-comparative" in nature. In this research, on the one hand, historical, geographical and social sources related to the historical periods of ancient Iran have been studied and on the other hand, the current system of divisions of the country and its most important weaknesses in the sources have been extracted. The method of collecting information is in the form of libraries and taking notes from the studied sources. The method of data analysis is also performed qualitatively. Finally, in accordance with the strengths of the country's divisions in ancient Iran and the weaknesses of the country's divisions in the current era, suggestions have been made to strengthen and improve the current system of divisions. The innovation of this research is in examining the structure and criterias of the ancient divisions of the country and presenting suggestions based on that period for the current system of divisions, which has not been done in any research.

In this study, the process of divisions of  Iran in the pre-Islamic historical period has been studied. The study of the transformation and process of  political organizing space and country divisions in these periods requires a correct understanding of the geographical, political, social and demographic contexts and conditions of the territory of Iran.The criteria for the division of the country in ancient Iran were influenced on the one hand by the geographical situation of the territory of Iran and on the other hand by the king, who was at the head of the administrative and state organization. During this periods, geographical, political, security, military, social and economic factors have been influential in the divisions of the country. But in each period there were factors that had a greater impact on the divisions of that period. A review of the historical periods of ancient Iran shows that the most important components affecting the divisions of the country include historical considerations, geographical area, cultural geography (ethnicity and religion), political considerations, security and military considerations, access and connections structure, adherence to aspects for example: Geography, economic considerations, topography and natural geographical features and borders of the territory.

The most important suggestions that can be made for the current system of divisions based on the system of national divisions in the historical period of ancient Iran are: attention to the history of national divisions, decentralization and delegation of powers, decision-making and implementation of policies to levels Lower national divisions under the supervision of the central government, attention to cultural geography in the system of national divisions, attention to qualitative criteria in the system of national divisions, attention to the administrative structure of the urban, political centralism - administrative and economic decentralization, the need to pay attention to considerations and potentials In raising the levels of national divisions, especially paying attention to territorial unity and security and political considerations in national divisions.