praj-17/QA-MCQ-Open-ended huggingface dataset:
Title: Iran
Context: Iran is home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, beginning with the formation of the Proto-Elamite and Elamite kingdoms in 3200–2800 BC. The Iranian Medes unified the area into the first of many empires in 625 BC, after which it became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. Iran reached the pinnacle of its power during the Achaemenid Empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC, which at its greatest extent comprised major portions of the ancient world, stretching from parts of the Balkans (Thrace-Macedonia, Bulgaria-Paeonia) and Eastern Europe proper in the west, to the Indus Valley in the east, making it the largest empire the world had yet seen. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great. The Parthian Empire emerged from the ashes and was succeeded by the Sassanid Dynasty in 224 AD, under which Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world, along with the Roman-Byzantine Empire, for a period of more than four centuries.

question: What civilizations formed in Iran during 3200-2800 BC? 

answer: the Proto-Elamite and Elamite kingdoms

question: When did the Iranian Medes first unify an empire in the area? 

answer: 625 BC

question: Who found the Archaemenid Empire in 550 BC? 

answer: Cyrus the Great

question: When did the Archaemenid Empire collapse? 

answer: 330 BC

question: Who ended the Archaemenid Empire by conquest in 330 BC? 

answer: Alexander the Great
Title: Iran
Context: In 633 AD, Rashidun Arabs invaded Iran and conquered it by 651 AD, largely converting Iranian people from their indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism to Sunni Islam. Arabic replaced Persian as the official language, while Persian remained the language of both ordinary people and of literature. Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. Establishment of the Safavid Dynasty in 1501, converted the Iranian people from Sunni Islam to Twelver Shia Islam, and made Twelver Shia Islam the official religion of Iran. Safavid conversion of Iran from Sunnism to Shiism marked one of the most important turning points in Iranian and Muslim history. Starting in 1736 under Nader Shah, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, briefly possessing what was arguably the most powerful empire at the time. During the 19th century, Iran irrevocably lost swaths of its territories in the Caucasus which made part of the concept of Iran for centuries, to neighboring Imperial Russia. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a constitutional monarchy and the country's first Majles (parliament). Following a coup d'état instigated by the U.K. and the U.S. in 1953, Iran gradually became close allies with the United States and the rest of the West, remained secular, but grew increasingly autocratic. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression culminated in the 1979 Revolution, which led to the establishment of an Islamic republic on 1 April 1979.

question: What year did the Rashidun Arabs invade Iran? 

answer: 633 AD

question: What year did the Rashidun Arabs conquer Iran? 

answer: 651 AD

question: What religion did the Rashidun Arabs convert the indigenous conquered peoples to?  

answer: Sunni Islam

question: Which country took over Iran's territories in the Caucasus in the 19th Century? 

answer: Imperial Russia

question: What movement led to Iran becoming an Islamic republic in 1979? 

answer: 1979 Revolution
Title: Iran
Context: Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading cultural and economic center. Iran is a major regional and middle power, exerting considerable influence in international energy security and the world economy through its large reserves of fossil fuels, which include the largest natural gas supply in the world and the fourth-largest proven oil reserves. Iran's rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 19 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the fourth-largest number in Asia and 12th-largest in the world.

question: What resource does Iran have the largest supply of in the world? 

answer: natural gas

question: What city is Iran's capital? 

answer: Tehran

question: How does Iran effect the world economy and international energy markets? 

answer: through its large reserves of fossil fuels

question: What resource does Iran have the fourth largest supply of in the world? 

answer: proven oil reserves

question: How many UNESCO World Heritage Sites does Iran have? 

answer: 19
Title: Iran
Context: The term Iran derives directly from Middle Persian Ērān, first attested in a 3rd-century inscription at Rustam Relief, with the accompanying Parthian inscription using the term Aryān, in reference to Iranians. The Middle Iranian ērān and aryān are oblique plural forms of gentilic ēr- (Middle Persian) and ary- (Parthian), both deriving from Proto-Iranian *arya- (meaning "Aryan," i.e., "of the Iranians"), argued to descend from Proto-Indo-European *ar-yo-, meaning "skillful assembler." In Iranian languages, the gentilic is attested as a self-identifier included in ancient inscriptions and the literature of Avesta,[a] and remains also in other Iranian ethnic names such as Alans (Ossetic: Ир – Ir) and Iron (Ossetic: Ирон – Iron).

question: What century did terms referencing Iran begin to be recorded? 

answer: 3rd-century

question: What inscription referenced the term Aryan to Iranians? 

answer: Parthian

question: What Proto-Indo-European term means "skillful assembler?" 

answer: *ar-yo-

question: What is attested as a self-identifier in Iranian languages? 

answer: the gentilic

question: What other term in the 3rd Century besides Aryan also refer to Iran? 

answer: Ērān
Title: Iran
Context: Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis (Greek: Περσίς), meaning "land of the Persians." As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, the term persisted, even long after the Persian rule in Greece. However, Persis (Old Persian: Pārśa; Modern Persian: Pārse) was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the southern end of the Zagros Mountains, and is today defined as Fars Province.

question: Which historians referred to Iran as Persis? 

answer: Greek historians

question: What has the West historically referred Iran as? 

answer: Persia

question: When did Persians settle on the west shore of Lake Urmia? 

answer: the 9th century BC

question: After Lake Urmia, Persis then shifted over to what region? 

answer: the southern end of the Zagros Mountains,

question: What is Persis known as today? 

answer: Fars Province
Title: Iran
Context: In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, Iran. As the New York Times explained at the time, "At the suggestion of the Persian Legation in Berlin, the Tehran government, on the Persian New Year, Nowruz, March 21, 1935, substituted Iran for Persia as the official name of the country." Opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably. Today, both Persia and Iran are used in cultural contexts; although, Iran is the name used officially in political contexts.

question: When did Reza Shan request that Iran officially be referred to as Iran and not Persia? 

answer: 1935

question: Which newspaper reported the official name request in 1935? 

answer: New York Times

question: Which name is officially used politically? 

answer: Iran

question: Who endorsed a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably after opposition to the official name change? 

answer: Professor Ehsan Yarshater
Title: Iran
Context: The earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran, like those excavated at the Kashafrud and Ganj Par sites, attest to a human presence in Iran since the Lower Paleolithic era, c. 800,000–200,000 BC. Iran's Neanderthal artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic period, c. 200,000–40,000 BC, have been found mainly in the Zagros region, at sites such as Warwasi and Yafteh Cave.[page needed] Around 10th to 8th millennium BC, early agricultural communities such as Chogha Golan and Chogha Bonut began to flourish in Iran, as well as Susa and Chogha Mish developing in and around the Zagros region.[page needed]

question: How long ago were the earliest artifacts from that were evidence of humans in Iran? 

answer: the Lower Paleolithic era, c. 800,000–200,000 BC

question: When did early agricultural communities in Iran begin to appear and prosper? 

answer: 10th to 8th millennium BC

question: What region of Iran did Neanderthal artifacts from the Middle Paleolithic Period were found? 

answer: the Zagros region

question: What were dug up from the archaeological sites Kashafrud and Ganj Par in Iran? 

answer: The earliest archaeological artifacts in Iran
Title: Iran
Context: The emergence of Susa as a city, as determined by radiocarbon dating, dates back to early 4,395 BC. There are dozens of prehistoric sites across the Iranian plateau, pointing to the existence of ancient cultures and urban settlements in the 4th millennium BC. During the Bronze Age, Iran was home to several civilizations including Elam, Jiroft, and Zayande River. Elam, the most prominent of these civilizations, developed in the southwest of Iran, alongside those in Mesopotamia. The emergence of writing in Elam was paralleled to Sumer, and the Elamite cuneiform was developed since the 3rd millennium BC.

question: What ancient city dates back as early as 4395 BC in Iran? 

answer: Susa

question: How long ago did ancient cultures and settlements exist across the Iranian plateau? 

answer: the 4th millennium BC

question: During what Age was Iran the site of several of these ancient civilizations? 

answer: Bronze Age

question: Which ancient civilization in Iran during the 4th Millenium was the most prominent? 

answer: Elam

question: Elam's writing system had paralleled Sumer's cuneiform since what era? 

answer: the 3rd millennium BC
Title: Iran
Context: From the late 10th to late 7th centuries BC, the Iranian peoples, together with the pre-Iranian kingdoms, fell under the domination of the Assyrian Empire, based in northern Mesopotamia. Under king Cyaxares, the Medes and Persians entered into an alliance with Nabopolassar of Babylon, as well as the Scythians and the Cimmerians, and together they attacked the Assyrian Empire. The civil war ravaged the Assyrian Empire between 616 BC and 605 BC, thus freeing their respective peoples from three centuries of Assyrian rule. The unification of the Median tribes under a single ruler in 728 BC led to the foundation of the Median Empire which, by 612 BC, controlled the whole Iran and the eastern Anatolia. This marked the end of the Kingdom of Urartu as well, which was subsequently conquered and dissolved.

question: Who dominated the area of Irea between the 10th Century BC to the late 7th Century BC? 

answer: the Assyrian Empire

question: When did this Civil War take place to free the Iranian peoples from Assyrian rule? 

answer: between 616 BC and 605 BC

question: How long did the Assyrian Empire control and rule Iran? 

answer: three centuries

question: Who lead the Persians into a coalition with the Medes, Babylon, Scythians, and Cimmerians to fight against the Assyrians? 

answer: king Cyaxares

question: When did the Median tribes unify under a single ruler to form the Median Empire? 

answer: 728 BC
Title: Iran
Context: In 550 BC, Cyrus the Great, son of Mandane and Cambyses I, took over the Median Empire, and founded the Achaemenid Empire by unifying other city states. The conquest of Media was a result of what is called the Persian Revolt. The brouhaha was initially triggered by the actions of the Median ruler Astyages, and was quickly spread to other provinces, as they allied with the Persians. Later conquests under Cyrus and his successors expanded the empire to include Lydia, Babylon, Egypt, parts of the Balkans and Eastern Europe proper, as well as the lands to the west of the Indus and Oxus rivers.

question: Who founded the Achaemenid Empire when the city states in Iran came together in unification? 

answer: Cyrus the Great

question: When did Cyrus the Great found the Achaemenid Empire? 

answer: 550 BC

question: Who triggered the Persian Revolt?  

answer: the Median ruler Astyages

question: What resulted from the Persian Revolt? 

answer: The conquest of Media
Title: Iran
Context: At its greatest extent, the Achaemenid Empire included the modern territories of Iran, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia, Turkey, much of the Black Sea coastal regions, northeastern Greece and southern Bulgaria (Thrace), northern Greece and Macedonia (Paeonia and Ancient Macedon), Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, all significant ancient population centers of ancient Egypt as far west as Libya, Kuwait, northern Saudi Arabia, parts of the UAE and Oman, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and much of Central Asia, making it the first world government and the largest empire the world had yet seen.

question: What was the first world goverment the world had seen at the time it existed? 

answer: the Achaemenid Empire

question: What was the largest empire the world had seen at the time it existed? 

answer: the Achaemenid Empire

question: What sea did the Achaemenid Empire control the majority of the coastal regions of? 

answer: the Black Sea

question: The Achaemenid Empire expanded into what part of Asia? 

answer: Central Asia

question: The Achaemenid Empire controlled all of the significant settlements of what ancient country during its greatest extent? 

answer: ancient Egypt
Title: Iran
Context: It is estimated that in 480 BC, 50 million people lived in the Achaemenid Empire. The empire at its peak ruled over 44% of the world's population, the highest such figure for any empire in history. In Greek history, the Achaemenid Empire is considered as the antagonist of the Greek city states, for the emancipation of slaves including the Jewish exiles in Babylon, building infrastructures such as road and postal systems, and the use of an official language, the Imperial Aramaic, throughout its territories. The empire had a centralized, bureaucratic administration under the emperor, a large professional army, and civil services, inspiring similar developments in later empires. Furthermore, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, was built in the empire between 353 and 350 BC.

question: The Achaemenid Empire was the known enemy of what nation's histories during its existence? 

answer: the Greek city states

question: How many people lived in the Archaemenid Empire in 480BC? 

answer: 50 million people

question: The Achaemenid Empire had what percentage of the word's population in 480BC? 

answer: 44% of the world's population

question: What was the Achaemenid Empire's official language? 

answer: Imperial Aramaic

question: What Seven Wonder of the Ancient world was built by the Archaemenid Empire in the 4th Century BC? 

answer: the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
Title: Iran
Context: In 334 BC, Alexander the Great invaded the Achaemenid Empire, defeating the last Achaemenid emperor, Darius III, at the Battle of Issus. Following the premature death of Alexander, Iran came under the control of the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire. In the middle of the 2nd century BC, the Parthian Empire rose to become the main power in Iran, and the century-long geopolitical arch-rivalry between Romans and Parthians began, culminating in the Roman–Parthian Wars. The Parthian Empire continued as a feudal monarchy for nearly five centuries, until 224 CE, when it was succeeded by the Sassanid Empire. Together with their neighboring arch-rival, the Roman-Byzantines, they made up the world's two most dominant powers at the time, for over four centuries.

question: Who invaded the Archaemenid Empire in 334BC? 

answer: Alexander the Great

question: Who was the last Archaemenid Emperor at the time of its defeat by Alexander the Great? 

answer: Darius III

question: Who controlled the Archaemenid Empire after Alexander the Great died prematurely? 

answer: the Hellenistic Seleucid Empire

question: When did the Parthian Empire rise to become the main power in Iran? 

answer: In the middle of the 2nd century BC

question: When did the Sassanid Empire succeed the Parthian Empire in control of Iran? 

answer: 224 CE
Title: Iran
Context: The prolonged Byzantine-Sassanid Wars, most importantly the climactic Byzantine-Sassanid War of 602-628, as well as the social conflict within the Sassanid Empire, opened the way for an Arab invasion to Iran in the 7th century. Initially defeated by the Arab Rashidun Caliphate, Iran came under the rule of the Arab caliphates of Umayyad and Abbasid. The prolonged and gradual process of the Islamization of Iran began following the conquest. Under the new Arab elite of the Rashidun and later the Umayyad caliphates, both converted (mawali) and non-converted (dhimmi) Iranians were discriminated against, being excluded from the government and military, and having to pay a special tax called Jizya. Gunde Shapur, home of the Academy of Gunde Shapur which was the most important medical center of the world at the time, survived after the invasion, but became known as an Islamic institute thereafter.

question: What wars in the 600s CE lead to the weakening of Iran and a subsequent invasion by the Arabs? 

answer: Byzantine-Sassanid Wars

question: When did the Arabs invade Iran? 

answer: the 7th century

question: Which Arab Caliphate defeated Iran first? 

answer: Arab Rashidun Caliphate

question: What special tax did the discriminated Iranians - both converted and nonconverted - have to pay? 

answer: Jizya

question: What academy was the most important medical center of the world at the time and became Islamicized after the Arab invasions? 

answer: Academy of Gunde Shapur
Title: Iran
Context: The blossoming literature, philosophy, medicine, and art of Iran became major elements in the formation of a new age for the Iranian civilization, during the period known as the Islamic Golden Age. The Islamic Golden Age reached its peak by the 10th and 11th centuries, during which Iran was the main theater of the scientific activities. After the 10th century, Persian language, alongside Arabic, was used for the scientific, philosophical, historical, musical, and medical works, whereas the important Iranian writers, such as Tusi, Avicenna, Qotb od Din Shirazi, and Biruni, had major contributions in the scientific writing.

question: What period was known for an era where Iranian civilization blossomed and peaked? 

answer: the Islamic Golden Age

question: When did the Islamic Golden Age reach its zenith? 

answer: by the 10th and 11th centuries

question: Prominent Iranian writers during this time of the Islamic Golden Age contributed to what area of writing? 

answer: scientific writing

question: Where was the main area where the peak of scientific activity take place during the Islamic Golden Age? 

answer: Iran
Title: Iran
Context: The 10th century saw a mass migration of Turkic tribes from Central Asia into the Iranian plateau. Turkic tribesmen were first used in the Abbasid army as mamluks (slave-warriors), replacing Iranian and Arab elements within the army. As a result, the mamluks gained a significant political power. In 999, large portions of Iran came briefly under the rule of the Ghaznavids, whose rulers were of mamluk Turk origin, and longer subsequently under the Turkish Seljuk and Khwarezmian empires. These Turks had been Persianized and had adopted Persian models of administration and rulership. The Seljuks subsequently gave rise to the Sultanate of Rum in Anatolia, while taking their thoroughly Persianized identity with them. The result of the adoption and patronage of Persian culture by Turkish rulers was the development of a distinct Turko-Persian tradition.

question: What tribes migranted en masse to the Iranian plateau in the 10th Century? 

answer: Turkic tribes

question: Where did these Turkic tribes come from before the migrated into Iran in the 10th Century? 

answer: Central Asia

question: The Abbasid army replaced Iranian and Arabic men with Turkic tribesmen as what element in their army? 

answer: mamluks (slave-warriors)

question: In what year did the Ghaznavids briefly control large portions of Iran? 

answer: 999

question: How were the Ghaznavids different from the original Turkics that migrated into Iran? 

answer: These Turks had been Persianized and had adopted Persian models of administration and rulership
Title: Iran
Context: Following the fracture of the Mongol Empire in 1256, Hulagu Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, established the Ilkhanate in Iran. In 1370, yet another conqueror, Timur, followed the example of Hulagu, establishing the Timurid Empire which lasted for another 156 years. In 1387, Timur ordered the complete massacre of Isfahan, reportedly killing 70,000 citizens. The Ilkhans and the Timurids soon came to adopt the ways and customs of the Iranians, choosing to surround themselves with a culture that was distinctively Iranian.

question: Who established an Ilkhanate in Iran after the break up of the Mongol Empire in 1256? 

answer: Hulagu Khan

question: Timur established the Timurid Empire in Iran in what year? 

answer: 1370

question: How long did the Timurid empire last in Iran? 

answer: 156 years

question: The Ilkhans and Tumrids had what type of culture when ruling Iran? 

answer: a culture that was distinctively Iranian

question: How many citizens were massacred in Isfahan by Timur in 1387? 

answer: 70,000 citizens
Title: Iran
Context: By the 1500s, Ismail I from Ardabil, established the Safavid Dynasty, with Tabriz as the capital. Beginning with Azerbaijan, he subsequently extended his authority over all of the Iranian territories, and established an intermittent Iranian hegemony over the vast relative regions, reasserting the Iranian identity within large parts of the Greater Iran. Iran was predominantly Sunni, but Ismail instigated a forced conversion to the Shia branch of Islam, by which the Shia Islam spread throughout the Safavid territories in the Caucasus, Iran, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. As a result, thereof, the modern-day Iran is the only official Shia nation of the world, with it holding an absolute majority in Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan, having there the 1st and 2nd highest number of Shia inhabitants by population percentage in the world.

question: Who established the Safavid Dynasty? 

answer: Ismail I from Ardabil

question: What was the capital of the Safavid Dynasty? 

answer: Tabriz

question: Ismail I forced a conversion to what Islamic branch? 

answer: Shia Islam

question: What country is currently the only official Shia nation of the world? 

answer: Iran