Iran in British English (ɪˈrɑːn ) noun. a republic in SW Asia, between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf: a monarchy until an Islamic revolution in 1979 headed by the Ayatollah Khomeini when the Shah was obliged to leave the country.
The modern Persian name of Iran (ایران) means "the land of Aryans". It derives immediately from the 3rd-century Sasanian Middle Persian ērān (Pahlavi spelling: 𐭠𐭩𐭫𐭠𐭭, ʼyrʼn), where it initially meant "of the Iranians", but soon also acquired a geographical connotation in the sense of "(lands inhabited by) Iranians".
In the western world, Iran was always known as “Persia.” It wasn't until 1935 when Reza Shah Pahlavi asked that Persia be called by its endonym, Iran, in all official foreign correspondence. Then, of course, after the Revolution of 1979, it became “the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Ancient Iran, historically known as Persia, was the dominant nation of western Asia for over twelve centuries, with three successive native dynasties—the Achaemenid, the Parthian, and the Sasanian—controlling an empire of unprecedented size and complexity.
In 1935 the Iranian government requested those countries which it had diplomatic relations with, to call Persia "Iran," which is the name of the country in Persian.
At its height, it encompassed the areas of modern-day Iran, Egypt, Turkey, and parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. The Persian Empire emerged under the leadership of Cyrus II, who conquered the neighboring Median Empire ruled by his grandfather. From then on Cyrus was called the “shah,” or king, of Persia.
For most of history, the tract of land now called Iran was known as Persia. It wasn't until 1935 that it adopted its present name.
In the 1930s, steps began to be taken by Reza Shah to formalise the change in name from Persia to Iran, and the request came into force in March 1935.
When Reza Shah became the new king, the name was changed to Iran in an effort to signify a new beginning. Iran made its allegiance clear to the world by changing Persia's name to Iran or Arya, which means Land of the Aryans. Persia or Iran had been greatly impacted by the Soviet Union and Great Britain before 1935.
On the day of the Persian New Year, March 21 1935, Reza Shah Pahlavi, requested foreign delegates to use the term Iran, instead of Persia, in a conscious reference to the ancient ancestry of the Iranians.
With the spread of Islam in the mid-seventh century, the Persian-speaking world became predominantly Muslim although vestiges of the earlier pre-Islamic religious and philosophical traditions remained.
With the exception of various minority ethnic groups in Iran (one of which is Arab), Iranians are Persian.
Although Persian (Farsi) is the predominant and official language of Iran, a number of languages and dialects from three language families—Indo-European, Altaic, and Afro-Asiatic—are spoken. Roughly three-fourths of Iranians speak one of the Indo-European languages.
Cyrus the Great
He founded the first Persian Empire, also known as the Achaemenid Empire, in 550 B.C.
Persian, predominant ethnic group of Iran (formerly known as Persia). Although of diverse ancestry, the Persian people are united by their language, Persian (Farsi), which belongs to the Indo-Iranian group of the Indo-European language family.
Although the newcomers called themselves Irani (Aryans) and their new homeland Irania (now Iran), the land came to be called Persia, because Greek geographers mistakenly named it after the province Pars, or Persis, where their early kings had their capital.
The exonym Persia was the official name of Iran in the Western world before March 1935, but the Iranian peoples inside their country since the time of Zoroaster (probably circa 1000 BC), or even before, have called their country Arya, Iran, Iranshahr, Iranzamin (Land of Iran), Aryānām (the equivalent of Iran in the ...
Since the Ottoman–Persian Wars of the 16th and 17th centuries, Iran (known as "Persia" prior to 1935) and the Ottomans fought over Iraq (then known as Mesopotamia) and full control of the Shatt al-Arab until the signing of the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 which established the final borders between the two countries.
Persian baby names often originate from a work of Persian literature called the Shahnameh (the Book of Kings), making them beautiful and unique options for your little one. Iran, also called Persia, with its illustrious and historical past, has been an example of a developed nation in ancient times.
"Persia" was the official name of Iran in the Western world prior to 1935 when the country and vast surrounding lands were known as Persia (derived from the ancient kingdom of Parsa and the Persian empire). However, Persian people within their country have long called it Iran (often spelled Eran).
The Iranian peoples stem from early Proto-Iranians, themselves a branch of the Indo-Iranians, who are believed to have originated in either Central Asia or Afghanistan circa 1800 BCE. The Proto-Iranians are traced to the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia.
Islam was brought to Iran via Arab-Islamic conquest in 650 AD and has played a shifting, anomalous role in this nation-state ever since.
No, Russia was not part of the Persian Empire.
Persia (roughly modern-day Iran) is among the oldest inhabited regions in the world. Archaeological sites in the country have established human habitation dating back 100,000 years to the Paleolithic Age with semi-permanent settlements (most likely for hunting parties) established before 10,000 BCE.
Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom paid a state visit to Iran in March 1961. The British forces began to withdraw from Persian Gulf in 1968. This was done, quite literally, out of pure economic considerations. The British simply could not afford the costs of administration.