![Qajar_dynasty_(greatest_extent)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c9/Qajar_dynasty_%28greatest_extent%29.svg)
Greater Iran ( fa, ایران بزرگ, translit=Irān-e Bozorg) refers to a region covering parts of
Western Asia
Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Ana ...
,
Central Asia
Central Asia, also known as Middle Asia, is a subregion, region of Asia that stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to western China and Mongolia in the east, and from Afghanistan and Iran in the south to Russia in the north. It includes t ...
,
South Asia
South Asia is the southern subregion of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The region consists of the countries of Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka.;;;;;;;; ...
,
Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
, and the
Caucasus
The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range, have historically ...
, where both
Iranian culture
The culture of Iran () or culture of PersiaYarshater, Ehsa, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) is among the most influential in the world. Iran, also known as Persia, is widely considered to be one of the Cradle of civilization, cradle ...
and
Iranian languages
The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau.
The Iranian languages are grouped ...
have had a significant presence and impact. Historically, this was a region long-ruled by the dynasties of various
Iranian empires,
under whose rule the local populace incorporated considerable aspects of
Persian culture through extensive inter-contact, or alternatively where sufficient
Iranian peoples
The Iranian peoples or Iranic peoples are a diverse grouping of Indo-European peoples who are identified by their usage of the Iranian languages and other cultural similarities.
The Proto-Iranians are believed to have emerged as a separat ...
settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures; it roughly corresponds geographically to the
Iranian plateau and its bordering plains.
The
Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
uses the term ''Iranian Cultural Continent'' to describe this region.
In addition to the
modern state of Iran, the term "Greater Iran" includes all of the territory ruled by various Iranian peoples throughout history, including in
Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia ''Mesopotamíā''; ar, بِلَاد ٱلرَّافِدَيْن or ; syc, ܐܪܡ ܢܗܪ̈ܝܢ, or , ) is a historical region of Western Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the F ...
, the eastern half of
Anatolia
Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...
, the
South Caucasus
The South Caucasus, also known as Transcaucasia or the Transcaucasus, is a geographical region on the border of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, straddling the southern Caucasus Mountains. The South Caucasus roughly corresponds to modern Arme ...
, and Central Asia. The concept of Greater Iran has its source in the history of the
Achaemenid Persian Empire, particularly in the region of
Persis (modern-day
Fars Province), and overlaps to a certain extent with the
history of Iran proper.
In recent centuries, Iran lost many of the territories conquered under the
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
and
Qajar dynasties, including most of
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
to the
Ottoman Turks
The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922).
Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...
(via the
Treaty of Amasya in 1555 and the
Treaty of Zuhab
The Treaty of Zuhab ( fa, عهدنامه زهاب, ''Ahadnāmah Zuhab''), also called Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin ( tr, Kasr-ı Şirin Antlaşması), was an accord signed between the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire on May 17, 1639. The accord en ...
in 1639), western
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
to the
British (via the
Treaty of Paris Treaty of Paris may refer to one of many treaties signed in Paris, France:
Treaties
1200s and 1300s
* Treaty of Paris (1229), which ended the Albigensian Crusade
* Treaty of Paris (1259), between Henry III of England and Louis IX of France
* Trea ...
in 1857 and the
MacMahon Arbitration in 1905), and Caucasus territories to the
Russians
, native_name_lang = ru
, image =
, caption =
, population =
, popplace =
118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 ''Winkler Prins'' estimate)
, region1 =
, pop1 ...
(via the
Russo-Persian Wars of the 17th and 19th centuries). The
Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 saw Iran cede the regions of modern-day
Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
,
Georgia, and most of
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
to the Russian Empire. The
Turkmanchey Treaty of 1828 between the Russians and the Iranians decisively ended centuries of Iranian rule over its Caucasian provinces, and forced Iran to cede modern-day
Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, the remainder of Azerbaijan, as well as
Iğdır
Iğdır ( Turkish ; ku, Îdir or ; hy, Իգդիր, Igdir, also ) is the capital of Iğdır Province in the Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey.
History
Iğdır went by the Armenian name of Tsolakert during the Middle Ages. s.v. "Igdir," Armenia ...
(in eastern
Turkey
Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...
), and set modern boundaries of Iran along the
Aras River.
On the occasion of
Nowruz in 1935, the endonym of ''Iran'' was adopted as the
official international name of Persia by its erstwhile ruler,
Reza Shah Pahlavi. However, in 1959, the government of
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi
, title = Shahanshah Aryamehr Bozorg Arteshtaran
, image = File:Shah_fullsize.jpg
, caption = Shah in 1973
, succession = Shah of Iran
, reign = 16 September 1941 – 11 February 1979
, coronation = 26 October ...
announced that both "Persia" and "Iran" could be used interchangeably to refer to the country on a formal basis.
[Yarshater, Ehsa]
Persia or Iran, Persian or Farsi
, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989).
Etymology
The name "Iran", meaning "land of the
Aryan
Aryan or Arya (, Indo-Iranian *''arya'') is a term originally used as an ethnocultural self-designation by Indo-Iranians in ancient times, in contrast to the nearby outsiders known as 'non-Aryan' (*''an-arya''). In Ancient India, the term ' ...
s", is the
New Persian
New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thre ...
continuation of the old genitive plural ''aryānām'' (proto-Iranian, meaning "of the Aryans"), first attested in the
Avesta as ''airyānąm'' (the text of which is composed in
Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...
, an old
Iranian language
The Iranian languages or Iranic languages are a branch of the Indo-Iranian languages in the Indo-European language family that are spoken natively by the Iranian peoples, predominantly in the Iranian Plateau.
The Iranian languages are grouped ...
spoken in northeastern Greater Iran, or in what are now
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
,
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan (, ; uz, Ozbekiston, italic=yes / , ; russian: Узбекистан), officially the Republic of Uzbekistan ( uz, Ozbekiston Respublikasi, italic=yes / ; russian: Республика Узбекистан), is a doubly landlocked cou ...
,
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan ( or ; tk, Türkmenistan / Түркменистан, ) is a country located in Central Asia, bordered by Kazakhstan to the northwest, Uzbekistan to the north, east and northeast, Afghanistan to the southeast, Iran to the sout ...
and
Tajikistan
Tajikistan (, ; tg, Тоҷикистон, Tojikiston; russian: Таджикистан, Tadzhikistan), officially the Republic of Tajikistan ( tg, Ҷумҳурии Тоҷикистон, Jumhurii Tojikiston), is a landlocked country in Centr ...
).
The proto-Iranian term ''aryānām'' is present in the term ''
Airyana Vaēǰah'', the homeland of
Zoroaster
Zoroaster,; fa, زرتشت, Zartosht, label=New Persian, Modern Persian; ku, زەردەشت, Zerdeşt also known as Zarathustra,, . Also known as Zarathushtra Spitama, or Ashu Zarathushtra is regarded as the spiritual founder of Zoroastria ...
and
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
, near the provinces of
Sogdiana,
Margiana,
Bactria
Bactria (; Bactrian: , ), or Bactriana, was an ancient region in Central Asia in Amu Darya's middle stream, stretching north of the Hindu Kush, west of the Pamirs and south of the Gissar range, covering the northern part of Afghanistan, southwe ...
, etc., listed in the first chapter of the
Vidēvdād. The Avestan evidence is confirmed by
Greek sources:
Arianē is spoken of as being between
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and the
Indian subcontinent
The Indian subcontinent is a list of the physiographic regions of the world, physiographical region in United Nations geoscheme for Asia#Southern Asia, Southern Asia. It is situated on the Indian Plate, projecting southwards into the Indian O ...
.
However, this is a Greek pronunciation of the name Haroyum/Haraiva (
Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
), which the Greeks called 'Aria' (a land listed separately from the homeland of the Aryans).
While up until the end of the
Parthian period in the 3rd century CE, the idea of "Irān" had an ethnic, linguistic, and religious value, it did not yet have a political import. The idea of an "Iranian" empire or kingdom in a political sense is a purely
Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
one. It was the result of a convergence of interests between the new dynasty and the
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic on ...
clergy, as we can deduce from the available evidence. This convergence gave rise to the idea of an Ērān-šahr "Kingdom of the Iranians", which was "ēr" (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
equivalent of
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
"ariya" and Avestan "airya").
Definition
Richard Nelson Frye defines Greater Iran as including "much of the Caucasus, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan and Central Asia, with cultural influences extending to China and western India." According to Frye, "Iran means all lands and peoples where Iranian languages were and are spoken, and where in the past, multi-faceted Iranian cultures existed."
Richard Foltz
Richard Foltz is a Canadian scholar of American origin. He is a specialist in the history of Iranian civilization—what is sometimes referred to as "Greater Iran". He has also been active in the areas of environmental ethics and animal rights.
...
notes that while "A general assumption is often made that the various Iranian peoples of 'greater Iran'—a cultural area that stretched from Mesopotamia and the Caucasus into
Khwarizm,
Transoxiana
Transoxiana or Transoxania (Land beyond the Oxus) is the Latin name for a region and civilization located in lower Central Asia roughly corresponding to modern-day eastern Uzbekistan, western Tajikistan, parts of southern Kazakhstan, parts of Tu ...
, Bactria, and the
Pamirs
The Pamir Mountains are a mountain range between Central Asia and Pakistan. It is located at a junction with other notable mountains, namely the Tian Shan, Karakoram, Kunlun, Hindu Kush and the Himalaya mountain ranges. They are among the world' ...
and included Persians, Medes, Parthians and Sogdians among others—were all 'Zoroastrians' in pre-Islamic times... This view, even though common among serious scholars, is almost certainly overstated." Foltz argues that "While the various Iranian peoples did indeed share a common
pantheon
Pantheon may refer to:
* Pantheon (religion), a set of gods belonging to a particular religion or tradition, and a temple or sacred building
Arts and entertainment Comics
*Pantheon (Marvel Comics), a fictional organization
* ''Pantheon'' (Lone St ...
and pool of religious myths and
symbols
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise very different conc ...
, in actuality a variety of deities were worshipped—particularly
Mitra
''Mitra'' ( Proto-Indo-Iranian: ''*mitrás'') is the name of an Indo-Iranian divinity from which the names and some characteristics of Rigvedic Mitrá and Avestan Mithra derive.
The names (and occasionally also some characteristics) of these t ...
, the god of covenants, and
Anahita, the goddess of the waters, but also many others—depending on the time, place, and particular group concerned".
To the Ancient Greeks, Greater Iran ended at the Indus River located in
Pakistan
Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 24 ...
.
According to
J. P. Mallory
James Patrick Mallory (born October 25, 1945) is an American archaeologist and Indo-Europeanist. Mallory is an emeritus professor at Queen's University, Belfast; a member of the Royal Irish Academy, and the former editor of the ''Journal of Ind ...
and
Douglas Q. Adams most of Western ''greater Iran'' spoke Southwestern Iranian languages in the Achaemenid era while the Eastern territory spoke Eastern Iranian languages related to Avestan.
George Lane also states that after the dissolution of the
Mongol Empire
The Mongol Empire of the 13th and 14th centuries was the largest contiguous land empire in history. Originating in present-day Mongolia in East Asia, the Mongol Empire at its height stretched from the Sea of Japan to parts of Eastern Europe, ...
, the
Ilkhanids became rulers of greater Iran and
Uljaytu, according to Judith G. Kolbas, was the ruler of this expanse between 1304 and 1317 A.D.
Primary sources, including Timurid historian Mir Khwand, define Iranshahr (Greater Iran) as extending from the Euphrates to the Oxus
Traditionally, and until recent times, ethnicity has never been a defining separating criterion in these regions. In the words of Richard Nelson Frye:
Only in modern times did western colonial intervention and ethnicity tend to become a dividing force between the provinces of Greater Iran. As
Patrick Clawson
Patrick Lyell Clawson (born March 30, 1951) is an American economist and Middle East scholar. He is currently the Director for Research at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and senior editor of ''Middle East Quarterly''.
Biography
Bo ...
states, "ethnic nationalism is largely a nineteenth-century phenomenon, even if it is fashionable to retroactively extend it." "Greater Iran" however has been more of a cultural super-state, rather than a political one to begin with.
In the work ''Nuzhat al-Qolub'' (), the medieval geographer
Hamdallah Mustawfi
Hamdallah Mustawfi Qazvini ( fa, حمدالله مستوفى قزوینی, Ḥamdallāh Mustawfī Qazvīnī; 1281 – after 1339/40) was a Persian official, historian, geographer and poet. He lived during the last era of the Mongol Ilkhanate, and ...
wrote:
''Some cities in Iran are above the rest,''
''better and more productive due to good weather,''
''Ganja full of treasure in
Arran, and
Esfahān
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Region, Isfahan Province, Iran. It is lo ...
in
Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
,''
''
Merv
Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...
and
Tus
Tus or TUS may refer to:
* Tus (biology), a protein that binds to terminator sequences
* Thales Underwater Systems, an international defence contractor
* Tuscarora language, an Iroquoian language, ISO 639-3 code
Education
* Technological Univ ...
in
Khorasan
Khorasan may refer to:
* Greater Khorasan, a historical region which lies mostly in modern-day northern/northwestern Afghanistan, northeastern Iran, southern Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan
* Khorasan Province, a pre-2004 province of Ira ...
, and
Aksaray
Aksaray (, Koine Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς ''Arhelays'', Medieval Greek: Κολώνεια ''Koloneya'', Ancient Greek: Γαρσάουρα ''Garsaura'') is a city in the Central Anatolia Region, Turkey, Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the ca ...
in
Rûm
Rūm ( ar, روم , collective; singulative: Rūmī ; plural: Arwām ; fa, روم Rum or Rumiyān, singular Rumi; tr, Rûm or , singular ), also romanized as ''Roum'', is a derivative of the Aramaic (''rhπmÈ'') and Parthian (''frwm'') te ...
.''
The ''Cambridge History of Iran'' takes a geographical approach in referring to the "historical and cultural" entity of "Greater Iran" as "areas of Iran, parts of Afghanistan, and Chinese and Soviet Central Asia". A detailed list of these territories follows in this article.
Background
![Coin of Nader Shah, minted in Shiraz](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/08/Coin_of_Nader_Shah%2C_minted_in_Shiraz.jpg)
Greater Iran is called ''Iranzamin'' () which means "Iranland" or "The Land of Iran". ''Iranzamin'' was in the mythical times as opposed to the ''Turanzamin'' the Land of
Turan
Turan ( ae, Tūiriiānəm, pal, Tūrān; fa, توران, Turân, , "The Land of Tur") is a historical region in Central Asia. The term is of Iranian origin and may refer to a particular prehistoric human settlement, a historic geographical re ...
, which was located in the upper part of Central Asia.
In the pre-Islamic period, Iranians distinguished two main regions in the territory they ruled, one Iran and the other ''Aniran''. By Iran they meant all the regions inhabited by
ancient Iranian peoples, this region was more extensive in the past. This notion of ''Iran'' as a territory (opposed to ''Aniran'') can be seen as the core of early Greater Iran. Later many changes occurred in the boundaries and areas where Iranians lived but the languages and culture remained the dominant medium in many parts of Greater Iran.
As an example, the Persian language (referred to, in Persian, as ''Farsi'') was the main literary language and the language of correspondence in Central Asia and the Caucasus prior to the Russian occupation, Central Asia being the birthplace of modern Persian language. Furthermore, according to the British government, Persian language was also used in
Iraqi Kurdistan, prior to the British Occupation and Mandate in 1918–1932.
With
Imperial Russia
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the List of Russian monarchs, Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended th ...
continuously advancing south in the course of two wars against Persia, and the treaties of Turkmenchay and Gulistan in the western frontiers, plus the unexpected death of
Abbas Mirza
Abbas Mirza ( fa, عباس میرزا; August 26, 1789October 25, 1833) was a Qajar crown prince of Iran. He developed a reputation as a military commander during the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813 and the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, as ...
in 1833, and the murdering of Persia's Grand
Vizier
A vizier (; ar, وزير, wazīr; fa, وزیر, vazīr), or wazir, is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in the near east. The Abbasid caliphs gave the title ''wazir'' to a minister formerly called ''katib'' (secretary), who was a ...
(Mirza AbolQasem Qa'im Maqām), many Central Asian khanates began losing hope for any support from Persia against the
Tsar
Tsar ( or ), also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar'', is a title used by East Slavs, East and South Slavs, South Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word ''Caesar (title), caesar'', which was intended to mean "emperor" i ...
ist armies. The Russian armies occupied the
Aral coast in 1849,
Tashkent
Tashkent (, uz, Toshkent, Тошкент/, ) (from russian: Ташкент), or Toshkent (; ), also historically known as Chach is the capital and largest city of Uzbekistan. It is the most populous city in Central Asia, with a population of ...
in 1864,
Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
in 1867,
Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
in 1868, and
Khiva
Khiva ( uz, Xiva/, خىۋا; fa, خیوه, ; alternative or historical names include ''Kheeva'', ''Khorasam'', ''Khoresm'', ''Khwarezm'', ''Khwarizm'', ''Khwarazm'', ''Chorezm'', ar, خوارزم and fa, خوارزم) is a district-level city ...
and
Amudarya in 1873.
:''"Many Iranians consider their natural sphere of influence to extend beyond Iran's present borders. After all, Iran was once much larger. Portuguese forces seized islands and ports in the 16th and 17th centuries. In the 19th century, the Russian Empire wrested from
Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
's control what is today Armenia,
Republic of Azerbaijan, and part of Georgia. Iranian elementary school texts teach about the Iranian roots not only of cities like
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
, but also cities further north like
Derbent
Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...
in southern Russia. The
Shah
Shah (; fa, شاه, , ) is a royal title that was historically used by the leading figures of Iranian monarchies.Yarshater, EhsaPersia or Iran, Persian or Farsi, ''Iranian Studies'', vol. XXII no. 1 (1989) It was also used by a variety of ...
lost much of his claim to western Afghanistan following the Anglo-Iranian war of 1856-1857. Only in 1970 did a
UN sponsored consultation end Iranian claims to
suzerainty
Suzerainty () is the rights and obligations of a person, state or other polity who controls the foreign policy and relations of a tributary state, while allowing the tributary state to have internal autonomy. While the subordinate party is cal ...
over the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
island nation of
Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
. In centuries past, Iranian rule once stretched westward into modern Iraq and beyond. When the western world complains of Iranian interference beyond its borders, the Iranian government often convinced itself that it is merely exerting its influence in lands that were once its own. Simultaneously, Iran's losses at the hands of outside powers have contributed to a sense of grievance that continues to the present day."'' -
Patrick Clawson
Patrick Lyell Clawson (born March 30, 1951) is an American economist and Middle East scholar. He is currently the Director for Research at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and senior editor of ''Middle East Quarterly''.
Biography
Bo ...
of the
Washington Institute for Near East Policy
:''"Iran today is just a rump of what it once was. At its height, Iranian rulers controlled Iraq, Afghanistan, Western Pakistan, much of Central Asia, and the Caucasus. Many Iranians today consider these areas part of a greater Iranian sphere of influence."'' -
Patrick Clawson
Patrick Lyell Clawson (born March 30, 1951) is an American economist and Middle East scholar. He is currently the Director for Research at The Washington Institute for Near East Policy and senior editor of ''Middle East Quarterly''.
Biography
Bo ...
:''"Since the days of the
Achaemenids, the Iranians had the protection of geography. But high mountains and the vast emptiness of the Iranian plateau were no longer enough to shield Iran from the Russian army or British navy. Both literally, and figuratively, Iran shrank. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Afghanistan were Iranian, but by the end of the century, all this territory had been lost as a result of European military action."''
Provinces and regions
In the 8th century, Iran was conquered by the
Abbassids
The Abbasid Caliphate ( or ; ar, الْخِلَافَةُ الْعَبَّاسِيَّة, ') was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abdul-Muttalib ...
who ruled from
Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. The territory of Iran at that time was composed of two portions: ''
Persian Iraq'' (western portion) and ''Khorasan'' (eastern portion). The dividing region was mostly the cities of
Gurgan
Gorgan ( fa, گرگان ; also Romanization of Persian, romanized as ''Gorgān'', ''Gurgān'', and ''Gurgan''), formerly Esterabad ( ; also romanized as ''Astarābād'', ''Asterabad'', and ''Esterābād''), is the capital city of Golestan Provi ...
and
Damaghan. The
Ghaznavids
The Ghaznavid dynasty ( fa, غزنویان ''Ġaznaviyān'') was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim dynasty of Turkic ''mamluk'' origin, ruling, at its greatest extent, large parts of Persia, Khorasan, much of Transoxiana and the northwest ...
,
Seljuqs
The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes
by the Turk ...
and
Timurids divided their empires into Iraqi and Khorasani regions. This point can be observed in many books such as
Abul Fazl Bayhqi's ''"Tārīkhi Baïhaqī"'',
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali ( – 19 December 1111; ), full name (), and known in Persian-speaking countries as Imam Muhammad-i Ghazali (Persian: امام محمد غزالی) or in Medieval Europe by the Latinized as Algazelus or Algazel, was a Persian polymat ...
's ''Faza'ilul al-anam min rasa'ili hujjat al-Islam'' and other books. Transoxiana and
Chorasmia were mostly included in the Khorasanian region.
West Asia
Bahrain
The "Ajam" and "Huwala" are ethnic communities of Bahrain of Persian origin. The Persians of Bahrain are a significant, influential ethnic community whose ancestors arrived in Bahrain within the last 1,000 years as laborers, merchants and artisans. They have traditionally been merchants living in specific quarters of
Manama
Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...
and
Muharraq. Bahrain's Persians who adhere to the
Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
sect of Islam are called
Ajam
''Ajam'' ( ar, عجم, ʿajam) is an Arabic word meaning mute, which today refers to someone whose mother tongue is not Arabic. During the Arab conquest of Persia, the term became a racial pejorative. In many languages, including Persian, Tur ...
and the Persians who adhere to the
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
sect are called the
Huwala
Huwala ( ar, الهولة, sing. Huwali هولي) also collectively referred to as Bani Huwala, is a blanket term usually used to refer to Iranian Arabs who originate from the Arabian Peninsula, initially migrating in the 13th and 14th century fro ...
; who migrated from
Larestan in Iran to the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
in the seventeenth and eighteenth century.
The immigration of Persians to Bahrain began with the fall of the Greek
Seleucid kingdom, which ruled the island at the time. The
Persian Empire
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...
successfully invaded, but it is often believed that mass immigration began much later, during the 1600s, when the
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
shah
Abbas the Great conquered Bahrain. After settlement, some of the Persians were effectively Arabized. They usually settled in areas inhabited by the indigenous
Baharna, probably because they share the same Shia Muslim faith, however, some Sunni Persians settled in areas mostly inhabited by Sunni Arab immigrants such as
Hidd
:''To be distinguished from Ras al Hadd (رأس الحد), a district with a famous turtle breeding beach in Oman''
Al Hidd ( ar, الحد; transliterated: Al-Ḥidd) is a town in Bahrain, located on a sand spit on the southeastern extremity of Muh ...
and
Galali. In
Muharraq, they have their own neighborhood called ''Fareej Karimi'' named after a rich Persian man called Ali Abdulla Karimi.
![Buyids 970](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/53/Buyids_970.png)
From the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC, Bahrain was a prominent part of the Persian Empire by the
Achaemenids dynasty. It was referred to by the Greeks as "
Tylos", the centre of
pearl
A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle) of a living shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pearl is composed of calcium carb ...
trading, when
Nearchus
Nearchus or Nearchos ( el, Νέαρχος; – 300 BC) was one of the Greek officers, a navarch, in the army of Alexander the Great. He is known for his celebrated expeditionary voyage starting from the Indus River, through the Persian Gulf and e ...
discovered it while serving under
Alexander the Great
Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, wikt:Ἀλέξανδρος, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Maced ...
.
[''Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient ...'' by Curtis E. Larsen p. 13] From the 3rd century BC to the arrival of Islam in the 7th century AD, the island was controlled by two other Iranian dynasties, the
Parthians Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
and the
Sassanids.
In the 3rd century AD, the Sassanids succeeded the Parthians and controlled the area for four centuries until the Arab conquest.
Ardashir, the first ruler of the Iranian Sassanid dynasty marched to Oman and Bahrain and defeated Sanatruq (or Satiran
[''Security and Territoriality in the Persian Gulf: A Maritime Political Geography'' by Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh, page 119]), probably the Parthian governor of Bahrain.
He appointed his son
Shapur I as governor. Shapur constructed a new city there and named it Batan Ardashir after his father.
At this time, it incorporated the southern Sassanid province covering the Persian Gulf's southern shore plus the archipelago of Bahrain.
[Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in ... By Jamsheed K. Choksy, 1997, page 75] The southern province of the Sassanids was subdivided into three districts; Haggar (now al-Hafuf province, Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir (now
al-Qatif
Qatif or Al-Qatif ( ar, ٱلْقَطِيف ''Al-Qaṭīf'') is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in th ...
province, Saudi Arabia), and
Mishmahig
Tylos ( grc, Τύλος) was the Greek exonym of ancient Bahrain in the classical era, during which the island was a center of maritime trade and pearling in the Eurythraean Sea.Curtis E. Larsen, ''Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The ...
(now Bahrain Island)
(In
Middle-Persian
Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle Per ...
/Pahlavi it means "ewe-fish").
![Ghaznavid Empire 975 - 1187 (AD)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Ghaznavid_Empire_975_-_1187_%28AD%29.PNG)
By about 130 BC, the Parthian dynasty brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as
Oman
Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...
. Because they needed to control the Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.
[''Bahrain'' by Federal Research Division, page 7]
through warfare and economic distress, been reduced to only 60.
The influence of Iran was further undermined at the end of the 18th century when the ideological power struggle between the Akhbari-Usuli strands culminated in victory for the Usulis in Bahrain.
An Afghan uprising led by Hotakis of Kandahar at the beginning of the 18th century resulted in the near-collapse of the Safavid state. In the resultant power vacuum,
Oman invaded Bahrain in 1717, ending over one hundred years of Persian hegemony in Bahrain. The Omani invasion began a period of political instability and a quick succession of outside rulers took power with consequent destruction. According to a contemporary account by theologian, Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani, in an unsuccessful attempt by the Persians and their Bedouin allies to take back Bahrain from the
Kharijite
The Kharijites (, singular ), also called al-Shurat (), were an Islamic sect which emerged during the First Fitna (656–661). The first Kharijites were supporters of Ali who rebelled against his acceptance of arbitration talks to settle the c ...
Omanis, much of the country was burnt to the ground. Bahrain was eventually sold back to the Persians by the Omanis, but the weakness of the Safavid empire saw
Huwala
Huwala ( ar, الهولة, sing. Huwali هولي) also collectively referred to as Bani Huwala, is a blanket term usually used to refer to Iranian Arabs who originate from the Arabian Peninsula, initially migrating in the 13th and 14th century fro ...
tribes seize control.
![The maximum extent of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/50/The_maximum_extent_of_the_Safavid_Empire_under_Shah_Abbas_I.png)
In 1730, the new Shah of
Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
,
Nadir Shah
Nader Shah Afshar ( fa, نادر شاه افشار; also known as ''Nader Qoli Beyg'' or ''Tahmāsp Qoli Khan'' ) (August 1688 – 19 June 1747) was the founder of the Afsharid dynasty of Iran and one of the most powerful rulers in Iranian h ...
, sought to re-assert Persian sovereignty in Bahrain. He ordered Latif Khan, the admiral of the Persian navy in the Persian Gulf, to prepare an invasion fleet in
Bushehr
Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...
. The Persians invaded in March or early April 1736 when the ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Jubayr, was away on
hajj
The Hajj (; ar, حَجّ '; sometimes also spelled Hadj, Hadji or Haj in English) is an annual Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia, the holiest city for Muslims. Hajj is a mandatory religious duty for Muslims that must be carried ...
. The invasion brought the island back under central rule and to challenge Oman in the Persian Gulf. He sought help from the British and Dutch, and he eventually recaptured Bahrain in 1736. During the
Qajar era, Persian control over Bahrain waned and in 1753, Bahrain was occupied by the Sunni Persians of the
Bushire-based Al Madhkur family, who ruled Bahrain in the name of Persia and paid allegiance to
Karim Khan Zand.
![ZanddynastyTrial](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dd/Map_of_the_Zand_dynasty.png)
During most of the second half of the eighteenth century, Bahrain was ruled by
Nasr Al-Madhkur
Sheikh Nasr Al-Madhkur ( ar, الشيخ نصر آل مذكور) was the 18th-century Arab governor from a Huwala clan under Karim Khan Zand of the Zand dynasty of what was described by a contemporary account as an "independent state" in Bushehr ...
, the ruler of
Bushehr
Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire ( fa, بوشهر ; also romanised as ''Būshehr'', ''Bouchehr'', ''Buschir'' and ''Busehr''), also known as Bandar Bushehr ( fa, ; also romanised as ''Bandar Būshehr'' and ''Bandar-e Būshehr''), previously Antioc ...
. The Bani Utibah tribe from Zubarah exceeded in taking over Bahrain after war broke out in 1782. Persian attempts to reconquer the island in 1783 and in 1785 failed; the 1783 expedition was a joint Persian-
Qawasim
The Al Qasimi ( ar, القواسم, spelled sometimes as Al Qassimi or Al Qassemi; plural: Al Qawasem ar, القواسم and, archaically, Joasmee) is an Arab dynasty in the Persian Gulf that rules Emirate of Sharjah, Sharjah and Emirate of Ras ...
invasion force that never left Bushehr. The 1785 invasion fleet, composed of forces from Bushehr, Rig, and
Shiraz
Shiraz (; fa, شیراز, Širâz ) is the List of largest cities of Iran, fifth-most-populous city of Iran and the capital of Fars province, Fars Province, which has been historically known as Pars (Sasanian province), Pars () and Persis. As o ...
was called off after the death of the ruler of Shiraz,
Ali Murad Khan
Ali-Morad Khan Zand (died 1785) the fifth Shah of the Zand dynasty of Iran, reigned from March 15, 1781, until February 11, 1785.
Life
After the death of Karim Khan Zand, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar who was a hostage—in light of preventing an ...
. Due to internal difficulties, the Persians could not attempt another invasion. In 1799, Bahrain came under threat from the
expansionist
Expansionism refers to states obtaining greater territory through military empire-building or colonialism.
In the classical age of conquest moral justification for territorial expansion at the direct expense of another established polity (who of ...
policies of
Sayyid Sultan, the
Sultan of Oman
The sultan of the Sultanate of Oman is the monarchical head of state and head of government of Oman. It is the most powerful position in the country. The sultans of Oman are members of the Busaid dynasty, which has been the ruling family of O ...
, when he invaded the island under the pretext that Bahrain did not pay taxes owed. The Bani Utbah solicited the aid of Bushire to expel the Omanis on the condition that Bahrain would become a
tributary state
A tributary state is a term for a pre-modern state in a particular type of subordinate relationship to a more powerful state which involved the sending of a regular token of submission, or tribute, to the superior power (the suzerain). This tok ...
of Persia. In 1800, Sayyid Sultan invaded Bahrain again in retaliation and deployed a garrison at
Arad Fort
__NOTOC__
Arad Fort ( ar, قلعة عراد, ''Qal'at 'Arad'') is a 15th-century fort in Arad, Bahrain. Formerly guarding a separate island of its own, the fort and its surroundings have since been joined to Muharraq Island.
Arad Fort was built ...
, in
Muharraq island and had appointed his twelve-year-old son Salim, as Governor of the island.
![Greatest extent of the Qajar empire](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Greatest_extent_of_the_Qajar_empire.png)
Many names of villages in Bahrain are derived from the
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
language.
These names were thought to have been as a result influences during the
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
rule of Bahrain (1501–1722) and previous Persian rule. Village names such as
Karbabad Karbabad ( ar, كرباباد) is a village situated in the northern part of the Kingdom of Bahrain, along the northern coastline bordering the Persian Gulf. The village is famously known for being close to the location of the UNESCO World Heritage ...
,
,
Karzakan,
Duraz
Diraz,( ar, الدراز, also spelled Duraz) is the biggest and most populated village on the northwest coast of Bahrain. It lies to the east of Budaiya, west of Barbar and north of Bani Jamra. Two Dilmun era archaeological sites, namely Diraz ...
,
Barbar were originally derived from the Persian language, suggesting that Persians had a substantial effect on the island's history.
[ The local Bahrani Arabic dialect has also borrowed many words from the Persian language.][ Bahrain's capital city, ]Manama
Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani Arabic, Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is h ...
is derived from two Persian words meaning 'I' and 'speech'.[
In 1910, the Persian community funded and opened a ]private school
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
, Al-Ittihad school, that taught Farsi
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken an ...
amongst other subjects.
According to the 1905 census, there were 1650 Bahraini citizens of Persian origin.[
Historian Nasser Hussain says that many Iranians fled their native country in the early 20th century due to a law king Reza Shah issued which banned women from wearing the ]hijab
In modern usage, hijab ( ar, حجاب, translit=ḥijāb, ) generally refers to headcoverings worn by Muslim women. Many Muslims believe it is obligatory for every female Muslim who has reached the age of puberty to wear a head covering. While ...
, or because they feared for their lives after fighting the English or to find jobs. They were coming to Bahrain from Bushehr and the Fars province between 1920 and 1940. In the 1920s, local Persian merchants were prominently involved in the consolidation of Bahrain's first powerful lobby with connections to the municipality in an effort to contest the municipal legislation of British control.
Bahrain's local Persian community has heavily influenced the country's local food dishes. One of the most notable local delicacies of the people in Bahrain is mahyawa
Mahyawa or mehyawa ( fa, مهیاوه) is an Iranian cuisine tangy sauce made out of fermented fish.
History
Mahyawa originates in the southern coastal regions of Iran, but has become a popular food item in the Persian Gulf countries, brought by ...
, consumed in Southern Iran as well, is a watery earth brick coloured sauce made from sardines and consumed with bread or other food. Bahrain's Persians are also famous in Bahrain for bread-making. Another local delicacy is "pishoo" made from rose water
Rose water ( fa, گلاب) is a flavoured water made by steeping rose petals in water. It is the hydrosol portion of the distillate of rose petals, a by-product of the production of rose oil
Rose oil (rose otto, attar of rose, attar of rose ...
(golab) and agar agar
Agar ( or ), or agar-agar, is a jelly-like substance consisting of polysaccharides obtained from the cell walls of some species of red algae, primarily from ogonori (''Gracilaria'') and "tengusa" (''Gelidiaceae''). As found in nature, agar is ...
. Other food items consumed are similar to Persian cuisine.
Iraq
Throughout history, Iran always had strong cultural ties with the region of present-day Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
. Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization and the place where the first empires in history were established. These empires, namely the Sumer
Sumer () is the earliest known civilization in the historical region of southern Mesopotamia (south-central Iraq), emerging during the Chalcolithic and early Bronze Ages between the sixth and fifth millennium BC. It is one of the cradles of c ...
ian, Akkadian Akkadian or Accadian may refer to:
* Akkadians, inhabitants of the Akkadian Empire
* Akkadian language, an extinct Eastern Semitic language
* Akkadian literature, literature in this language
* Akkadian cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo- syllabi ...
, Babylonia
Babylonia (; Akkadian: , ''māt Akkadī'') was an ancient Akkadian-speaking state and cultural area based in the city of Babylon in central-southern Mesopotamia (present-day Iraq and parts of Syria). It emerged as an Amorite-ruled state c. ...
n, and Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , romanized: ''māt Aššur''; syc, ܐܬܘܪ, ʾāthor) was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization which existed as a city-state at times controlling regional territories in the indigenous lands of the A ...
n, dominated the ancient middle east for millennia, which explains the great influence of Mesopotamia on the Iranian culture and history, and it is also the reason why the later Iranian and Greek dynasties chose Mesopotamia to be the political center of their rule. For a period of around 500 years, what is now Iraq formed the core of Iran, with the Iranian Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
and Sasanian
The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...
empire having their capital in what is modern-day Iraq for the same centuries-long time span. (Ctesiphon
Ctesiphon ( ; Middle Persian: 𐭲𐭩𐭮𐭯𐭥𐭭 ''tyspwn'' or ''tysfwn''; fa, تیسفون; grc-gre, Κτησιφῶν, ; syr, ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢThomas A. Carlson et al., “Ctesiphon — ܩܛܝܣܦܘܢ ” in The Syriac Gazetteer last modi ...
)
According to Iranologist Richard N. Frye
Richard Nelson Frye (January 10, 1920 – March 27, 2014) was an American scholar of Iranian and Central Asian studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University. His professional areas of interest were Irania ...
:
Testimony to the close relationship shared by Iraq and western Iran during the Abbasid era and later centuries, is the fact that the two regions came to share the same name. The western region of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
(ancient Media) was called 'Irāq-e 'Ajamī ("Persian Iraq"), while central-southern Iraq
Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...
(Babylonia) was called 'Irāq al-'Arabī ("Arabic Iraq") or Bābil ("Babylon").
For centuries the two neighbouring regions were known as " The Two Iraqs" ("al-'Iraqain"). The 12th century Persian poet Khāqāni wrote a famous poem ''Tohfat-ul Iraqein'' ("The Gift of the Two Iraqs"). The city of Arāk in western Iran still bears the region's old name, and Iranians still traditionally call the region between Tehran
Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is the most popul ...
, Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
and Īlām "ʿErāq".
During the medieval ages, Mesopotamian and Iranian peoples knew each other's languages because of trade, and because Arabic was the language of religion and science at that time. The Timurid Timurid refers to those descended from Timur (Tamerlane), a 14th-century conqueror:
* Timurid dynasty, a dynasty of Turco-Mongol lineage descended from Timur who established empires in Central Asia and the Indian subcontinent
** Timurid Empire of C ...
historian Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru (d. 1430) wrote of Iraq:
Iraqis
Iraqis ( ar, العراقيون, ku, گهلی عیراق, gelê Iraqê) are people who originate from the country of Iraq. Iraq consists largely of most of ancient Mesopotamia, the native land of the indigenous Sumerian, Akkadian, Assyrian, ...
share religious and certain cultural ties with Iranians. The majority of Iranians are Twelver Shia
Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest Islamic schools and branches, branch of Islam. It holds that the Prophets and messengers in Islam, Islamic prophet Muhammad in Islam, Muhammad designated Ali, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his S ...
(an Islamic sect established in Iraq), although the majority of Iranians were Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Muslims and did not convert to Shia until the Safavids forced Shi'ism in Iran.
Iraqi culture has commonalities with the culture of Iran. The Mesopotamian cuisine
Iraqi cuisine (Arabic language, Arabic: المطبخ العراقي Kurdish languages, Kurdish: خواردنی عێراقی) or Mesopotamian cuisine is a Middle Eastern cuisine that has its origins from Sumerians, Akkadian Empire, Akkadians, Baby ...
also has similarities to the Persian cuisine, including common dishes and cooking techniques. The Iraqi dialect has absorbed many words from the Persian language
Persian (), also known by its endonym Farsi (, ', ), is a Western Iranian language belonging to the Iranian branch of the Indo-Iranian subdivision of the Indo-European languages. Persian is a pluricentric language predominantly spoken and ...
.
There are still cities and provinces in Iraq where the Persian names of the city are still retained – e.g., ’Anbār and Baghdad
Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...
. Other cities of Iraq with originally Persian names include ''Nokard'' (نوكرد) --> Haditha, ''Suristan
Suristan was used as a name in two senses during the Sassanid Persian Empire 226 to 651 AD.
It was used to designate the Persian province of Surestan, roughly the same as today's Syria, as opposed to Asuristan, which was a separate province corr ...
'' (سورستان) --> Kufa, ''Shahrban'' (شهربان) --> Muqdadiyah
Miqdadiyah ( ar, المقدادية; ku, Şareban, شارهبان) is a city in the Diyala Governorate of Iraq. Its population is a mix of Arabs, Turkmens and Kurds. The city is located about 80 km (50 mi) northeast of Baghdad and 30  ...
, ''Arvandrud'' (اروندرود) --> Shatt al-Arab
The Shatt al-Arab ( ar, شط العرب, lit=River of the Arabs; fa, اروندرود, Arvand Rud, lit=Swift River) is a river of some in length that is formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the town of al-Qurnah in ...
, and ''Asheb'' (آشب) --> Amadiya, ''Peroz-Shapur'' --> Anbar (town)
Anbar ( ar, الأنبار, al-Anbār, syr, ܐܢܒܐܪ, Anbar,) also known by its original ancient name, Peroz-Shapur, was an ancient and medieval town in central Iraq. It played a role in the Roman–Persian Wars of the 3rd–4th centuries, ...
In the modern era, the Safavid dynasty
The Safavid dynasty (; fa, دودمان صفوی, Dudmâne Safavi, ) was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of th ...
of Iran briefly reasserted hegemony over Iraq in the periods of 1501–1533 and 1622–1638, losing Iraq to the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
on both occasions (via the Treaty of Amasya in 1555 and the Treaty of Zuhab
The Treaty of Zuhab ( fa, عهدنامه زهاب, ''Ahadnāmah Zuhab''), also called Treaty of Qasr-e Shirin ( tr, Kasr-ı Şirin Antlaşması), was an accord signed between the Safavid Empire and the Ottoman Empire on May 17, 1639. The accord en ...
in 1639). Ottoman hegemony over Iraq was reconfirmed in the Treaty of Kerden in 1746.
Following the fall of the Ba'athist regime in 2003 and the empowerment of Iraq's majority Shī'i community, relations with Iran have flourished in all fields. Iraq is today Iran's largest trading partner in regard to non-oil goods.
Many Iranians were born in Iraq or have ancestors from Iraq, such as the Chairman of Iran's Parliament Ali Larijani, the former Chief Justice of Iran
The Chief Justice of Iran is the head of the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Head of Judiciary) and is responsible for its administration and supervision. The head of the judiciary of Iran is required to be an "honorable man" acc ...
Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Iran
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( fa, وزارت امور خارجه, Vezārat-e Omūr-e Khārejeh) is an Iranian government ministry headed by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who is a member of cabinet. The current Minister of Foreign Affairs ...
Ali Akbar Salehi, who were born in Najaf and Karbala
Karbala or Kerbala ( ar, كَرْبَلَاء, Karbalāʾ , , also ;) is a city in central Iraq, located about southwest of Baghdad, and a few miles east of Lake Milh, also known as Razzaza Lake. Karbala is the capital of Karbala Governorat ...
respectively. In the same way, many Iraqis were born in Iran or have ancestors from Iran, such as Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani
Ali al-Husayni al-Sistani ( ar, علي الحسيني السيستاني; fa, , Ali-ye Hoseyni-ye Sistāni; born 4 August 1930), commonly known as Ayatollah Sistani, is an Iranian–Iraqi Twelver Shia Ayatollah and marja'. He has been described ...
, who was born in Mashhad
Mashhad ( fa, مشهد, Mašhad ), also spelled Mashad, is the List of Iranian cities by population, second-most-populous city in Iran, located in the relatively remote north-east of the country about from Tehran. It serves as the capital of R ...
.
Kurdistan
Culturally and historically Kurdistan
Kurdistan ( ku, کوردستان ,Kurdistan ; lit. "land of the Kurds") or Greater Kurdistan is a roughly defined geo-cultural territory in Western Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, Kurdish la ...
has been a part of what is known as Greater Iran. Kurds ug:كۇردلار
Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Ir ...
speak a Northwestern Iranian language known as Kurdish
Kurdish may refer to:
*Kurds or Kurdish people
*Kurdish languages
*Kurdish alphabets
*Kurdistan, the land of the Kurdish people which includes:
**Southern Kurdistan
**Eastern Kurdistan
**Northern Kurdistan
**Western Kurdistan
See also
* Kurd (dis ...
. Many aspects of Kurdish culture are related to the other peoples of Greater Iran, examples include Newroz
Newroz or Nawroz ( ku, نەورۆز, Newroz) is the Kurdish celebration of Nowruz; the arrival of spring and new year in Kurdish culture. The lighting of the fires at the beginning of the evening of March 21 is the main symbol of Newroz among the ...
and Simurgh.['']Encyclopædia Iranica
''Encyclopædia Iranica'' is a project whose goal is to create a comprehensive and authoritative English language encyclopedia about the history, culture, and civilization of Iranian peoples from prehistory to modern times.
Scope
The ''Encycl ...
''
Arvand-Rud
by M. Kasheff. – Retrieved on 18 October 2007. Some historians and linguists, such as Vladimir Minorsky
Vladimir Fyodorovich Minorsky (russian: Владимир Фёдорович Минорский; – March 25, 1966) was a Russian Orientalist best known for his contributions to the study of Persian, Lurish and Kurdish history, geography, ...
, have suggested that the Medes
The Medes (Old Persian: ; Akkadian: , ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Iranian people who spoke the Median language and who inhabited an area known as Media between western and northern Iran. Around the 11th century BC, the ...
, an Iranian people who inhabited much of western Iran, including Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, might have been forefathers of modern Kurds.
Caucasus
North Caucasus
Dagestan remains the bastion of Persian culture in the North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
with fine examples of Iranian architecture like the Sassanid citadel in Derbent
Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...
, the strong influence of Persian cuisine, and common Persian names amongst the ethnic peoples of Dagestan. The ethnic Persian population of the North Caucasus, the Tats, remain, despite strong assimilation over the years, still visible in several North Caucasian cities. Even today, after decades of partition, some of these regions retain Iranian influences, as seen in their old beliefs, traditions and customs (e.g. Norouz
Nowruz ( fa, نوروز, ; ), zh, 诺鲁孜节, ug, نەۋروز, ka, ნოვრუზ, ku, Newroz, he, נורוז, kk, Наурыз, ky, Нооруз, mn, Наурыз, ur, نوروز, tg, Наврӯз, tr, Nevruz, tk, Nowruz, ...
).
South Caucasus
According to Tadeusz Swietochowski, the territories of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
and the republic of Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
usually shared the same history from the time of ancient Media (ninth to seventh centuries b.c.) and the Persian Empire (sixth to fourth centuries b.c.).
Intimately and inseparably intertwined histories for millennia, Iran irrevocably lost the territory that is nowadays Azerbaijan in the course of the 19th century. With the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813 following the Russo-Persian War (1804-1813) Iran had to cede eastern Georgia, its possessions in the North Caucasus
The North Caucasus, ( ady, Темыр Къафкъас, Temır Qafqas; kbd, Ишхъэрэ Къаукъаз, İṩxhərə Qauqaz; ce, Къилбаседа Кавказ, Q̇ilbaseda Kavkaz; , os, Цӕгат Кавказ, Cægat Kavkaz, inh, ...
and many of those in what is today the Azerbaijan Republic, which included the khanates of Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
, Shirvan, Karabakh, Ganja
Ganja (, ; ) is one of the oldest and most commonly used synonyms for marijuana. Its usage in English dates to before 1689.
Etymology
''Ganja'' is borrowed from Hindi/Urdu ( hi, गांजा, links=no, ur, , links=no, IPA: aːɲd ...
, Shaki, Quba, Derbent
Derbent (russian: Дербе́нт; lez, Кьвевар, Цал; az, Дәрбәнд, italic=no, Dərbənd; av, Дербенд; fa, دربند), formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is ...
, and parts of Talysh Talysh may refer to:
*Talysh people
*History of Talysh
*Talysh language
*Talysh Khanate, in existence from 1747 to 1828
*Talysh-Mughan Autonomous Republic, a self-declared autonomy, which existed briefly in the south of Azerbaijan in 1993
*Talysh M ...
. These Khanates comprise most of what is today the Republic of Azerbaijan and Dagestan in Southern Russia. In the Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828 following the Russo-Persian War (1826-1828), the result was even more disastrous, and resulted in Iran being forced to cede the remainder of the Talysh Khanate, the khanates of Nakhichevan and Erivan
Yerevan ( , , hy, Երևան , sometimes spelled Erevan) is the capital and largest city of Armenia and one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities. Situated along the Hrazdan River, Yerevan is the administrative, cultural, and in ...
, and the Mughan region to Russia. All these territories together, lost in 1813 and 1828 combined, constitute all of the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan, Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, and southern Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
. The area to the North of the river Aras, among which the territory of the contemporary republic of Azerbaijan were Iranian territory until they were occupied by Russia in the course of the 19th century.
Many localities in this region bear Persian names or names derived from Iranian languages and Azerbaijan remains by far Iran's closest cultural, religious, ethnic, and historical neighbor. Azerbaijanis
Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most numer ...
are by far the second-largest ethnicity in Iran, and comprise the largest community of ethnic Azerbaijanis in the world, vastly outnumbering the number in the Republic of Azerbaijan. Both nations are the only officially Shia majority in the world, with adherents of the religion comprising an absolute majority in both nations. The people of nowadays Iran and Azerbaijan were converted to Shiism during exactly the same time in history. Furthermore, the name of "Azerbaijan" is derived through the name of the Persian satrap
A satrap () was a governor of the provinces of the ancient Median and Achaemenid Empires and in several of their successors, such as in the Sasanian Empire and the Hellenistic empires.
The satrap served as viceroy to the king, though with consid ...
which ruled the contemporary region of Iranian Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan or Azarbaijan ( fa, آذربایجان, ''Āzarbāijān'' ; az-Arab, آذربایجان, ''Āzerbāyjān'' ), also known as Iranian Azerbaijan, is a historical region in northwestern Iran that borders Iraq, Turkey, the Nakhchivan ...
and minor parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan in ancient times. In 1918, the Azerbaijani Musavat party adopted the name for the nation upon the independence of the former territories under the Russian Empire.
Early in antiquity, Narseh of Persia
Narseh (also spelled Narses or Narseus; pal, 𐭭𐭥𐭮𐭧𐭩, New Persian: , ''Narsē'') was the seventh Sasanian King of Kings of Iran from 293 to 303.
The youngest son of Shapur I (), Narseh served as the governor of Sakastan, Hind and T ...
is known to have had fortifications built here. In later times, some of Persia's literary and intellectual figures from the Qajar period have hailed from this region. Under intermittent Iranian suzerainty since antiquity, it was also separated from Iran in the mid-19th century, by virtue of the Gulistan Treaty and Turkmenchay Treaty.
Oh Nakhchivan, respect you've attained,
With this King in luck you'll remain.
''--- Nizami''
Central Asia
Khwarazm is one of the regions of ''Iran-zameen'', and is the home of the ancient Iranians, Airyanem Vaejah, according to the ancient book of the Avesta. Modern scholars believe Khwarazm to be what ancient Avestic texts refer to as "Ariyaneh Waeje" or Iran vij. ''Iranovich'' These sources claim that Urgandj, which was the capital of ancient Khwarazm for many years, was actually "Ourva": the eighth land of Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna''. ...
mentioned in the Pahlavi
Pahlavi may refer to:
Iranian royalty
*Seven Parthian clans, ruling Parthian families during the Sasanian Empire
*Pahlavi dynasty, the ruling house of Imperial State of Persia/Iran from 1925 until 1979
**Reza Shah, Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944 ...
text of Vendidad. Others such as University of Hawaii historian Elton L. Daniel
Elton L. Daniel is a historian and Iranologist.
He received his doctorate from UT Austin in 1978, and from 1981-2011 he was a professor of Middle Eastern and Islamic History at the University of Hawaii. He retired in 2011. Daniel is the director o ...
believe Khwarazm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the Avestan people, while Dehkhoda calls Khwarazm "the cradle of the Aryan people" (مهد قوم آریا). Today Khwarazm is split between several central Asian republics.
Superimposed on and overlapping with Chorasmia was Khorasan which roughly covered nearly the same geographical areas in Central Asia (starting from Semnan eastward through northern Afghanistan roughly until the foothills of Pamir, ancient Mount Imeon
Mount Imeon () is an ancient name for the Central Asian complex of mountain ranges comprising the present Hindu Kush, Pamir and Tian Shan, extending from the Zagros Mountains in the southwest to the Altay Mountains in the northeast, and linked to ...
). Current day provinces such as Sanjan in Turkmenia, Razavi Khorasan Province, North Khorasan Province, and Southern Khorasan Province
South Khorasan Province ( fa, استان خراسان جنوبی ''Ostān-e Khorāsān-e Jonūbī'') is a provinces of Iran, province located in eastern Iran. Birjand is the centre of the province. The other major cities are Ferdows, Tabas and Qa ...
in Iran are all remnants of the old Khorasan. Until the 13th century and the devastating Mongol invasion of the region, Khorasan was considered the cultural capital of Greater Iran.
Tajikistan
The national anthem in Tajikistan, " Surudi Milli", attests to the Perso-Tajik identity, which has seen a large revival, after the breakup of the USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
. Their language is almost identical to that spoken in Afghanistan and Iran, and their cities have Persian names, e.g. Dushanbe
Dushanbe ( tg, Душанбе, ; ; russian: Душанбе) is the capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 863,400 and that population was largely Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe (r ...
, Isfara
Isfara ( tg, Исфара fa, اسفره; russian: Исфара) is a city in Sughd Region in northern Tajikistan, situated on the border with Kyrgyzstan. The city was the seat of the former Isfara District.
There are currently territorial disp ...
, Rasht Valley
The Rasht Valley (russian: Раштская долина; tg, Водии Рашт) is located in Tajikistan and composes a significant portion of the Region of Republican Subordination, including the six districts of Lakhsh, Rasht, Roghun, Tavi ...
, Garm, Murghab, Vahdat
, image_skyline = Ваҳдат. Муҷассамаи Модар.tif
, imagesize =
, image_caption =
, image_flag =
, image_seal =
, image_map =
, map_caption =
, pushpin_map = Tajikistan
, pushpin_label_position = bottom
, pushpin_mapsize =
, pu ...
, Zar-afshan river, Shurab, and Kulob, Rudaki
Rudaki (also spelled Rodaki; fa, رودکی; 858 – 940/41) was a Persian poet, singer and musician, who served as a court poet under the Samanids. He is regarded as the first major poet to write in New Persian. Said to have composed more than ...
, considered by many as the father of modern Persian poetry, was from the modern day region of Tajikistan.
Turkmenistan
Turkmenistan was the home of the Parthian Empire
The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe in conque ...
( Nisa). Merv is also where the half-Persian caliph al-Mamun put his capital. The city of Eshgh Abad (some claim that the word is actually the transformed form of "Ashk Abad" literally meaning "built by Ashk", the head of Arsacid dynasty) is yet another Persian word meaning "city of love", and like East Iran, Afghanistan, and Uzbekistan, it was once part of Airyanem Vaejah.
Uzbekistan
Uzbekistan has a significant local Tajik population. The famous Persian cities of Afrasiab
Afrasiab ( fa, ''afrāsiyāb''; ae, Fraŋrasyan; Middle-Persian: ''Frāsiyāv, Frāsiyāk'') is the name of the mythical king and hero of Turan. He is the main antagonist of the Persian epic Shahnameh, written by Ferdowsi.
The mythical king ...
, Bukhara
Bukhara (Uzbek language, Uzbek: /, ; tg, Бухоро, ) is the List of cities in Uzbekistan, seventh-largest city in Uzbekistan, with a population of 280,187 , and the capital of Bukhara Region.
People have inhabited the region around Bukhara ...
, Samarkand
fa, سمرقند
, native_name_lang =
, settlement_type = City
, image_skyline =
, image_caption = Clockwise from the top:Registan square, Shah-i-Zinda necropolis, Bibi-Khanym Mosque, view inside Shah-i-Zinda, ...
, Shahrisabz, Andijan
Andijan (sometimes spelled Andijon or Andizhan in English) ( uz, Andijon / Андижон / ئەندىجان; fa, اندیجان, ''Andijân/Andīǰān''; russian: Андижан, ''Andižan'') is a city in Uzbekistan. It is the administrative, ...
, Khiveh, Navā'i, Shirin, Termez, and Zar-afshan are located here. These cities are the birthplace of the Islamic era Persian literature. The Samanid
The Samanid Empire ( fa, سامانیان, Sāmāniyān) also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Kho ...
s, who claimed inheritance to the Sassanids, had their capital built here.
Oh Bukhara! Joy to you and live long!
Your King comes to you in ceremony.
''---Rudaki
Rudaki (also spelled Rodaki; fa, رودکی; 858 – 940/41) was a Persian poet, singer and musician, who served as a court poet under the Samanids. He is regarded as the first major poet to write in New Persian. Said to have composed more than ...
''
Afghanistan
The modern state of Afghanistan was part of Sistan
Sistān ( fa, سیستان), known in ancient times as Sakastān ( fa, سَكاستان, "the land of the Saka"), is a historical and geographical region in present-day Eastern Iran ( Sistan and Baluchestan Province) and Southern Afghanistan (N ...
and Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorāsān,Dabeersiaghi, Commentary on Safarnâma-e Nâsir Khusraw, 6th Ed. Tehran, Zavvâr: 1375 (Solar Hijri Calendar) 235–236 or Khorāsān ( pal, Xwarāsān; fa, خراسان ), is a historical eastern region in the Iranian Plate ...
regions, and hence was recognized with the name Khorasan (along with regions centered on Merv and Nishapur), which in Pahlavi means "The Eastern Land" (خاور زمین in Persian).
Nowadays, the region of Afghanistan is where Balkh
), named for its green-tiled ''Gonbad'' ( prs, گُنبَد, dome), in July 2001
, pushpin_map=Afghanistan#Bactria#West Asia
, pushpin_relief=yes
, pushpin_label_position=bottom
, pushpin_mapsize=300
, pushpin_map_caption=Location in Afghanistan ...
is located, home of Rumi
Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī ( fa, جلالالدین محمد رومی), also known as Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Balkhī (), Mevlânâ/Mawlānā ( fa, مولانا, lit= our master) and Mevlevî/Mawlawī ( fa, مولوی, lit= my ma ...
, Rabi'a Balkhi
Rabia Balkhi, also known as Rabia al-Quzdari (or Khuzdari) was a 10th-century writer who composed poetry in Persian and Arabic. She is the first known female poet to write in Persian.
A non- mystic poet, her imagery was later transformed into t ...
, Sanāī Ghaznawi, Jami, Khwaja Abdullah Ansari and was many other notables in Persian literature
Persian literature ( fa, ادبیات فارسی, Adabiyâte fârsi, ) comprises oral compositions and written texts in the Persian language and is one of the world's oldest literatures. It spans over two-and-a-half millennia. Its sources h ...
came from.
From Zabul he arrived to Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into 22 municipal districts. Acco ...
Strutting, happy, and mirthful
''---Ferdowsi
Abul-Qâsem Ferdowsi Tusi ( fa, ; 940 – 1019/1025 CE), also Firdawsi or Ferdowsi (), was a Persians, Persian poet and the author of ''Shahnameh'' ("Book of Kings"), which is one of the world's longest epic poetry, epic poems created by a sin ...
in Shahnama''
Xinjiang
The Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County
Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County (also known as Taxkorgan County, sometimes spelled Tashkurgan, Tashkorgan and Tash Kurghan Tadzhik Autonomous Hsien) is an autonomous county of Kashgar Prefecture in Western Xinjiang, China. The county seat is t ...
regions of China harbored a Tajik population and culture. Chinese Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County was always counted as a part of the Iranian cultural & linguistic continent with Kashgar
Kashgar ( ug, قەشقەر, Qeshqer) or Kashi ( zh, c=喀什) is an oasis city in the Tarim Basin region of Southern Xinjiang. It is one of the westernmost cities of China, near the border with Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Pakistan ...
, Yarkand
Yarkant County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also Shache County,, United States National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency also transliterated from Uyghur as Yakan County, is a county in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous ...
, and Hotan
Hotan (also known as Gosthana, Gaustana, Godana, Godaniya, Khotan, Hetian, Hotien) is a major oasis town in southwestern Xinjiang, an autonomous region in Western China. The city proper of Hotan broke off from the larger Hotan County to become ...
bound to the Iranian history.["Persian language in ]Xinjiang
Xinjiang, SASM/GNC: ''Xinjang''; zh, c=, p=Xīnjiāng; formerly romanized as Sinkiang (, ), officially the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (XUAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China (PRC), located in the northwest ...
" (زبان فارسی در سین کیانگ). Zamir Sa'dollah Zadeh (دکتر ضمیر سعدالله زاده). ''Nameh-i Iran'' (نامه ایران) V.1. Editor: Hamid Yazdan Parast (حمید یزدان پرست). Perry–Castañeda Library collection under DS 266 N336 2005.
South Asia
Pakistan
There is considerable influence of Iranian-speaking peoples in Pakistan. The region of Baluchistan is split between Pakistan and Iran and Baluchi, the majority of languages of the Baluchistan province of Pakistan are also spoken in Southeastern Iran. In fact, the Chagai Hills and the western part of Makran district were part of Iran till the Durand Line
The Durand Line ( ps, د ډیورنډ کرښه; ur, ), forms the Pakistan–Afghanistan border, a international land border between Pakistan and Afghanistan in South Asia. The western end runs to the border with Iran and the eastern end to th ...
was drawn in the late 1800s.
Pashto
Pashto (,; , ) is an Eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family. It is known in historical Persian literature as Afghani ().
Spoken as a native language mostly by ethnic Pashtuns, it is one of the two official languages ...
which is spoken in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (; ps, خېبر پښتونخوا; Urdu, Hindko: خیبر پختونخوا) commonly abbreviated as KP or KPK, is one of the Administrative units of Pakistan, four provinces of Pakistan. Located in the Geography of Pakistan, ...
and FATA of Pakistan and Afghanistan is an Iranian language.
Historical and modern maps of Iran
File:AchaemenidMapBehistunInscription.png, Map depicting the Achaemenid Empire.
File:Matthaus 1598.jpg, 1598 German map of the region.
File:Hondius 1610.jpg, 1610 map by Dutch map maker Jodocus Hondius
Jodocus Hondius (Latinized version of his Dutch language, Dutch name: ''Joost de Hondt'') (17 October 1563 – 12 February 1612) was a Flemish people, Flemish and Dutch engraving, engraver and cartographer. He is sometimes called Jodocus Hon ...
showing Bactria and Georgia among the territories.
File:Iran e Bozorg2.jpg, 1719 map depiction of Asia.
File:Moll_1720_Persian_Empire.JPG, 1720 map by Herman Moll.
File:1753vaugondy.jpg, 1753 map by Robert de Vaugondy
Gilles Robert de Vaugondy (1688–1766), also known as Le Sieur or Monsieur Robert, and his son, Didier Robert de Vaugondy (c.1723–1786), were leading cartographers in France during the 18th century.
Life
In 1757, Gilles and Didier Robert De V ...
titled ''Estats du Grand-Seigneur en Asie'' where the color yellow marks the territories of Persia.
File:Persia1808.JPG, 1808 British map of Persia.
File:Persia 1814.jpg, 1814 map of Persia by John Thomson.
File:Iran e Bozorg.jpg, 19th century British map depicting Persia
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
Treaties
* 1555 Treaty of Amasya: The first treaty between Safavid Persia and the Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
, splitting the Caucasus and Mesopotamia in a Turkish and Persian sphere.
* 1639 Treaty of Zuhab: Iran loses Iraq to the Ottoman Empire.
* 1813 Gulestan Treaty: Iran loses a large amount of its land in the Caucasus, including eastern half of Georgia, southern Dagestan
Dagestan ( ; rus, Дагеста́н, , dəɡʲɪˈstan, links=yes), officially the Republic of Dagestan (russian: Респу́блика Дагеста́н, Respúblika Dagestán, links=no), is a republic of Russia situated in the North C ...
, large parts of the Armenian Republic
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, and most of what is today the Azerbaijan Republic
* 1828 Turkmenchay Treaty: Signed by Fath Ali Shah. Russia gains sovereignty over the entire Caucasus, including Iran's Nakhichivan, Nagorno-Karabakh, the entirety of Armenia
Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...
, and the remainder of the modern-day territory of the Republic of Azerbaijan
*1857 Paris Treaty
The Treaty of Paris (1857) marked the end of the hostilities of the Anglo-Persian War. On the Persian side negotiations were handled by ambassador Ferukh Khan. The two sides signed the peace treaty on 4 March 1857.''The Middle East and North Afri ...
: Signed by Nasereddin Shah
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدینشاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...
. Iran renounces all claims to Herat
Herāt (; Persian: ) is an oasis city and the third-largest city of Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Safēd ...
and parts of Afghanistan in exchange for the evacuation of Iran's southern ports by Great Britain.
* 1881 Akhal Treaty: Signed by Nasereddin Shah
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدینشاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...
. Iran loses Merv
Merv ( tk, Merw, ', مرو; fa, مرو, ''Marv''), also known as the Merve Oasis, formerly known as Alexandria ( grc-gre, Ἀλεξάνδρεια), Antiochia in Margiana ( grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐν τῇ Μαργιανῇ) and ...
and parts of Khwarazmia in exchange for security guarantees from Russia.
*1893: Iran transfers to Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
additional regions near the Atrek River that were Iranian under the Akhal Treaty. This treaty was signed by General Boutsoff and ''Mirza Ali Asghar Amin al-Sultan'' on May 27, 1893.
*1907: Persia was to be carved up into three regions, according to the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907
The Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907 (russian: Англо-Русская Конвенция 1907 г., translit=Anglo-Russkaya Konventsiya 1907 g.), or Convention between the United Kingdom and Russia relating to Persia, Afghanistan, and Tibet (; ...
.
*1970: Iran abandons sovereignty rights over Bahrain
Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...
to Great Britain in exchange for Greater and Lesser Tunbs and Abu Musa
, location = Persian Gulf
, coordinates =
, total_islands = 1
, area_km2 = 12.8
, highest_mount = Mount Halva
, elevation_m = 110
, country = Iran
, country_admin_divisions_title = Province
, cou ...
islands in the Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
.
See also
Notes and references
Explanatory footnotes
Citation footnotes
General references
*
*
* Marcinkowski, Christoph (2010). ''Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts''. Berlin: Lit Verlag 2010. .
External links
{{Irredentism
Iranian nationalism
Cultural regions
Geography of Iran
History of Iran
Iranian culture
Georgia (country)–Iran relations
Azerbaijan–Iran relations
Iran–Pakistan relations
Iran–Iraq relations
Armenia–Iran relations
Afghanistan–Iran relations
Central Asia
Country classifications
Middle East
Western Asia
Historical geography
Historical regions of Iran
Historical regions
Iranian irredentism