Greater Iran

{{Short description|Sociocultural region in West and Central Asia}} {{Pp-move}} {{Multiple issues|section=| {{Synthesis |date=August 2023}} {{Over-quotation|date=August 2023}} }} {{Contains special characters|Perso-Arabic}} {{History of Greater Iran sidebar}}

'''Greater Iran''' or '''Greater Persia''' ({{langx|fa|ایران بزرگ}}; {{Transliteration|fa|Irān-e Bozorg}}), also called the '''Iranosphere''', the '''Persosphere''' or '''Iranzamin''' ({{langx|fa|ایران‌زمین}}; {{Transliteration|fa|Irān-zamin}}), is a term used to refer to a broader cultural sphere that has been influenced by Iranian peoples and Iranian languages, and primarily includes the Iranian plateau, the South Caucasus, Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, historically stretching as far east as the Tarim Basin.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Frye |first1=Richard Nelson |year=1962 |title=Reitzenstein and Qumrân Revisited by an Iranian, Richard Nelson Frye, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct. 1962), pp. 261–268 |url=https://www.jstor.org/pss/1508723 |journal=The Harvard Theological Review |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=261–268 |doi=10.1017/S0017816000007926 |jstor=1508723 |s2cid=162213219|url-access=subscription }}</ref><ref>[http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayAbstract?fromPage=online&aid=1009412 International Journal of Middle East Studies]. (2007), 39: pp 307–309 Copyright © 2007 Cambridge University Press.</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |date=2025 |chapter=7 / Cultures of Iranianness: The Evolving Polemic of Iranian Nationalism |chapter-url=https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9780295800240-010/html |chapter-url-access=subscription |editor-last=Keddie |editor-first=Nikki R. |editor2-last=Matthee |editor2-first=Rudi |title=Iran and the Surrounding World |publisher=De Gruyter |pages=162–181 |doi=10.1515/9780295800240-010 |isbn=9783111677866 |access-date=2025-09-27}}</ref>

The regions which make up Greater Iran are defined by having long been under the rule of various Iranian empires and dynasties,{{NoteTag|These include the Medes, Achaemenids, Parthians, Sasanians, Samanids, Saffarids, Safavids, Afsharids and Qajars.}}<ref name="Marcinkowski">{{cite book|last=Marcinkowski|first=Christoph|title=Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts|year=2010|publisher=LIT Verlag Münster|isbn=978-3-643-80049-7|page=83}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://azadegan.info/files/Dr.Frye-discusses-greater-Iran-on-CNN.mp4 |title = Interview with Richard N. Frye (CNN) <!-- |access-date = 2007 --> |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160423185051/http://azadegan.info/files/Dr.Frye-discusses-greater-Iran-on-CNN.mp4 |archive-date = 2016-04-23 |url-status = dead }}</ref><ref>[https://www.jstor.org/pss/1508723 Richard Nelson Frye, ''The Harvard Theological Review'', Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct. 1962), pp. 261–268] I use the term Iran in an historical context[...]Persia would be used for the modern state, more or less equivalent to "western Iran". I use the term "Greater Iran" to mean what I suspect most Classicists and ancient historians really mean by their use of Persia—that which was within the political boundaries of States ruled by Iranians.</ref> during which the local populace gradually absorbed Iranian influence and assimilated it into their cultural and linguistic traditions;{{notetag|For example, those regions and peoples in the North Caucasus that were not under direct Iranian rule.}} or those where a considerable Iranian population settled and retained their culture,{{notetag|Such as in the western parts of South Asia, Bahrain and Tajikistan.}} such as in the areas surrounding the Iranian plateau.<ref name="IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN">{{cite web|title=IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran-i-lands-of-iran}}</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=bJLjAKH7-rIC&pg Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary]. Clive Holes. 2001. Page XXX. {{ISBN|978-90-04-10763-2}}.</ref> It is referred to as the "Iranian Cultural Continent" by ''Encyclopædia Iranica''.<ref>{{Unbulleted list citebundle | {{cite web |url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/pdfs/2008-eif-annual-report.pdf |title= 2008 Annual Report |year=2009 |website=Encyclopædia Iranica |publisher=Center for Iranian Studies, Columbia University |location=New York |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230812060239/https://www.iranicaonline.org/uploads/pdfs/2008-eif-annual-report.pdf |archive-date=2023-08-12 |quote=Covering a multi-lingual and multi-ethnic cultural continent, the Encyclopædia Iranica’s scope encompasses all aspects of the life, history, and civilization of all the peoples who speak or once spoke an Iranian language |quote-page=5}}. | {{cite magazine |last1=Boss |first1=Shira J. |date=November 2003 |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica: Comprehensive research project about the "Iranian Cultural Continent" thrives on Riverside Drive |url=https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/nov03/features5.html |url-status=live |magazine=Columbia College Today |location=New York |publisher=Columbia College Office of Alumni Affairs and Development |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=32–33 |issn=0572-7820 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210215041808/https://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/nov03/features5.html |archive-date=2021-02-15}} Scan of print version available at {{Internet Archive|id=ldpd_12981092_045|name=''Columbia College Today'', v. 30 (2003–04)|page=126}}. | {{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2008/12/encyclopaedia-iranica-an-iranian-love-story.html |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica: an Iranian love story |last1=Niknejad |first1=Kelly Golnoush |date=2008-12-07 |orig-date=first published March 2005 |department=Tehran Bureau |website=Frontline |publisher=PBS |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100426140933/https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2008/12/encyclopaedia-iranica-an-iranian-love-story.html |archive-date=2010-04-26}} }}</ref>

[[File:Scythia-Parthia 100 BC.png|thumb|350px|right|A map depicting the area of presence of two Iranian peoples—the Parthians and the Scythians—around 170 BC.]]

Throughout the 16th to 19th centuries, Iran lost many of its historical territories that had been reconquered under the Iranian dynasties of the Safavids and Qajars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |title=Fragile Frontiers: The Diminishing Domains of Qajar Iran |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/fragile-frontiers-the-diminishing-domains-of-qajar-iran/DF7E804F3038E9C8D4174DA32501E83C |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=29 |issue=2 |pages=205–234 |via=JSTOR}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Frontier_Fictions/NxXoAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=McMahon |title=Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 |date=2014-08-07 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6507-9 |language=en}}</ref> The Ottoman–Persian Wars resulted in the loss of present-day Iraq to the Ottoman Empire, as outlined in the Treaty of Amasya in 1555 and the Treaty of Zuhab in 1639.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Frontier_Fictions/NxXoAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=McMahon |title=Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 |date=2014-08-07 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6507-9 |language=en}}</ref> Simultaneously, the Russo-Persian Wars resulted in the loss of the Caucasus to the Russian Empire: the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 saw Iran cede present-day Dagestan, Georgia, and most of Azerbaijan;<ref>{{cite book |author=India. Foreign and Political Dept. |url=https://archive.org/details/acollectiontrea14deptgoog |title=A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sunnuds, Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries: Persia and the Persian Gulf |publisher=G. A. Savielle and P. M. Cranenburgh, Bengal Print. Co |year=1892 |pages=x (10) |quote=treaty of gulistan.}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Mikaberidze |first1=Alexander |title=Historical Dictionary of Georgia |date=2015 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1-4422-4146-6 |pages=348–349 |quote=Persia lost all its territories to the north of the Aras River, which included all of Georgia, and parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Olsen |first1=James Stuart |title=Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism |last2=Shadle |first2=Robert |date=1991 |publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |isbn=978-0-313-26257-9 |page=314 |quote=In 1813 Iran signed the Treaty of Gulistan, ceding Georgia to Russia.}}</ref> the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 saw Iran cede present-day Armenia, the remainder of Azerbaijan, and Iğdır, setting the northern boundary of Iran along the Aras River.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Roxane Farmanfarmaian |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q_CPdClFR2cC&q=Qajar+loss+of+Afghanistan&pg=PA4 |title=War and peace in Qajar Persia: implications past and present |publisher=Psychology Press |year=2008 |isbn=978-0-203-93830-0 |page=4}}</ref>{{sfn|Fisher|Avery|Hambly|Melville|1991|p=329}} Parts of Iran, notably Herat, were lost to Afghanistan through the Treaty of Paris in 1857 and the McMahon Arbitration in 1905.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |author=Erik Goldstein |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_sZpuJhvK_4C&q=treaty+of+paris+Afghanistan&pg=PA72 |title=Wars and peace treaties, 1816-1991 |publisher=Psychology Press |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-203-97682-1 |pages=72–73}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|title=A history of Persia, Volume 2|author=Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes|publisher=Macmillan and co.|year=1915|page=[https://archive.org/details/cu31924088418466/page/n676 469]|url=https://archive.org/details/cu31924088418466|quote=Macmahon arbitration persia.}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Kashani-Sabet |first=Firoozeh |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/Frontier_Fictions/NxXoAwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=McMahon |title=Frontier Fictions: Shaping the Iranian Nation, 1804-1946 |date=2014-08-07 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-1-4008-6507-9 |language=en}}</ref>

==Etymology== The name "Iran" is the New Persian 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, an old Iranian language spoken in northeastern Greater Iran, or in what are now Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan).<ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica1">{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroastrianism-i-historical-review | title=ZOROASTRIANISM i. HISTORICAL REVIEW | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=William W. Malandra | date=2005-07-20}}</ref><ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica">{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eastern-iranian-languages | title=EASTERN IRANIAN LANGUAGES | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=Nicholas Sims-Williams}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iran | title=IRAN | access-date=2011-01-14}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avestan-language | title=AVESTAN LANGUAGE I-III | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=K. Hoffmann}}</ref>

The proto-Iranian term ''aryānām'' is present in the term ''Airyana Vaēǰah'', the homeland of Zoroaster and Zoroastrianism, near the provinces of Sogdiana, Margiana, Bactria, etc., listed in the first chapter of the Vidēvdād.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eran-wez|title=ĒRĀN-WĒZ|work=iranicaonline.org|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zoroaster-ii-general-survey|title=ZOROASTER ii. GENERAL SURVEY|work=iranicaonline.org|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref> The Avestan evidence is confirmed by Greek sources: Arianē is spoken of as being between Persia and the Indian subcontinent.<ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica2">{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iranian-identity-ii-pre-islamic-period | title=IRANIAN IDENTITY ii. PRE-ISLAMIC PERIOD | access-date=2011-01-14 | author=Ahmad Ashraf}}</ref>

However, this is a Greek pronunciation of the name Haroyum/Haraiva (Herat), which the Greeks called 'Aria'<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aria/index.htm|title=Haroyu|author=Ed Eduljee|work=heritageinstitute.com|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref> (a land listed separately from the homeland of the Aryans).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/location.htm|title=Aryan Homeland, Airyana Vaeja, Location. Aryans and Zoroastrianism.|author=Ed Eduljee|work=heritageinstitute.com|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.heritageinstitute.com/zoroastrianism/aryans/airyanavaeja.htm|title=Aryan Homeland, Airyana Vaeja, in the Avesta. Aryan lands and Zoroastrianism.|author=Ed Eduljee|work=heritageinstitute.com|access-date=9 December 2015}}</ref>

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 one. It was the result of a convergence of interests between the new dynasty and the Zoroastrian 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 equivalent of Old Persian "ariya" and Avestan "airya").<ref name="Encyclopaedia Iranica2" />

==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 him, "Iran means all lands and peoples where Iranian languages were and are spoken, and where in the past, multi-faceted Iranian cultures existed."<ref>Frye, Richard Nelson, ''Greater Iran'', {{ISBN|978-1-56859-177-3}} p.''xi''</ref>

Richard Foltz 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, Bactria, and the Pamirs 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." He argues that "While the various Iranian peoples did indeed share a common pantheon and pool of religious myths and symbols, in actuality a variety of deities were worshipped—particularly Mitra, the god of covenants, and Anahita, the goddess of the waters, but also many others—depending on the time, place, and particular group concerned".<ref>Richard Foltz, "Religions of the Silk Road: Premodern Patterns of globalization", Palgrave Macmillan, rev. 2nd edition, 2010. pg 27</ref>

To the Ancient Greeks, Greater Iran ended at the Indus River located in Pakistan.<ref>J.M. Cook, "The Rise of the Achaemenids and Establishment of Their Empire" in Ilya Gershevitch, William Bayne Fisher, J. A. Boyle "Cambridge History of Iran", Vol 2. p. 250. Excerpt: "To the Greeks, Greater Iran ended at the Indus".</ref>

According to J. P. Mallory 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.<ref>Mallory, J. P.; Adams, D. Q. (1997), Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture, London and Chicago: Fitzroy-Dearborn, {{ISBN|978-1-884964-98-5}}. pg 307: "Dialectically, Old Persian is regarded as a southwestern Iranian language in contrast to the east Iranian Avestan which covered most of the rest of Greater Iran. However, it is important to note that during the Achaemeid era, the official language of the empire was Aramaic, which was the mother tongue of the ancient [Iraqis], since it was the language of literature, religion, and science at that time. [Aramaic] language had a great impact on Persian and survived as the dominant language in the middle east until the [Islamic conquest].</ref>

George Lane also states that after the dissolution of the Mongol Empire, the Ilkhanids became rulers of greater Iran<ref>George Lane, "Daily Life in the Mongol Empire", Greenwood Publishing Group, 2006. p. 10. "The year following 1260 saw the empire irrevocably split but also signaled the emergence of the two greatest achievements of the house of Chinggis, namely the Yuan dynasty of greater China and the Il-Khanid dynasty of greater Iran."</ref> and Uljaytu, according to Judith G. Kolbas, was the ruler of this expanse between 1304 and 1317 A.D.<ref>Judith G. Kolbas, "The Mongols in Iran", Excerpt from 399: "Uljaytu, Ruler of Greater Iran from 1304 to 1317 A.D."</ref>

Primary sources, including Timurid historian Mir Khwand, define Iranshahr (Greater Iran) as extending from the Euphrates to the Oxus.<ref>Mīr Khvānd, Muḥammad ibn Khāvandshāh, Tārīkh-i rawz̤at al-ṣafā. Taṣnīf Mīr Muḥammad ibn Sayyid Burhān al-Dīn Khāvand Shāh al-shahīr bi-Mīr Khvānd. Az rū-yi nusakh-i mutaʻaddadah-i muqābilah gardīdah va fihrist-i asāmī va aʻlām va qabāyil va kutub bā chāphā-yi digar mutamāyiz mībāshad.[Tehrān] Markazī-i Khayyām Pīrūz [1959-60]. {{lang|fa|{{nastaliq|ایرانشهر از کنار فرات تا جیهون است و وسط آبادانی عالم است|fa}}}}. "Iranshahr stretches from the Euphrates to the Oxus, and it is the center of the prosperity of the World."</ref>

''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, Chinese and Soviet Central Asia".<ref>''The Cambridge History of Iran, Vol. III: The Seleucid, Parthian and Sasanian Periods'', Ehsan Yarshater, Review author[s]: Richard N. Frye, ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 21, No. 3. (Aug. 1989), p. 415. {{JSTOR|163454}}.</ref>

==Background== [[File:Coin of Nader Shah, minted in Shiraz.jpg|250px|thumb|right|alt=An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah|An Ashrafi Coin of Nader Shah (r. 1736–1747), reverse: "Coined on gold the word of kingdom in the world, Nader of '''Greater Iran''' and the world-conqueror king."<ref>Numista: [https://en.numista.com/catalogue/pieces61657.html Ashrafi - Nader Afshar Type A2; Širâz mint].</ref>]]

Greater Iran is called ''Iranzamin'' ({{lang|fa|{{nastaliq|ایران‌زمین|fa}}}}) which means "Iranland" or "The Land of Iran". ''Iranzamin'' was in the mythical times as opposed to the ''Turanzamin'', "The Land of Turan", which was located in the upper part of Central Asia.<ref>Dehkhoda Dictionary, Dehkhoda, see under entry "Turan"</ref>{{verify source |date=September 2023}}

With Imperial Russia 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 in 1833, and the murdering of Persia's Grand Vizier (Mirza AbolQasem Qa'im Maqām), many Central Asian khanates began losing hope for any support from Persia against the Tsarist armies.<ref name=":0" /><ref>Homayoun, N. T., ''Kharazm: What do I know about Iran?''. 2004. {{ISBN|978-964-379-023-3}}, p. 78</ref> The Russian armies occupied the Aral coast in 1849, Tashkent in 1864, Bukhara in 1867, Samarkand in 1868, and Khiva and Amudarya in 1873.

<blockquote>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'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, but also cities further north like Derbent in southern Russia. The Shah 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 over the Persian Gulf island nation of Bahrain. 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 of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy<ref>Patrick Clawson. ''Eternal Iran''. Palgrave. 2005. Coauthored with Michael Rubin. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-6276-8}}. pp. 9, 10.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>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<ref>Patrick Clawson and Michael Rubin (2005). ''Eternal Iran''. Palgrave. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-6276-8}}. p. 30.</ref></blockquote>

<blockquote>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.<ref>Patrick Clawson. ''Eternal Iran''. Palgrave. 2005. Coauthored with Michael Rubin. {{ISBN|978-1-4039-6276-8}}. pp. 31–32.</ref></blockquote>

==Regions== In the 8th century, Iran was conquered by the Arab Abbasids who ruled from Baghdad. 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 and Damaghan. The Ghaznavids, Seljuqs 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's ''Faza'ilul al-anam min rasa'ili hujjat al-Islam'' and other books. Transoxiana and Chorasmia were mostly included in the Khorasanian region.

===Caucasus=== ====North Caucasus==== {{See also|History of Dagestan|Russo-Persian Wars|Treaty of Gulistan|Treaty of Turkmenchay|Tat people (Caucasus)}} [[File:Derbent winter.jpg|thumb|Sassanian fortress in Derbent, Dagestan, which has been inscribed on Russia's UNESCO world heritage list since 2003.]]

Dagestan remains the bastion of Persian culture in the North Caucasus with fine examples of Iranian architecture like the Sassanid citadel in Derbent, 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).<ref>''Encyclopædia Iranica'': "Caucasus Iran" article, p.84-96.</ref>

====South Caucasus==== {{See also|Azerbaijani people|History of Azerbaijan|Tat people (Iran)|Tat people (Caucasus)|Safavid conversion of Iran to Shia Islam|Old Azeri language|Shirvan|Arran (Caucasus)|Shirvanshah|Iranian Azerbaijanis}}

According to Tadeusz Swietochowski, the territories of Iran and the republic of Azerbaijan 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.).<ref>Historical Background Vol. 3, Colliers Encyclopedia CD-ROM, 02-28-1996</ref>{{page needed |date=September 2023}}

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 and many of those in what is today the Azerbaijan Republic, which included the khanates of Baku, Shirvan, Karabakh, Ganja, Shaki, Quba, Derbent, and parts of Talysh. 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, 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, and southern Dagestan. The area to the north of the river Aras, which includes the territory of the contemporary republic of Azerbaijan, was Iranian territory until it was occupied by Russia in the course of the 19th century.<ref name="Swietochowski Borderland">{{cite book |last=Swietochowski|first=Tadeusz |author-link= Tadeusz Swietochowski |year=1995|title=Russia and Azerbaijan: A Borderland in Transition|pages= 69, 133 |publisher=Columbia University Press |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FfRYRwAACAAJ&q=Russia+and+Iran+in+the+great+game:+travelogues+and+orientalism|isbn=978-0-231-07068-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=L. Batalden|first=Sandra |year=1997|title=The newly independent states of Eurasia: handbook of former Soviet republics|page= 98|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=WFjPAxhBEaEC&q=The+newly+independent+states+of+Eurasia:+handbook+of+former+Soviet+republics|isbn=978-0-89774-940-4}}</ref><ref name=":0" /><ref>{{cite book |first1=Robert E. |last1=Ebel |first2=Rajan |last2=Menon |year=2000|title=Energy and conflict in Central Asia and the Caucasus|page= 181 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=-sCpf26vBZ0C&q=Energy+and+conflict+in+Central+Asia+and+the+Caucasus|isbn=978-0-7425-0063-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Andreeva|first=Elena |year=2010|title=Russia and Iran in the great game: travelogues and orientalism|page= 6 |edition= reprint |publisher=Taylor & Francis | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=FfRYRwAACAAJ&q=%3DRussia+and+Iran+in+the+great+game:+travelogues+and+orientalism|isbn=978-0-415-78153-4}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor-last=Çiçek |editor-first=Kemal |editor2-last=Kuran |editor2-first=Ercüment |editor3-last=Göyünç |editor3-first=Nejat |editor4-last=Ortaylı |editor4-first=İlber |year=2000|title=The Great Ottoman-Turkish Civilisation|publisher=University of Michigan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c5VpAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Great+Ottoman-Turkish+Civilisation|isbn=978-975-6782-18-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Meyer, Karl |first=Karl E. |last2=Brysac |first2=Shareen Blair |year=2006 |title=Tournament of Shadows: The Great Game and the Race for Empire in Central Asia |url= |publisher=Basic Books |page=66 |isbn=978-0-465-04576-1}}</ref>

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 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 which ruled the contemporary region of Iranian Azerbaijan and minor parts of the Republic of Azerbaijan in ancient times.<ref>{{cite book |last=Houtsma|first=M. Th. |author-link=Martijn Theodoor Houtsma |year= 1993|title= First Encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936 |edition= reprint |publisher= BRILL |isbn=978-90-04-09796-4}}</ref><ref name="Schippmann">{{cite book |last=Schippmann|first=Klaus |year=1989 |title=Azerbaijan: Pre-Islamic History|pages= 221–224|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica |isbn=978-0-933273-95-5}}</ref>

===Central Asia=== [[File:Head of Bactrian ruler (Satrap), Temple of the Oxus, Takht-i-Sangin, 3rd-2nd century BCE (left side).jpg|thumb|Painted clay and alabaster head of a Zoroastrian priest wearing a distinctive Bactrian-style headdress, Takhti-Sangin, Tajikistan, Greco-Bactrian kingdom, 3rd-2nd century BCE.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Litvinskij |first1=B. A. |last2=Pichikian |first2=I. R. |year=1994 |title=The Hellenistic Architecture and Art of the Temple of the Oxus |journal=Bulletin of the Asia Institute |publisher=Asia Institute |volume=8 |pages=47–66 |jstor=24048765 |issn=0890-4464}}</ref>]]

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 Īrānvīj.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Farahvashī |first=Bahrām |year=1991 |title=Īrānvīj |url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/ايرانويج/XXhIAAAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0 |location=Tehran |publisher=University of Tehran Press |page=8 |isbn= |oclc=26334371 |access-date=}}</ref> These sources claim that Urgandj, which was the capital of ancient Khwarazm for many years, was actually "Ourva": the eighth land of Ahura Mazda mentioned in the Pahlavi text of Vendidad. Others such as University of Hawaii historian Elton L. Daniel believe Khwarazm to be the "most likely locale" corresponding to the original home of the Avestan people,<ref>Daniel, E., ''The History of Iran''. 2001. {{ISBN|978-0-313-30731-7}}, p.28</ref>{{Verify source|date=September 2023}} 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). Current day provinces such as Sanjan in Turkmenia, Razavi Khorasan Province, North Khorasan Province, and Southern Khorasan Province 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.<ref> Lorentz, J. ''Historical Dictionary of Iran''. 1995. {{ISBN|978-0-8108-2994-7}}</ref>{{page needed |date=September 2023}}

===China=== ====Xinjiang==== {{See also|China–Iran relations|Tajiks of Xinjiang}} {{Synthesis|date=December 2015}}

The Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County regions of China harbored a Tajik population and culture.<ref>See ''Encyclopædia Iranica'', p. 443, for Persian settlements in southwestern China; ''Iran-China Relations'' for more on the historical ties.</ref> Chinese Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County was always counted as a part of the Iranian cultural & linguistic continent with Kashgar, Yarkand, and Hotan bound to the Iranian history.<ref>"Persian language in Xinjiang" (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). {{ISBN|978-964-423-572-6}} Perry–Castañeda Library collection under DS 266 N336 2005.</ref>

===West Asia=== ====Bahrain==== {{See also|Ajam of Bahrain|Huwala people|Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain|Independence Day (Bahrain)|History of Bahrain}}

[[File:Buyids 970.png|thumb|Buyid Dynasty]]

From the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC, Bahrain was a prominent part of the Persian Empire under the Achaemenid dynasty. It was referred to by the Greeks as "Tylos", the centre of pearl trading, when Nearchus discovered it while serving under Alexander the Great.<ref name="Larsen">''Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The Geoarchaeology of an Ancient ...'' by Curtis E. Larsen p. 13</ref> 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 and the Sassanids.

In the 3rd century AD, the Sassanids succeeded the Parthians and controlled the area for four centuries until the Arab conquest.<ref name="Federal Research Division page 7"/> Ardashir, the first ruler of the Iranian Sassanid dynasty marched to Oman and Bahrain and defeated Sanatruq<ref>Robert G. Hoyland, ''Arabia and the Arabs: From the Bronze Age to the Coming of Islam'', Routledge 2001p28</ref> (or Satiran<ref name="Mojtahed-Zadeh">''Security and Territoriality in the Persian Gulf: A Maritime Political Geography'' by Pirouz Mojtahed-Zadeh, page 119</ref>), probably the Parthian governor of Bahrain.<ref name = "Jamsheed"/> He appointed his son Shapur I as governor. Shapur constructed a new city there and named it Batan Ardashir after his father.<ref name="Mojtahed-Zadeh"/> At this time, it incorporated the southern Sassanid province covering the Persian Gulf's southern shore plus the archipelago of Bahrain.<ref name="Jamsheed">Conflict and Cooperation: Zoroastrian Subalterns and Muslim Elites in ... By Jamsheed K. Choksy, 1997, page 75</ref> The southern province of the Sassanids was subdivided into three districts; Haggar (now al-Hafuf province, Saudi Arabia), Batan Ardashir (now al-Qatif province, Saudi Arabia), and Mishmahig (now Bahrain Island)<ref name="Mojtahed-Zadeh"/> (In Middle-Persian/Pahlavi it means "ewe-fish").<ref>Yoma 77a and Rosh Hashbanah, 23a</ref>

[[File:Ghaznavid Empire 975 - 1187 (AD).PNG|thumb|Ghaznavids at their greatest extent]]

By about 130 BC, the Parthian dynasty brought the Persian Gulf under their control and extended their influence as far as Oman. Because they needed to control the Persian Gulf trade route, the Parthians established garrisons along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf.<ref name="Federal Research Division page 7">''Bahrain'' by Federal Research Division, page 7</ref> through warfare and economic distress, been reduced to only 60.<ref>Juan Cole, ''Sacred Space and Holy War'', IB Tauris, 2007 p52</ref> 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.<ref>[http://bahrain.wikia.com/wiki/Are_the_Shia_Rising%3F Are the Shia Rising?] Maximilian Terhalle, ''Middle East Policy'', Volume 14 Issue 2 Page 73, June 2007</ref>

An Afghan uprising led by Hotakis of Kandahar at the beginning of the 18th century resulted in the near-collapse of the Safavid state.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} 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 Omanis, much of the country was burnt to the ground.<ref>[http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain# Autobiography of Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani] published in ''Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition'', Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001</ref> Bahrain was eventually sold back to the Persians by the Omanis, but the weakness of the Safavid empire saw Huwala tribes seize control.<ref>The Autobiography of Yūsuf al-Bahrānī (1696–1772) from Lu'lu'at al-Baḥrayn, from the final chapter [http://content.cdlib.org/xtf/view?docId=ft2c6004x0&chunk.id=d0e7560&toc.depth=1&toc.id=d0e7560&brand=ucpress&query=Bahrain# An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him] featured in ''Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition'', Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001 p221</ref>

[[File:The maximum extent of the Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas I.png|thumb|The Safavid Empire under Shah Abbas the Great]]

In 1730, the new Shah of Persia, Nadir Shah, 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.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} The Persians invaded in March or early April 1736 when the ruler of Bahrain, Shaikh Jubayr, was away on hajj.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} 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.<ref>Charles Belgrave, The Pirate Coast, G. Bell & Sons, 1966 p19</ref> During the Qajar era, Persian control over Bahrain waned{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} and in 1753, Bahrain was occupied by the Sunni Persians of the Bushire-based Al Madhkur family,<ref>Ahmad Mustafa Abu Hakim, ''History of Eastern Arabia 1750–1800'', Khayat, 1960, p78</ref><!--unreliable source--> who ruled Bahrain in the name of Persia and paid allegiance to Karim Khan Zand.

[[File:ZanddynastyTrial.png|thumb|Zands]]

During most of the second half of the eighteenth century, Bahrain was ruled by Nasr Al-Madhkur, the ruler of Bushehr. 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 invasion force that never left Bushehr. The 1785 invasion fleet, composed of forces from Bushehr, Rig, and Shiraz was called off after the death of the ruler of Shiraz, Ali Murad Khan. Due to internal difficulties, the Persians could not attempt another invasion.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} In 1799, Bahrain came under threat from the expansionist policies of Sayyid Sultan, the Sultan of Oman, when he invaded the island under the pretext that Bahrain did not pay taxes owed.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}} The Bani Utbah solicited the aid of Bushire to expel the Omanis on the condition that Bahrain would become a tributary state of Persia. In 1800, Sayyid Sultan invaded Bahrain again in retaliation and deployed a garrison at Arad Fort, in Muharraq island and had appointed his twelve-year-old son Salim, as Governor of the island.<ref>James Onley, The Politics of Protection in the Gulf: The Arab Rulers and the British Resident in the Nineteenth Century, Exeter University, 2004 p44</ref>

[[File:Greatest extent of the Qajar empire.png|thumb|Qajar dynasty at its greatest extent]]

Many names of villages in Bahrain are derived from the Persian language.<ref name=Tajer>{{cite book|last=Al-Tajer|first=Mahdi Abdulla|title=Language & Linguistic Origins In Bahrain|year=1982|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-7103-0024-9|pages=134, 135|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BNs9AAAAIAAJ&q=bahrain%20village%20persian%20name&pg=PA134}}</ref> These names were thought to have been as a result influences during the Safavid rule of Bahrain (1501–1722) and previous Persian rule. Village names such as Karbabad, Salmabad, Karzakan, Duraz, Barbar were originally derived from the Persian language, suggesting that Persians had a substantial effect on the island's history.<ref name=Tajer/> The local Bahrani Arabic dialect has also borrowed many words from the Persian language.<ref name=Tajer/> Bahrain's capital city, Manama is derived from two Persian words meaning 'I' and 'speech'.<ref name=Tajer/>{{contradictory inline|article=Manama|section=Etymology|date=March 2018}}

In 1910, the Persian community funded and opened a private school, Al-Ittihad school, that taught Farsi amongst other subjects.<ref>{{cite book|last=Shirawi|first=May Al-Arrayed|title=Education in Bahrain 1919-1986: An Analytical Study of Problems and Progress|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/6662/1/6662_3966.PDF?UkUDh:CyT|year=1987|publisher=Durham University|page=60}}</ref> According to the 1905 census, there were 1650 Bahraini citizens of Persian origin.<ref name=pol/>

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, 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.<ref name=pol>{{cite book|last=Fuccaro|first=Nelida|title=Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf: Manama Since 1800|page=114|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wKU6jvKGicUC|isbn=978-0-521-51435-4|date=2009-09-03|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref>

The Shah of Iran at the time, more or less dismissed Bahrain due to what he perceived to be its "Arab Identity",<ref name=":35">{{cite book |author=Banafsheh Keynoush |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BcLtCwAAQBAJ&dq=arabization+bahrain&pg=PA96 |title=Saudi Arabia and Iran: Friends Or Foes? |date=2016 |publisher=Springer |isbn=9781137589392 |pages=96}}</ref> At 12:50&nbsp;p.m. on March 26, 1970, the London Radio announced that both Britain and Imperialist Iran had submitted a request to the Secretary-General of the United Nations to send a representative from the international organization to survey the opinion of the people of Bahrain as to whether they wish to "''remain under British Protectorate or to have Independence or be part of Iran''."<ref name=":9">{{Cite journal |date=2009-10-28 |title=تاريخ العرق الفارسي في البحرين |trans-title=History of the Persian race in Bahrain |url=https://hamedkenani.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/d8aad8a7d8b1d98ad8ae-d8a7d984d8b9d8b1d982-d8a7d984d981d8a7d8b1d8b3d98a-d981d98a-d8a7d984d8a8d8add8b1d98ad986.pdf |url-status=live |journal=Al-Waqt |issue=1346 |pages= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240612000000/https://hamedkenani.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/d8aad8a7d8b1d98ad8ae-d8a7d984d8b9d8b1d982-d8a7d984d981d8a7d8b1d8b3d98a-d981d98a-d8a7d984d8a8d8add8b1d98ad986.pdf |archive-date=2024-06-12}} [https://archive.org/download/20240903_20240903_2041/%D8%AA%D8%A7%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AE%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%B1%D9%82%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%81%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%B3%D9%8A%20%D9%81%D9%8A%20%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8%D8%AD%D8%B1%D9%8A%D9%86.pdf Alt URL]</ref>{{rp|48, 52}} This concluded with the independence of Bahrain and the officialization of the monarchist rule of the Al-Khalifa family, ruling Bahrain til present day.

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'', which is consumed in Southern Iran as well. It 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 (''golab'') and agar agar. Other food items consumed are similar to Persian cuisine.

====Iraq==== {{See also|Iran–Iraq relations|Iran–Iraq War|Persians in Iraq|Asuristan}}

Throughout history, Iran always had strong cultural ties with the region of present-day Iraq. Mesopotamia is considered the cradle of civilization and the place where the first empires in history were established. These empires, namely the Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, and Assyrian, 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 and Sasanian empires having their capital in what is modern-day Iraq for the same centuries-long time span. (Ctesiphon)

{{cquote|Of the four residences of the Achaemenids named by Herodotus—Ecbatana, Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon—the last [situated in Iraq] was maintained as their most important capital, the fixed winter quarters, the central office of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer for some cool spot in the highlands.<ref name=EY>{{cite book|last=Yarshater|first=Ehsan|author-link=Ehsan Yarshater|title=The Cambridge History of Iran, Volume 3|year=1993|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-20092-9|page=482|quote=Of the four residences of the Achaemenids named by Herodotus—Ecbatana, Pasargadae or Persepolis, Susa and Babylon—the last [situated in Iraq] was maintained as their most important capital, the fixed winter quarters, the central office of bureaucracy, exchanged only in the heat of summer for some cool spot in the highlands. Under the Seleucids and the Parthians the site of the Mesopotamian capital moved a little to the north on the Tigris—to Seleucia and Ctesiphon. It is indeed symbolic that these new foundations were built from the bricks of ancient Babylon, just as later Baghdad, a little further upstream, was built out of the ruins of the Sassanian double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.}}</ref>

Under the Seleucids and the Parthians the site of the Mesopotamian capital moved a little to the north on the Tigris—to Seleucia and Ctesiphon. It is indeed symbolic that these new foundations were built from the bricks of ancient Babylon, just as later Baghdad, a little further upstream, was built out of the ruins of the Sassanian double city of Seleucia-Ctesiphon.<ref name=EY />|||Iranologist Ehsan Yarshater|The Cambridge History of Iran,<ref name=EY />}}

[[File:Cyrus Cylinder front.jpg|thumb|The Cyrus Cylinder, written in Babylonian cuneiform in the name of the Achaemenid king, Cyrus the Great, describes the Persian takeover of Babylon (An ancient city in modern-day Iraq).]]

According to Iranologist Richard N. Frye:<ref>{{cite book|last=Frye|first=Richard N.|author-link=Richard N. Frye|title=The Golden Age of Persia: The Arabs in the East|year=1975|publisher=Weidenfeld and Nicolson|isbn=978-0-7538-0944-0|page=184|quote=[..] throughout Iran's history the western part of the land has been frequently more closely connected with the lowlands of Mesopotamia than with the rest of the plateau to the east of the central deserts.}}</ref><ref name=NY>{{cite book|last=Yavari|first=Neguin|title=Iranian Perspectives on the Iran-Iraq War; Part II. Conceptual Dimensions; 7. National, Ethnic, and Sectarian Issues in the Iran–Iraq War|year=1997|publisher=University Press of Florida|isbn=978-0-8130-1476-0|page=80|quote=Between the coming of the 'Abbasids and the Mongol onslaught, Iraq and western Iran shared a closer history than did eastern Iran and its western counterpart.}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|Throughout Iran's history the western part of the land has been frequently more closely connected with the lowlands of Mesopotamia (Iraq) than with the rest of the plateau to the east of the central deserts [the Dasht-e Kavir and Dasht-e Lut]. | Richard N. Frye | ''The Golden Age of Persia: The Arabs in the East''}}

{{Blockquote|Between the coming of the Abbasids [in 750] and the Mongol onslaught [in 1258], Iraq and western Iran shared a closer history than did eastern Iran and its western counterpart. | Neguin Yavari | ''Iranian Perspectives on the Iran–Iraq War''<ref name=NY />}}

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 (ancient Media) was called 'Irāq-e 'Ajamī ("Persian Iraq"), while central-southern 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, Isfahan 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 historian Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru (d. 1430) wrote of Iraq:<ref>{{cite web|last=Morony|first=Michael G|author-link=Michael G. Morony|title=IRAQ AND ITS RELATIONS WITH IRAN|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/iraq-i-late-sasanid-early-islamic|work=IRAQ i. IN THE LATE SASANID AND EARLY ISLAMIC ERAS|publisher=Encyclopædia Iranica|access-date=11 February 2012|quote=Persian remained the language of most of the sedentary people as well as that of the chancery until the 15th century and thereafter, as attested by Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru (d. 1430) who said, "The majority of inhabitants of Iraq know Persian and Arabic, and from the time of the domination of Turkic people the Turkish language has also found currency: as the city people and those engaged in trade and crafts are Persophone, the Bedouins are Arabophone, and the governing classes are Turkophone. But, all three peoples (qawms) know each other's languages due to the mixture and amalgamation."}}</ref>

{{Blockquote|The majority of inhabitants of Iraq know Persian and Arabic, and from the time of the domination of Turkic people the Turkish language has also found currency. | Ḥāfeẓ-e Abru}}

Iraqis share religious and certain cultural ties with Iranians. The majority of Iranians are Twelver Shia (an Islamic sect).

Iraqi culture has commonalities with the culture of Iran. The Mesopotamian cuisine also has similarities to the Persian cuisine, including common dishes and cooking techniques. The Iraqi dialect has absorbed many words from the Persian language.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Csató|first1=Éva Ágnes|last2=Isaksson|first2=Bo|last3=Jahani|first3=Carina |title=Linguistic Convergence and Areal Diffusion: Case Studies from Iranian, Semitic and Turkic|year=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-0-415-30804-5|page=177}}</ref>

===Kurdistan=== Kurds speak a Northwestern Iranian language known as Kurdish. Vladimir Minorsky suggested that the Medes, an Iranian people who inhabited much of western Iran, including Azerbaijan and Kurdistan, might have been forefathers of modern Kurds.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gershevitch |first1=Ilya |year=1967 |title=Professor Vladimir Minorsky |journal=Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=99 |issue=1/2 |pages=53–57 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00125638 |jstor=25202975 |doi-access=free}}</ref> Minorsky's view was subsequently accepted by many Kurdish nationalists in the 20th century.<ref name="Ozoglu25">Hakan Özoğlu, ''Kurdish notables and the Ottoman state: Evolving Identities, Competing Loyalties, and Shifting Boundaries'', SUNY Press, 2004, [https://books.google.com/books?id=CttLWEaTrJUC&dq=%22many+Kurdish+nationalists+in+the+twentieth+century%22&pg=PA25 p. 25.]</ref> However Gernot Windfuhr (1975) identified Kurdish dialects as closer to Parthian, albeit with a Median substratum.<ref>Windfuhr, Gernot (1975), “Isoglosses: A Sketch on Persians and Parthians, Kurds and Medes”, Monumentum H.S. Nyberg II (Acta Iranica-5), Leiden: 457–471</ref> The hypothesis of having Median ancestors is rejected by Martin van Bruinessen.<ref name="Ozoglu25" /> Bruinessen states: "Though some Kurdish intellectuals claim that their people are descended from the Medes, there is not enough evidence to permit such connection across the considerable gap in time between the political dominance of the Medes, and the first attestation of the Kurds.<ref name="Ozoglu25" /> Garnik Asatrian (2009) stated that "The Central Iranian dialects, and primarily those of the Kashan area in the first place, as well as the Azari dialects (otherwise called Southern Tati) are probably the only Iranian dialects, which can pretend to be the direct offshoots of Median ... In general, the relationship between Kurdish and Median are not closer than the affinities between the latter and other North Western dialects — Baluchi, Talishi, South Caspian, Zaza, Gurani, etc."<ref>G. Asatrian, ''Prolegomena to the Study of the Kurds'', Iran and the Caucasus, Vol. 13, pp. 1–58, 2009. (p. 21 [https://archive.org/stream/ProlegomenaToTheStudyOfTheKurds/Asatrian_kurds_djvu.txt])</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Iran|Religion}} {{Div col|colwidth=20em}} * -stan * Azerbaijani language * Culture of Azerbaijan * Culture of Iran * Greater Armenia * Greater Central Asia * Greater Khorasan * History of the Kurdish people * Indo-Persian culture * Iranian peoples * Iranian studies * Kurdish culture * Kurdish language * List of Persia-related topics * Old Azeri language * Pan-Iranism * Persianate society * Persianization * Turco-Persian tradition {{Div col end}}

==Notes and references== ===Explanatory footnotes=== {{Notefoot}}

===Citation footnotes=== {{Reflist|2}}

===General references=== * {{cite book | last1 = Fisher | first1 = William Bayne | last2 = Avery | first2= P. | last3 = Hambly | first3 = G. R. G | last4 = Melville | first4 = C. | title = The Cambridge History of Iran | volume = 7 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=H20Xt157iYUC&q=agha+muhammad+khan+invade+georgia | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | year = 1991 | isbn = 978-0-521-20095-0 }} * {{cite book |last=Foltz |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Foltz |title=Iran in World History |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=New York |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-19-933549-7}} * Marcinkowski, Christoph (2010). ''Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts''. Berlin: Lit Verlag. {{ISBN|978-3-643-80049-7}}.

{{Iran topics}} {{Irredentism}}

Category:Cultural regions Category:Geography of Iran Category:History of Iran Category:Culture of Iran Category:Georgia (country)–Iran relations Category:Azerbaijan–Iran relations Category:Iran–Pakistan relations Category:Iran–Iraq relations Category:Armenia–Iran relations Category:Afghanistan–Iran relations Category:Central Asia Category:Country classifications Category:Middle East Category:West Asia Category:Historical geography of Iran Category:Historical regions of Iran