The country we now know as Iran (which means “Land of the Aryans”) has always been called that by its own people, but for centuries Europeans and others referred to it as Persia, mainly due to the writings of Greek historians. The name Persia was derived from the southern province of Pars (or Fars), where the main centers of the ancient Persian civilization (Persepolis and Pasargadae) were located. In 1935 the first Pahlavi King Reza decreed that Persia should be known as Iran, a name that harks back to the glories of the Aryan race and pre-Islamic Iran. Persian (Farsi in Persian) is the official language of the Islamic Republic of Iran, which is Iran’s formal name. Persians are the largest ethnic group in the country, outnumbering others such as Azeri Turks, Kurds, Arabs, and Lurs. The term Iranian includes members of all ethnic groups, much like the term British includes the Welsh, the Scots, the English, the Irish, and all immigrant minorities. In the same way, Iranian ethnic groups may speak different mother tongues but are conversant in Persian (Source: Among the Iranians).
Religious Dimension of the Modern Culture of Iran in Early Qajar Era
