Photo Credit To Wikipedia Commons / Flag of Iran
Story Highlights
- Historical event
- 21 March 1935
- Until the year 1935, the foreigners called the present day Iran "Persia". But on this day of said year, Reza Shah Pahlavi asked them to use the word "Iran" instead of "Persia".
On this day in 1935, Persian Shah Reza Pahlavi issued a decree asking foreign delegates to call his country Iran instead of Persia.
The word Iran has ancient origins, similar as the word “Aryan”, which had a prominent role in Nazi ideology.
The term Iran was also used by the inhabitants of the country long before the 1935. Foreigners previously mostly used the name “Persia”, as the country was called by the ancient Greeks (the name “Persia” comes from the name of one Iranian province – Fars).
During the reign of Reza Pahlavi’s son and successor Muhammad (the last Shah), there were attempts to restore the old name of Persia, but they proved unsuccessful.
Today, Iran is officially called the “Islamic Republic of Iran”.
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