PERSIA

the kingdom of Iran in southwestern Asia. The term was used for centuries, chiefly in the West, and originated from a region of southern Iran formerly known as Persis, alternatively as Pars, or Parsa, modern Fars. Parsa was the name of an Indo-European nomadic people who migrated into the region about 1000 BC. The first mention of the Parsa occurs in the annals of Shalmanesar III, an Assyrian king, in 844. During the rule of the Persian Achaemenian dynasty (559-330 BC), the ancient Greeks first encountered the inhabitants of Persis on the Iranian Plateau, when the Achaemenian kingdom was expanding. The use of the name was gradually extended by the ancient Greeks and other Western peoples to apply to the whole Iranian Plateau. The people of Iran have always called their country Iran, "Land of the Aryans." In 1935 the government of Iran requested that the name Iran be used instead of Persia.