Greater Iran

The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under Khosrow II

Greater Iran or Greater Persia (Persian: ایران بزرگ Irān-e Bozorg), also called the Iranosphere or the Persosphere, is an expression that denotes a wide socio-cultural region comprising parts of West Asia, the Caucasus, Central Asia, South Asia, and East Asia (specifically Xinjiang)—all of which have been impacted, to some degree, by the Iranian peoples and the Iranian languages.[1][2] It is defined by having been long-ruled by the dynasties of various Iranian empires,[note 1][3][4][5] under whom the local populaces gradually incorporated some degree of Iranian influence into their cultural and/or linguistic traditions;[note 2] or alternatively as where a considerable number of Iranians settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures,[note 3] geographically corresponding to the areas surrounding the Iranian plateau.[6][7] It is referred to as the "Iranian Cultural Continent" by Encyclopædia Iranica.[8]

Throughout the 16th–19th centuries, Iran lost many of the territories that had been conquered under the Safavids and Qajars. The Ottoman–Iranian 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. Simultaneously, the Russo-Iranian 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;[9][10][11] and the Treaty of Turkmenchay in 1828 saw Iran cede present-day Armenia, the remainder of Azerbaijan, and Iğdır, setting the northern boundary along the Aras River.[12][13] Parts of Afghanistan were lost to the British Empire through the Treaty of Paris in 1857 and the McMahon Arbitration in 1905.[14][15]

  1. ^ Frye, Richard Nelson (1962). "Reitzenstein and Qumrân Revisited by an Iranian, Richard Nelson Frye, The Harvard Theological Review, Vol. 55, No. 4 (Oct. 1962), pp. 261–268". The Harvard Theological Review. 55 (4): 261–268. doi:10.1017/S0017816000007926. JSTOR 1508723. S2CID 162213219.
  2. ^ International Journal of Middle East Studies. (2007), 39: pp 307–309 Copyright © 2007 Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ Marcinkowski, Christoph (2010). Shi'ite Identities: Community and Culture in Changing Social Contexts. LIT Verlag Münster. p. 83. ISBN 978-3-643-80049-7.
  4. ^ "Interview with Richard N. Frye (CNN)". Archived from the original on 2016-04-23.
  5. ^ 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.
  6. ^ "IRAN i. LANDS OF IRAN". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  7. ^ Dialect, Culture, and Society in Eastern Arabia: Glossary. Clive Holes. 2001. Page XXX. ISBN 978-90-04-10763-2.
  8. ^ "Columbia College Today". columbia.edu. Archived from the original on 2015-11-27. Retrieved 9 December 2015.
  9. ^ India. Foreign and Political Dept. (1892). A Collection of Treaties, Engagements, and Sunnuds, Relating to India and Neighbouring Countries: Persia and the Persian Gulf. G. A. Savielle and P. M. Cranenburgh, Bengal Print. Co. pp. x (10). treaty of gulistan.
  10. ^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 348–349. ISBN 978-1-4422-4146-6. Persia lost all its territories to the north of the Aras River, which included all of Georgia, and parts of Armenia and Azerbaijan.
  11. ^ Olsen, James Stuart; Shadle, Robert (1991). Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 314. ISBN 978-0-313-26257-9. In 1813 Iran signed the Treaty of Gulistan, ceding Georgia to Russia.
  12. ^ Roxane Farmanfarmaian (2008). War and peace in Qajar Persia: implications past and present. Psychology Press. p. 4. ISBN 978-0-203-93830-0.
  13. ^ Fisher et al. 1991, p. 329.
  14. ^ Erik Goldstein (1992). Wars and peace treaties, 1816-1991. Psychology Press. pp. 72–73. ISBN 978-0-203-97682-1.
  15. ^ Sir Percy Molesworth Sykes (1915). A history of Persia, Volume 2. Macmillan and co. p. 469. Macmahon arbitration persia.


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