Greater Iran: Difference between revisions

'''Greater Iran''' or '''Greater Persia''' ({{lang-fa|ایران بزرگ}} {{Transliteration|fa|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 affected, to some degree, by the [[Iranian peoples]] and the [[Iranian languages]].<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}}</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> It is defined by having been long -ruled by the dynasties of various [[History of Iran|Iranian empires]],{{NoteTag|These include the [[Median Empire|Medes]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenids]], [[Parthian Empire|Parthians]], [[Sasanian Empire|Sasanians]], [[Samanid Empire|Samanids]], [[Saffarid Empire|Saffarids]], [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]], [[Afsharid dynasty|Afsharids]] and [[Qajar dynasty|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> under whom the local populaces gradually incorporated some degree of Iranian influence into their cultural and/or linguistic traditions;{{notetag|For example, those regions and peoples in the [[North Caucasus]] that were not under direct Iranian rule.}} or alternatively as where a considerable number of Iranians settled to still maintain communities who patronize their respective cultures,{{notetag|Such as in the western parts of [[South Asia]], [[Bahrain]] and [[Tajikistan]].}} geographically corresponding to 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>{{cite web|url=http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/nov03/features5.php|title=Columbia College Today|work=columbia.edu|access-date=9 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151127211754/http://www.college.columbia.edu/cct_archive/nov03/features5.php|archive-date=2015-11-27|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Throughout the 16th–19th centuries, Iran lost many of the territories that had been conquered under the [[Safavid dynasty|Safavids]] and [[Qajar dynasty|Qajars]]. The [[Ottoman–Persian Wars|Ottoman–Iranian Wars]] resulted in the loss of present-day [[Iraq]] to the [[Ottoman Empire]], as outlined in the [[Peace of Amasya|Treaty of Amasya]] in 1555 and the [[Treaty of Zuhab]] in 1639. Simultaneously, the [[Russo-Persian Wars|Russo-Iranian Wars]] resulted in the loss of much of the Caucasus to the [[Russian Empire]]: the [[Treaty of Gulistan]] in 1813 saw Iran cede present-day [[Dagestan]], [[Georgia (country)|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>{{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> and the [[Treaty of Turkmenchay]] in 1828 saw Iran cede present-day [[Armenia]], the remainder of Azerbaijan, and [[Iğdır Province|Iğdır]], setting the northern boundary along the [[Aras (river)|Aras River]].<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 [[Afghanistan]] were lost to the [[British Empire]] through the [[Treaty of Paris (1857)|Treaty of Paris]] in 1857 and the [[Henry McMahon|McMahon Arbitration]] in 1905.<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>