What we call Iran today is part of a much greater geographical area that once was home to a great culture and civilization. Today, traces of Iranian culture can be seen outside modern Iranian borders in places such as Pakistan, Afghanistan, Central Asia, the Caucasus, eastern Turkey, Iraq, and the southern Persian Gulf coastal region. These are all areas that historically were part of the Persian Empire and therefore were influenced by Persian culture. 

Iranians tend to refer to the realm of Iranian cultural influence as “Iran Zamin,” meaning, in the Persian language, “the Land of Iran.”

The term “Iran” is a derivative of the word “Aryan” (the noble). Iranians were a branch of Aryan tribes who entered Iran from central Asia sometime during the second millennium B.C. and settled in the western and south-central parts of what is now modern Iran.

While Aryans are believed to be the ancestors of modern Iranians, there were many other groups who lived in Iran before their arrival in the region. As a matter of fact, the history of the earliest sedentary cultures, based on existing archaeological sites, can be traced back some 18,000 years. And evidence suggests that humans occupied the region as long ago as 100,000 years.

Today confusion exists among many Westerners on the proper use of the terms Iran, Iranian, Persia, and Persian. What are the differences in meaning? The terms Iran and Persia are used interchangeably, because both refer to the same land. Persia was what the Greeks referred to when they spoke of Iran. The origin of the term comes from the term “pars” or “parsa,” the heart of the great Persian Empire where today’s Iranian province of Pars or Fars is located. So, Persian simply means Parsi, or people of Persia.

Iranians, however, have always referred to their land as Iran and considered themselves to be Iranians. In 1935 the government officially registered the name of the country as Iran and demanded that international community call it as such. This way Iran can be remembered as the continuation of the Iran Zamin (the land of Iran) founded and expanded by the Iranian ancestors, the Aryans. (Source: iranology.ca)