The former has always been used by the iranian speaking peoples themselves, while the latter has served as the international name of the country in various languages. Oil was discovered in persia in the early 20th century, and whilst the country’s vast land mass had long had complicated relationships with its neighbours, this development changed the political and economic landscape of the middle east forever. Persia, historic region of southwestern asia associated with the area that is now modern iran The term persia was used for centuries and originated from a region of southern iran formerly known as persis, alternatively as pārs or parsa, modern fārs. Ancient persia is known for the establishment of the first postal system, agricultural innovations, significant rights for women, religious tolerance, early refrigeration and air conditioning, and the persian rug among many other cultural contributions. Many people think of persia as synonymous with islam, though islam only became the dominant religion in the persian empire after the arab conquests of the seventh century.
The names persia and iran are often used interchangeably to refer to the same country The persian empire began to decline under the reign of darius’s son, xerxes Xerxes depleted the royal treasury with an unsuccessful campaign to invade greece and continued with irresponsible spending upon returning home Persia was eventually conquered by alexander the great in 334 b.c.e. Persia is first attested in assyrian sources from the third millennium bc in the old assyrian form parahše, meaning land of the horses designating a region belonging to the sumerians. Ancient persia, a vast empire that stretched across the middle east and beyond, is often heralded as one of the cradles of civilization
