Persian Iraq on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
Persian Iraq, also uncommonly spelled Persian Irak ( ''Erāq-e Ajam'' or ''Erāq-e Ajami''; ''ʿIrāq al-ʿAjam'' or ''al-ʿIrāq al-ʿAjamī'', literally, "Iraq of the Ajam"), is a
Persian Iraq, also uncommonly spelled Persian Irak ( ''Erāq-e Ajam'' or ''Erāq-e Ajami''; ''ʿIrāq al-ʿAjam'' or ''al-ʿIrāq al-ʿAjamī'', literally, "Iraq of the Ajam"), is a historical region
History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...
of the western parts of Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
.
The region, originally known as Media
Media may refer to:
Communication
* Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data
** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising
** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
in pre-Islamic times, became known as Jibal ("mountain, hill") by early Islamic geographers, due its mountainous layout. The name was progressively abandoned during the Seljuk era in the 11th and 12th centuries, and was called ''ʿIrāq-i ʿAjam(ī)'' ("Persian Iraq") to distinguish it from ''ʿIrāq-i ʿArab(ī)'' (" Arab Iraq") in Mesopotamia
Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...
.
According to the medieval historian and geographer Yaqut al-Hamawi, this course started taking place when the Seljuk sultans ruled both Iraq proper and Jibal, thus being addressed "sultan al-Iraq". However, the city of Hamadan in Jibal eventually became their capital, thus resulting in the region becoming known as Iraq, with the word Ajami ("Persian") being added. Following the Mongol invasion of Iran in the 13th-century, the name Jibal had become completely outdated. In the following century, the geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi was unaware of the name Jibal, and only knew it as 'Iraq-i Ajami'. It was regarded by him as ''sardsīr'' ("cold zone").
Later, until the beginning of the 20th century, the term ''Iraq'' in Iran was used to refer to a much smaller region south of Saveh and west of Qom. This region was centered on Soltanabad, which was renamed later as Arak.
Citations
General and cited references
* * * * {{EI2 , volume = 2 , title = D̲j̲ibāl , first = L. , last = Lockhart , authorlink = , page = 534 , doi =10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_2068 Historical geography of Iran Historical regions of Iran