Background
Note: The nation of Iran has been referred to as "Persia" in the West since the time of the Persian Wars. The earliest Iranian peoples known to recorded history are the Parsua mentioned in an Akkadian text. For hundreds of years, Persia was the proper English term for Iran, and the name stuck in the minds of many foreigners long after Reza Shah Pahlavi asked, in 1935, that his country be referred to by its native name. English-language official documents from the Persian Corridor period continue to make the word "Persia" completely interchangeable with name of the nation-state of "Iran." In correspondence by the government of the United Kingdom, usage of "Persia" over "Iran" was chosen by Winston Churchill to avoid possible confusion with neighboring Iraq.
Read more about this topic: Persian Corridor
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