I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the Persians, you know? A people who literally shaped civilizations and still remain relevant on the global geopolitical stage today.

So let’s go. The Persians originate from the Iranian plateau and emerged around 1000 BC as an Indo-Iranian group. That’s no small feat — they created the Achaemenid Empire, one of the greatest empires of Antiquity. Cyrus the Great was the one who made it happen around 550 BC, unifying the Iranian tribes and starting a series of conquests that left a mark on history.

Now, what few realize is the name change that took place in 1935. For centuries, the West called the country Persia. But then Shah Reza Shah Pahlavi formally requested the world to use “Iran” — which basically means “land of the Aryans.” Name change, but the identity remains.

And today? The Persian people still constitute the dominant ethnic and cultural group in modern Iran. They speak Farsi and continue to be the backbone of Iranian society. It’s fascinating to see how a people so central to ancient history maintain this influence to this day. While many empires have disappeared, the Persians persisted — and now they’re once again challenging global power in a very different way than they did thousands of years ago.