The citizens of various cities and residents of rural areas have been seen to protest to changing the names according to new classifications, which may even end up in clashes. We have witnessed many sensitive occasions in the country on account of historical names. Most of them have been recorded on tablets as well as in holy books, texts of the Zoroastrian's holy book of Avesta and Ferdowsi's Book of Kings (Shahnameh).Īt times, debate on a historical name may even lead to bloody clashes. They actually show part of our culture of the prehistoric era. There are at least 500 ancient geographical names in Iran, a number of which have been passed on by one generation to the next in the stories narrated. Those who changed the historical names mainly aimed to raise doubt about Iran's sovereignty upon some of the Persian Gulf islands. Among all such historical names, the Persian Gulf and Caspian Sea are chosen to be examined from various aspects.The name of Persian Gulf has been recorded in more than 300 historical, literary and geographical sources as well as 2,000 ancient maps dating back to the 19th century. Obviously, changing the name of any geographical venue which has been representing a particular area throughout the centuries is a threat to its national security and historical identity. Meanwhile, historical names should not be abused as political tools to achieve tribal and racial objectives, humiliate other ethnic tribes or contradict the national interests and values of others. That's why respect for the history and geographical facts have priority to tribal and racial sentiments. Such geographical names also designate the sovereignty, precinct of the government as well as the administrative, political and ideological system of the countries. In other words, they are the national identity of various tribes, which should be safeguarded as material and spiritual treasures, similar to ancient objects and documents. The toponymy of the waterway in northern Iran comprises the names of continents, oceans, seas, lakes, countries, forests, mountains and deserts which are part of the history, geography, mythology, culture and customs of various nations and tribes. The names of the sea have been derived from five roots, which also designate the tribes residing in the vicinity, the surrounding towns and port cities as well as a few equivalents of the word`Sea' in other dialects and others which have been used to refer to the waterway without any justification. Even today 50 tribes with various dialects reside in the area. The tourist attractions and presence of various tribes in the surrounding areas are among the reasons accounting for it. Meanwhile, a variety of other names by which the waterway has been called since 500 years ago have been recorded. The Arabic states call it Bahr-e Qazvin (Qazvin Sea) or Caspian, while the Turks, Europeans and other nations refer to it as the Caspian Sea. Unlike Iran's southern waterway (Pars Sea), about which there has never been any ambiguity and which has been referred to by various names synonymous to that of the Persian Gulf throughout the course of the written history, in particular since 600 BC, the waterway in northern Iran currently known as the Caspian or Mazandaran Sea is called by different names.
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