For most of history, the tract of land now called Iran was known as Persia. It wasn't until 1935 that it adopted its present name. Early Persia was a formidable empire, whose vast plateau rimmed by mountain ranges, was variously invaded by Arabs, Turks and Mongols.
Present Iran was historically referred to as Persia until 1935 when Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call the country by its native name, Iran. But In 1959 due to controversial debates over the name, it was announced that both could be used.
The Independence Day of Iran is celebrated on 1, April every year to commemorate the day the country became a theocratic Islamic Republic state in the year 1979. Following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the country was officially renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The flag of Iran consists of three equal sized horizontal stripes - the top stripe is green; the middle one is white, and the bottom stripe is red. On the edges of the white stripe, there are stylized writings. In the middle of the white stripe and at the flag's center is the country's coat of arms consisting of four crescents and a sword.
Flags, standards, and banners have always been important national and imperial symbols for Iranians, both in war and peace. The best-known symbol of Iran in recent centuries has been the Lion and Sun motif, which is a graphic expression of the astrological configuration of the sun in the sign of Leo, although both celestial and animal figures have long and independent histories in Iranian heraldry. Late in the nineteenth century, the Lion and Sun motif was combined with an earlier scimitar motif and superimposed on a tricolour of green, white, and red. With minor modifications, this remained the official flag until the revolution of 1979.
To the bottom of the green band and top of the red band, the takbir is written twenty-two times in the Kufic script. The takbir reads the phraseAllahu Akbar which translates into "God is greater than can be described." The number twenty-two is significant as it refers to the Islamic Revolution that occurred on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month of the Iranian calendar.
Present Iran was historically referred to as Persia until 1935 when Reza Shah Pahlavi formally asked the international community to call the country by its native name, Iran. But In 1959 due to controversial debates over the name, it was announced that both could be used.
The Independence Day of Iran is celebrated on 1, April every year to commemorate the day the country became a theocratic Islamic Republic state in the year 1979. Following the triumph of the Islamic Revolution of 1979, led by the Ayatollah Khomeini, the country was officially renamed the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The flag of Iran consists of three equal sized horizontal stripes - the top stripe is green; the middle one is white, and the bottom stripe is red. On the edges of the white stripe, there are stylized writings. In the middle of the white stripe and at the flag's center is the country's coat of arms consisting of four crescents and a sword.
Flags, standards, and banners have always been important national and imperial symbols for Iranians, both in war and peace. The best-known symbol of Iran in recent centuries has been the Lion and Sun motif, which is a graphic expression of the astrological configuration of the sun in the sign of Leo, although both celestial and animal figures have long and independent histories in Iranian heraldry. Late in the nineteenth century, the Lion and Sun motif was combined with an earlier scimitar motif and superimposed on a tricolour of green, white, and red. With minor modifications, this remained the official flag until the revolution of 1979.
To the bottom of the green band and top of the red band, the takbir is written twenty-two times in the Kufic script. The takbir reads the phraseAllahu Akbar which translates into "God is greater than can be described." The number twenty-two is significant as it refers to the Islamic Revolution that occurred on the twenty-second day of the eleventh month of the Iranian calendar.