Persian Gulf

What’s this page for?
This page is to give you information about that body of water, and maybe about a few other things as well. It’s here to let you know that the correct name, the only name, of this particular body of water is Persian Gulf. Not Gulf, and not Arabian Gulf. Persian Gulf.

Persian, Arabian, what’s the difference?
Well there’s a big difference. Despite what you might think, Persians are not Arabs. We don’t speak the same language. We have different cultures and history. We only happen to live more or less in the same region.

Saying we’re the same is like saying the English and the French are the same, or the Japanese and the Chinese are the same. You might think they look more or less the same, and they might have alphabet that sort of looks the same, or they might live in places that are similar, but they are not the same! And they probably don’t like it if you mistake them with each other.

Ok, whatever, why should I care?
Well you should care because somewhere on this planet there are millions of people who care. They care so much that they went as far as creating this page just to let you know they care! And they are not asking for anything unreasonable.

This is not a chauvinistic display of nationalism. Neither is it a historical dispute, as a matter of fact, this gulf has been

referred to as the Persian Gulf for thousands of years, even by Arab cartographers. So this is only about preserving historical and geographic  integrity.

Imagine if you have a lake in your country, which for thousands of years has been named lake X. If all of a sudden, your neighbors start calling it with a name they like, and change all their maps and books to accommodate that, without any justification, you wouldn't be too thrilled.

What's more is that the mere fact that a lot of people in your neighboring country are calling the lake by a new made-up name should not give any organization the right to change official and historic geographic names.

Such is the case with the Persian Gulf issue. The National Geographic has

decided to include the bogus term of Arabian Gulf on their atlas as an alternative to Persian Gulf. Not only that, they have also undermined Iranian sovereignty over three Iranian islands located in the Persian Gulf by identifying them as 'occupied by Iran'.

While there are two UN resolutions that  officially recognize the gulf as the Persian Gulf, National Geographic is in no position to alter officially recognized names, no matter how many people in Arab countries decide to call it otherwise. It's as absurd as Canadians calling US, Canada, and NG changing their maps to accommodate them.

So now that you know the story, you can impress people with your newly acquired knowledge and correct them if  they use the wrong term. It works with the ladies every time!