an unknown", a committee was formed, led by noted scholar Ehsan Yarshater, to consider the issue again. They recommended a reversal of the 1935 decision, and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi approved this. However, the implementation of the proposal was weak, simply allowing Persia and Iran to be used interchangeably. Today, both terms are common; Persia mostly in historical and cultural contexts, "Iran" mostly in political contexts. In recent years most exhibitions of Persian history, culture and art in the world have used the exonym Persia (e.g., "Forgotten Empire; Ancient Persia", British Museum; "7000 Years of Persian Art", Vienna, Berlin; and "Persia; Thirty Centuries of Culture and Art", Amsterdam). In 2006, the largest collection of historical maps of Iran, entitled Historical Maps of Persia, was published in the Netherlands. Recent debate In the 1980s, Professor Ehsan Yarshater (editor of the Encyclopædia Iranica) started to publish articles on this matter (in both English and Persian) in Rahavard Quarterly, Pars Monthly, Iranian Studies Journal, etc. After him, a few Iranian scholars and researchers such as Prof. Kazem Abhary, and Prof. Jalal Matini followed the issue. Several times since then, Iranian magazines and websites have published articles from those who agree or disagree with usage of Persia and Persian in English. There are many Iranians in the West who prefer Persia and Persian as the English names for the country and nationality, similar to the usage of La Perse/persan in French. According to Hooman Majd, the popularity of the term Persia among the Iranian diaspora stems from the fact that Persia' connotes a glorious past they would like to be identified with, while 'Iran' since 1979 revolution… says nothing to the world but Islamic fundamentalism." Official names Since 1 April 1979, the official name of the Iranian state is Jomhuri-ye Eslâmi-ye Irân (), which is generally translated as the Islamic Republic of Iran in English. Other official names were Dowlat-e Aliyye-ye Irân () meaning the Sublime State of Persia and Kešvar-e Šâhanšâhi-ye Irân () meaning Imperial State of Persia and the Imperial State of Iran after 1935. See also Iran (word) Bibliography The History of the Idea of Iran, A. Shapur Shahbazi in Birth of the Persian Empire by V. S. Curtis and S. Stewart, 2005, Notes References External links Publication of General Maps of Persia (Iran) in The Netherlands at payvand.com The names of Iran in the course of history at hamshahrionline.ir Iran and