Greater Iran (Persian: ایران بزرگ, Irān-e Bozorg), also referred to as Greater Persia (سرزمین پارس, Sarzamin-e Pārs), is a term used to refer to the regions of the Caucasus, West Asia, Central Asia, and parts of South Asia that has significant Iranian cultural influence due to having been either long historically ruled by the various Iranian (Persian) empires (such as those of the Medes, Achaemenids, Parthians, Sassanians, Samanids, Safavids, and Afsharids and the Qajar Empire), having considerable aspects of Persian culture due to extensive contact with the various Empires based in Persia (e.g., those regions and peoples in the North Caucasus that were not under direct Iranian rule), or are simply nowadays still inhabited by a significant amount of Iranic peoples who patronize their respective cultures (as it goes for the western parts of South Asia, Bahrain and China). It roughly corresponds to the territory on the Iranian plateau and its bordering plains. The Encyclopædia Iranica uses the term Iranian Cultural Continent for this region.