Frangistan  

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"The Persian “sages” inform us, in their wisdom, that “Frangistan” is a large country, governed by several kings, and consisting of various tribes, which shave their chins, wear hats and tight clothes, drink wine, eat pork, worship images, and do not believe in Mohammed."--The Modern History and Condition of Egypt (1843) by William Holt Yates


"I ask you to pray for my safe return from this land of infidels, for I have come as far as Paris, but I have not yet seen the Frangistan that people speak of and praise; in what Europe these wonderful things and these wise Franks are to be found, I do not know."--letter of a Turkish ambassador, cited both in A Middle East Mosaic and The Muslim Discovery of Europe by Bernard Lewis

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Frangistan was a term used by Muslims and Persians in particular, during the Middle Ages and later historical periods to refer to Western or Latin Europe.

Frangistan literally means "Land of the Franks", from Farang which is the Persianized form of Frank plus the suffix -istan coming from the Persian language. During the Crusades, the Muslims of the Middle East came to call all Christendom Franks, originally the name for inhabitants of the largest of the Christian realms in Europe, Francia, which gave its name to the Kingdom of France (although its eastern parts came to be known as the Holy Roman Empire).

As the Franks (French) formed a substantial part of the force of the First Crusade, and Old French became the dominant language in the crusader states of the 12th century (notably the Principality of Antioch), the term Frank as used in the Levant could mean any Western European Christian (whether Frankish, Saxon, Flemish, etc.). Frangistan was not a clearly defined area and may have referred to any land perceived to be Christian by contemporary Muslims.

In a similar way, Greek Christians were "Rumis", named for Rûm (derived from "Rome", i.e. the Byzantine Empire). Conversely, Christians generally called Muslims Saracens or Moors, both after the names of more localized tribes, in Arabia and Mauretania, respectively.

The term Frangistan was still in use in the time of the Ottoman Empire, in sources as late as the 17th century. While in Persia, it remained in use until the end of the Qajar dynasty as observed in various correspondences and administrative documents of that era to refer to European countries. In Hindi in present-day India, all Europeans in general are still referred to as Firang.

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Unless indicated otherwise, the text in this article is either based on Wikipedia article "Frangistan" or another language Wikipedia page thereof used under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License; or on research by Jahsonic and friends. See Art and Popular Culture's copyright notice.

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