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( Kurdistan)
Kurdistan (Kurdish ????????/Kurdistan, literally meaning "the land of Kurds",[3] formerly Curdia[4], Curdistan[5][6] Coordistan) is an extensive plateau and mountainous area in the Middle East, inhabited mainly by Kurds. It covers parts of eastern Turkey, northern Iraq, northwestern Iran and smaller parts of northern Syria and Armenia.[7] It roughly encompasses the Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.[8] From a political standpoint, Iraqi Kurdistan is the only region which has gained official recognition internationally as an autonomous federal entity.[9] The Median tribes tribes settled in the Zagros around 800 BC. Various groups; among them the Guti, Mannai (Mannaeans), Hurrian had lived in this region in antiquity[10] The original Mannaean homeland was situated east and south of the Lake Urmia, roughly centered around modern-day Mahabad.[11] The Medes came under Persian rule during the reign of Cyrus the Great and Darius. Centuries later, Kurdish-inhabited areas in the Middle East witnessed the clash of the two competing super powers of those times, namely the Sassanid Empire and the Roman Empire. At the peak of its power, the Roman Empire ruled large Kurdish-inhabited areas, particularly the western and northern Kurdish areas in the Middle East. Kingdoms like Corduene were vassal states of the Roman Empire. Some 19th century historians identified Corduene?, an ancient kingdom located in the mountains south and south-east of Lake Van between Persia and Mesopotamia and inhabited, according to Xenophon, by the Carduchi, as being inhabited by Kurds due to the similarity of the name Carduchi to Kurd. [12] Modern historians have dismissed this identification as false, [13] however, the identification is still mentioned in many general works. [14]
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