Historically, Iran has been referred to as ''Persia'' by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who referred to all of Iran as  (Ancient Greek: Περσίς; from Old Persian  ), meaning "land of the Persians", while Persis itself was one of the provinces of ancient Iran that is today known as Fars. As the most extensive interaction the ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, the term persisted, even long after the Greco-Persian Wars (499–449 BC).