Persian

Persian has been the dominant language of Iranian lands and adjacent regions for over a millennium. From the tenth century onward it was the language of literary culture, as well as the lingua franca, in large parts of West, South and Central Asia until the mid-nineteenth century. It began with the political domination of these areas by Persian-speaking dynasties, first the Achaemenids (c. 558-330 BCE), then the Sasanids (224-651 CE) which resulted in the establishment of Persian-speaking colonies throughout the empire and beyond, which contributed to the spread of the politicalcultural complex and ideology constructed first under the Achaemenids, most importantly for the course of the development of Persian, in the northeast, i.e. in what is now Khorasan, northern Afghanistan and Central Asia. It is documented, for example, by the Middle Persian texts of the Manicheans found in the oasis city of Turfan in Chinese Turkistan (Sinkiang). This process led to increasing regionalisation.