The first presence of Sikhs to Iran began in the 1900, when both Sikh business people as well as Sikh troops in the British military during its occupation of Iran. The primary target of Sikh immigration was initially the hamlet of Zahedan, near the border with then British India (now Pakistan) during the 1920s when the Trans-Iranian Railway project was started. According to a folk etymology it is believed that when Reza Shah visited the city he saw Sikhs in white robes living there and thus changed the name from "Dozdab" (Land of thieves) to "Zahedan" (plural of the persian word (), meaning 'pious') after the Sikhs who were considered zâhid (Sages) by him.