Different tribes in Iran and diversity of races and cultures
Iran is a country at the juncture of Western Asia and Middle East. Iran borders seven other countries, including Afghanistan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey. It also borders the Gulf of Oman, the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. The country was known as Persia until 1935. Iran is a multi-ethnic nation with different ethnic groups that includes Persians, Kurds, Lurs, Arabs, Baluchs, Turkmen, Azeri, Mazandaranis, Gilaks, Talysh, Tats. The country enjoys a mix of cultures borrowed from far and wide. The many language spoken in Iran have similarities to European and Asian languages. Persian is the largest ethnic group in Iran. The ethnic group makes up more than half of the nationsʼ population, due to Persian dominance, the groupsʼ culture has had a significant impact on other cultures in the country.
The Persian Peoples are a collection of ethnic groups defined by their usage of Iranian languages and discernable descent from ancient Iranian peoples. The Iranian peoples live chiefly in the Middle East, Central Asia, the Caucasus, and parts of the Indian subcontinent, though speakers of Iranian languages were once found throughout Eurasia, from the Balkans to western China. As Iranian peoples are not confined to the borders of the current state of Iran, the term Iranic peoples is sometimes used as an alternative in order to avoid confusion with the citizens of modern Iran.
Living in northern Iran for the most part, along the border with Turkmenistan, Turkmen have lived for hundreds of years as a nomadic tribe. Today, they’re more rooted, with many living in permanent homes and tents, although some continue the nomadic tradition. Earthy tones dominate the traditional dress of both Turkmen men and women. Wearing long dresses with open robes, women often conceal part of their face with a cloth hanging just below the nose. Wool hats, worn to protect against cold weather, are the prominent feature of men’s dress.
The series of ethnic groups which comprise the Iranian peoples are traced to a branch of the ancient Indo-European Aryans known as the Iranians or Proto-Iranians. Some scant information about the way of life of these early people has been elucidated through archaeological finds in Russia, Central Asia and the Middle East. The Iranian peoples have played an important role throughout history: the Achaemenid Persians established the world’s first multi-national state, and the Scythian- Sarmatian nomads dominated the vast expanses of Russia and western Siberia for centuries and gave birth to the infamous Amazons.
The term Iranian is derived from Iran (lit: “Land of the Aryans”). The old Proto-Indo-Iranian term Arya, meaning “noble”, is believed to have been one of a series of self-referential terms used by the Aryans, at least in the areas populated by Aryans who migrated south from Central Asia and southern Russia. Their ancient homeland was referred to as Airyanem Vaejah and varied in its geographic range, sometimes referring to Fars (according to Eratosthenes), sometimes to the area around Herat, sometimes to the entire expanse of the Iranian plateau.
Having descended from the Aryans (Proto- Indo-Iranians), the ancient Iranian peoples separated from the Indo-Aryans,Nuristanis and Dards in the early 2nd millennium BCE. The Iranian languages form a sub-branch of the Indo-Iranian sub-family, which is a branch of the family of Indo-European languages. The Iranian peoples stem from early Proto-Iranians, themselves a branch of the Indo-Iranians, who are believed to have originated in either Central Asia or Afghanistan circa 1800 BCE.
Qashqai
Mainly from Turkic, Kurdish and Arabic origins, the Qashqai are a clan of nomadic tribespeople, some of whom still follow the ancient migration routes. Women are distinguished by their voluminous, multilayered, colourful skirts and long headscarves pinned under the chin, which allow loose strands of hair to frame their faces. The men wear collarless white shirts and long cloaks, secured around the middle by a cummerbund. Their round dogushi, or “two-eared” hats, are made of a sheep’s wool felt and are unique to the tribe.
The first mentioning by an Iranian tribe of their “Aryan” lineage is from an early inscription known as the Behistun Inscription, recording a proclamation by Darius I of Persia that he was of Aryan ancestry and that his language was an Aryan language. The inscription thus provides a link in the Iranian languages to the usage of the term Arya in early Indo-Aryan texts. These ancient Persians recognized three official languages ( Elamite, Babylonian, and Old Persian), which suggests a multicultural society.
Many of the cultural traits of the ancient Iranians were similar to other Proto-Indo-European societies. Like other Indo-Europeans, the early Iranians practiced ritual sacrifice, had a social hierarchy consisting of warriors, clerics, and farmers, and poetic hymns and sagas to recount their deeds. Following the Iranian split from the Indo-Iranians, the Iranians developed an increasingly distinct culture. It is surmised that the early Iranians intermarried with and assimilated local cultures over a long period of time, and thus a caste identity was never needed or created by the Iranians—in sharp contrast with the Indo-Aryans. Various common traits can be discerned amongst the Iranian peoples.
The Mazandarani people or Tabari people are an Iranian people whose homeland is the north of Iran ( Tabaristan ). They speak the Mazandarani language.
Qashqais
The Qashqais are the second largest Turkic group in Iran. The Qashqais are a confederation of several Turkic-speaking tribes that historically resided in Fars province. The Qashqai confederation emerged in the eighteenth century when Shiraz was the capital of the Zand dynasty.
Qahqais women are distinguished by their voluminous, multi-layered, colorful skirts and long headscarves pinned under the chin. Men round hats are made of sheep hair.
Lurs
Lurs from the fourth largest ethnic group in Iran. The traditional homeland of the Lur is the Zagros Mountain. In the central and southern Zagrous live the Bakhtiaris and the Lurs, two groups that speak Luri, a language closely related to Persian. They occupy Luristan, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Khuzestan, Isfahan, Fars, Bushehr and Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed provinces. the Luri language is Indo-European. The typical womensʼ traditional clothes of Luristan consists of Juma ( a long and without color dress ), Kolonja ( a lacing overcoat ), Saava ( silk shall that Lur women tie around their head ) and Golvani ( special scarf ). For men is shall ( for twisted around their waist ), Setra ( a cassock ), felt hats, Giva ( handmade shoes ) and Chugha.
Azeri
Azerbaijan, also known as Azeri, is a Turkis language that is closely related to Turkish and influenced by Persian and Arabic. By far the largest Turkic-speaking group are the Azerbaijan who account for over 85percent of all Turkic speakers in Iran. Major Azerbaijan cities include Tabriz, Urmia, Ardabil, Zanjan, Khoy and Maragheh. Azerbaijan inhabitants are among the most original and the oldest Iranian family namely Aryan race. They have kept all Iranian characteristics in Achaemenian, Arsacides and Sassanid dynasties and so far kept their ethnical nobility. The typical womensʼ traditional dress of Azerbaijan consists of under and outer garments and clothes for the upper and lower body bag-shaped cover ” veil ” and shutter for the face ” Ruband ” and a short jacket called ” Arkhalig ” with long sleeves were the important parts of the costume. for men is consists of an upper shirts, Arkhaluk ( close-fitting wear ), Chukha ( kind of upper menswear ) and wide trousers were made of woolen fabric.
Talysh
The Talysh are mostly live in the province of Gilan in north of Iran. They are indigenous to a region shared between Azerbaijan and Iran which spans the south Caucasus and the southwestern shore of the Caspian Sea.
Tats
The Tats of Iran centralized near the Alborz Mountain, especially in the south of Gazvin province. They speak the Tati language, consisting of a group of northwestern Iranian dialects closely related to the Talysh language.
The ancient Iranian peoples who emerged after the 1st millennium BCE include the Alans, the Bactrians, the Dahae, the Khwarazmians, the Massagetae, the Medes, the Parthians, the Persians, the Sagartians, the Sakas, the Sarmatians, the Scythians, the Sogdians, and likely the Cimmerians, among other Iranian-speaking peoples of Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Europe, and the Eastern Steppe.
| Ethnicity | region | population (millions) |
|---|---|---|
| Persian-speaking peoplesPersiansPersians of IraqAchomi people Ajam of BahrainAjam of KuwaitTajiksFarsiwanTats | Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, the Caucasus, Uzbekistan, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq | 72–85 |
| PashtunsSarbani (Durrani or Abdali, Yusufzai)Bettani (Ghilji and Lodi)Karlani | Afghanistan, Pakistan | 63 |
| Kurds, Zaza, Yazidis, Shabaks | Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Armenia, Israel, Lebanon, Georgia | 25-30 |
| Baluchs | Pakistan, Iran, Oman, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, UAE | 20–22 |
| Gilakis, MazanderanisAnd Semnani people | Iran | 5–10 |
| Lurs | Iran, Kuwait, and Oman | 6 |
| PamirisSariqoliShughniTajiks of ChinaWakhi | Tajikistan, Afghanistan, China (Xinjiang), Pakistan | 0.9 |
| TalyshTats | Azerbaijan, Iran | 1.5 |
| OssetiansDigorIronJasz | Georgia (South Ossetia), Russia (North Ossetia), Hungary | 0.7 |
| Yaghnobi | Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (Zerafshan region) | 0.025 |
| Kumzari | Oman (Musandam) | 0.021 |
| Zoroastrian groups in South AsiaParsiIrani | India, Pakistan | 0.075 |
Iranian peoples descended from two closely related West-Eurasian groups, specifically from “Neolithic Iranian farmers” and from “Yamnaya Steppe pastoralists”. Iranian peoples are characterized by forming a heterogeneous but closely related cluster consisting of Iranian-speaking subgroups. Recent population genomic studies found that the genetic structure of Iranian peoples formed already about 5,000 years ago and show high continuity since then, suggesting that they were largely unaffected by migration events from outside groups. Genetically speaking, Iranian peoples generally cluster closely with European peoples and other Middle Eastern peoples, however certain ethno-linguistic minority groups, such as Turkmens, are more distant and show evidence of recent admixture.
The term Persian, meaning “from Persia”, derives from Latin Persia, itself deriving from Greek Persís (Περσίς), a Hellenized form of Old PersianPārsa (𐎱𐎠𐎼𐎿), which evolves into Fārs (فارس) in modern Persian. In the Bible, particularly in the books of Daniel, Esther, Ezra, and Nehemya, it is given as Pārās (פָּרָס). There are several ethnic groups and communities that are either ethnically or linguistically related to the Persian people, living predominantly in Iran, and also within Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, the Caucasus, Turkey, Iraq, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.
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The women in the southern port town of Bandar Abbas and on the island of Qeshm are notable for their brightly coloured, floral chadors (a large piece of cloth covering the hair and upper body) and niqâb, face coverings that come in two types. The first gives the impression of thick eyebrows and a moustache from afar, a ruse used in the past to fool potential invaders into mistaking women for men. The other is a rectangular embroidered covering revealing only the eyes. Many women choose not to wear the niqâb today, but it’s part of a centuries-old tradition that helped protect the face from the wind, sand and scorching sun in these areas.
Recorded in history books as the once-mighty and prosperous empire of Persia, Iran in its pinnacle of glory was indeed the dome of the world. The largest ethnic minority in Iran are the Azerbaijanis. Every fifth inhabitant of Iran is an Azerbaijani. According to various estimates, about 17.5 million Azerbaijanis live in modern Iran, while in the most eponymous Caucasian country there are about 8 million. That is, two-thirds of Azerbaijanis live outside Azerbaijan.
Indigenous Peoples Literature 