   #copyright

Iranian peoples

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Peoples

   Iranian peoples
   Zarathustra - Darius the Great - Avicenna - Rumi
   Total population 152.7 - 205.2 million (estimates vary)
   Regions with significant populations Middle East, South Asia, Central
   Asia, Caucasus, and also dispersed across the world due to immigration
   Language Iranian languages
   Religion Predominately Muslim. Also some Christianity, Judaism,
   Zoroastrianism, Atheism, Bahá'í Faith, and varius others
   Faravahar is a prominent guardian spirit in Zoroastrianism and Iranian
   culture that is believed to be a depiction of a Fravashi.
   Enlarge
   Faravahar is a prominent guardian spirit in Zoroastrianism and Iranian
   culture that is believed to be a depiction of a Fravashi.

   The Iranian 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.

   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.
   In addition, the various religions of the Iranian peoples, including
   Zoroastrianism and Manichaeism, were important early philosophical
   influences on Judeo-Christianity. Early Iranian tribes were the
   precursors to many diverse modern peoples, including the Persians, the
   Kurds, the Pashtuns, and many other, smaller groups. The southern
   Iranian peoples survived Alexander the Great's conquests, Muslim Arab
   attempts at cultural dominance, and devastating assaults by the
   Mongols, whereas the Iranians of the north were largely assimilated by
   the Slavs and other European peoples.

Etymology and usage

   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
   ( Pliny's view), sometimes to the entire expanse of the Iranian plateau
   ( Strabo's designation).

   From a linguistic standpoint, the term Iranian peoples is similar in
   its usage to the term Germanic peoples, which includes various peoples
   who happen to speak Germanic languages such as German, English and
   Dutch, or the term Slavic peoples, which includes various speakers of
   Slavic languages including Russians, Bosniaks, and Serbs. Thus, along
   similar lines, the Iranian peoples include not only the Persians, or
   Tajiks, of Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, but also the Pashtuns,
   Kurds, Ossetians, Baloch, and a number of other groups. The academic
   usage of the term Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, is thus distinct
   from the state of Iran and its various citizens (who are all Iranian by
   nationality, and thus popularly referred to as Iranians), in the same
   way that Germanic peoples is distinct from Germans. Many citizens of
   Iran are not necessarily "Iranian peoples", by virtue of not being
   speakers of Iranian languages, and may not have discernable ties to
   ancient Iranian tribes.

History and settlement

          See also: History of Central Asia, History of the Middle East,
          History of Iran, History of the Kurds, History of Afghanistan,
          History of Tajikistan, History of Uzbekistan, History of
          Turkmenistan, History of Pakistan, History of India, and History
          of Azerbaijan

Roots

   The extent of the BMAC (after the EIEC).
   Enlarge
   The extent of the BMAC (after the EIEC).

   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. The Proto-Iranians are traced to the Bactria-Margiana
   Archaeological Complex, a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia. The area
   between northern Afghanistan and the Aral Sea is hypothesized to have
   been the region where the Proto-Iranians first emerged, following the
   separation of Indo-Iranians tribes.

   By the first millennium BCE, Ancient Iranian peoples such as the Medes,
   Persians, Bactrians and Parthians populated the Iranian plateau, while
   Iranian peoples such as the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans populated
   the steppes north of the Black Sea. The Saka and Scythian tribes
   remained mainly in the north, and spread as far west as the Balkans and
   as far east as Xinjiang. Later offshoots, related to the Scythians,
   included the Sarmatians, who vanished following Slavic and other
   invasions into southern Russia, the Ukraine, and the Balkans,
   presumably due to having been assimilated by other tribes.

   There are only scant references to these early Proto-Iranian invaders
   in the early writings of the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians. Two of
   the early offshoots of the Proto-Iranians are known: Avestan speakers
   in Afghanistan, and Old Persian speakers in Fars in southeastern Iran.
   The Avestan texts known as the Gathas are believed to have been written
   by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, while Old Persian appears
   to have been established in written form following the adoption of
   cuneiform from the Sumerians. The Yaz culture (ca. 1500-1100 BC) may
   mark the development of Eastern Iranian and the emergence of Avestan
   culture.

   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. It is not known to what extent other
   Proto-Iranian tribes referred to themselves as "Aryan", or if the term
   has the same meaning in other Old Iranian languages.

Western Iranians

   Geographical extent of Iranian influence in the 1st century BCE. The
   Parthian Empire (mostly Western Iranian) is shown in red, other areas,
   dominated by Scythia (mostly Eastern Iranian), in orange.
   Enlarge
   Geographical extent of Iranian influence in the 1st century BCE. The
   Parthian Empire (mostly Western Iranian) is shown in red, other areas,
   dominated by Scythia (mostly Eastern Iranian), in orange.

   The ancient Persians established themselves in the western portion of
   the Iranian plateau, and appear to have interacted considerably with
   the Elamites and Babylonians, while the Medes also intermingled with
   local Semitic peoples to the west. Remnants of the Median language and
   Old Persian show their common Proto-Iranian roots, emphasized in Strabo
   and Herodotus' analyses of their languages, which they believed to be
   very similar to the languages spoken by the Bactrians and Soghdians in
   the east. Following the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire, the
   Persian language spread from Fars to various regions of the empire,
   with the modern dialects of Iran, Afghanistan (also known as Dari) and
   Central-Asia (known as Tajiki) descending from Old Persian.

   The Avestans' main impact was religious and liturgical, as the early
   inhabitants of the Persian Empire appear to have adopted the religion
   of Zoroastrianism. The other prominent Iranian peoples, such as the
   Kurds, are surmised to stem from Iranic populations that mixed with
   Caucasian peoples such as the Hurrians, due to some unique qualities
   found in the Kurdish language that mirror those found in Caucasian
   languages. The Baloch relate an oral tradition regarding their
   migration from Aleppo, Syria around the year 1000 CE, whereas
   linguistic evidence links Balochi to Kurdish and Zazaki.

Eastern Iranians

   While the Iranian tribes of the south are better known through their
   modern counterparts, the tribes which remained largely in the vast
   Eurasian expanse are known through the references made to them by the
   ancient Greeks and Persians, as well as by archaeological finds. In the
   5th century BCE, Herodotus made references to a nomadic people whom he
   identifies as the Scythians and describes as having dwelt in what is
   today southern Russia.
   Scythian Horseman, Pazyryk felt artifact, c. 300 BCE.
   Enlarge
   Scythian Horseman, Pazyryk felt artifact, c. 300 BCE.

   It is believed that these Scythians were conquered by their eastern
   cousins, the Sarmatians, who are mentioned by Strabo as the dominant
   tribe which controlled the southern Russian steppe by the 1st
   millennium CE. These Sarmatians were also known to the Romans, who
   conquered the western tribes in the Balkans and sent Sarmatian
   conscripts, as part of Roman legions, as far west as Roman Britain.
   Some tribes of Sarmatians are also identified as the Amazons of Greek
   legend, warrior women believed to have lived in a matrilineal society
   in which both men and women took part in war, and whose existence has
   been supported by recently-uncovered archaeological and genetic
   evidence.

   The Sarmatians of the east became the Alans, who also ventured far and
   wide, with a branch ending up in Western Europe and North Africa, as
   they accompanied the Germanic Vandals during their migrations. The
   modern Ossetians are believed to be the sole direct descendants of the
   Alans, as other remnants of the Alans disappeared following Germanic,
   Hunnic, and ultimately Slavic invasions.

   Some of the Saka-Scythian tribes in Central Asia would later move
   further south and invade the Iranian plateau and northwestern India
   (see Indo-Scythians). Another Iranian tribe related to the
   Saka-Scythians were the Parni in Central Asia, a tribe that pressured,
   and ultimately overthrew, the rule of the Greek Seleucids in Persia.
   The Parni replaced the Seleucids as the Parthians, a dynasty that ruled
   Persia during the early centuries of the 1st millennium CE and became
   the main rival of the Roman Empire in the east. It is surmised that
   many Iranian tribes, including the Khwarezmians, Massagetae and
   Sogdians, were assimilated and/or pushed out of Central Asia by the
   migrations of Turkic tribes emanating out of Siberia.

   The most dominant surviving Eastern Iranians are represented by the
   Pashtuns, whose origins are generally believed to be in southern
   Afghanistan, from which they began to spread until they reached as far
   west as Herat and as far east as the Indus. The Pashto language shows
   affinities to Bactrian, as both languages are believed to be of Middle
   Iranian origin. The modern Ossetians claim to be the descendants of the
   Alano-Sarmatians, and their claims are supported by their Northeast
   Iranian language, while culturally the Ossetians resemble their
   Caucasian neighbors, the Kabardians, Circassians and Georgians. Various
   extinct Iranian peoples existed in the eastern Caucasus, including the
   Azaris, while some Iranian peoples remain in the region, including the
   Talysh and the Tats (including the Judeo-Tats, who have relocated to
   Israel), found in Azerbaijan and as far north as the Russian republic
   of Dagestan.

Later developments

   In ancient times, the majority of southern Iranian peoples became
   adherents of Zoroastrianism, Buddhism (in parts of Afghanistan and
   Central Asia), Judaism and Nestorian Christianity (largely amongst the
   Kurds and Persians living in Iraq). The Ossetians would later adopt
   Christianity as well, with Russian Orthodoxy becoming dominant
   following their annexation into the Russian Empire, while some
   converted to Islam due to the influence of the Ottomans.
   A statue of Saladin "king of Egypt" at the Damascus citadel.
   Enlarge
   A statue of Saladin "king of Egypt" at the Damascus citadel.

   Starting with the reign of Omar in 634 CE, Muslim Arabs began a
   conquest of the Iranian plateau. The Arabs conquered the Sassanid
   Empire of the Persians and seized much of the Byzantine Empire
   populated by the Kurds and others. Ultimately, the various Iranian
   peoples, including the Persians, Kurds and Pashtuns, were converted to
   Islam. The Iranian peoples would later split along sectarian lines as
   the Persians (and later the Hazara) adopted the Shi'a sect, while the
   majority of other Iranian peoples remained adherents of Sunni Islam. As
   ancient tribes and identities changed, so did the Iranian peoples, many
   of whom assimilated foreign cultures and peoples.

   Later, during the 2nd millennium CE, the Iranian peoples would play a
   prominent role during the age of Islamic expansion and empire. Saladin,
   a noted adversary of the Crusaders, was an ethnic Kurd, while various
   empires centered in Iran (including the Safavids) re-established a
   modern dialect of Persian as the official language spoken throughout
   much of what is today Iran and adjacent parts of Central Asia. Iranian
   influence spread to the Ottoman Empire, where Persian was often spoken
   at court, as well as in the Mughal Empire, which began in Afghanistan
   and shifted to India. All of the major Iranian peoples reasserted their
   use of Iranian languages following the decline of Arab rule, but would
   not begin to form modern national identities until the 19th and early
   20th centuries (just as Germans and Italians were beginning to
   formulate national identities of their own).

Demographics

   Geographic distribution of the Iranian languages: Persian (green),
   Pashto (purple), and Kurdish (turquoise), as well as smaller
   communities of other Iranian languages
   Enlarge
   Geographic distribution of the Iranian languages: Persian (green),
   Pashto (purple), and Kurdish (turquoise), as well as smaller
   communities of other Iranian languages

   There are an estimated 150 million native speakers of Iranian
   languages. Currently, most of these Iranian peoples live in Iran,
   Afghanistan, Tajikistan, western-Pakistan, parts of Uzbekistan
   (especially Samarkand and Bukhara), the Caucasus ( Ossetia and
   Azerbaijan), and the Kurdish areas (referred to as Kurdistan) of
   Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. Smaller groups of Iranian peoples can
   also be found in western China, India and Israel.

   Due to recent migrations, there are also large communities of speakers
   of Iranian languages in Europe and the Americas.

Diversity

   It is largely through linguistic similarities that the Iranian peoples
   have been linked, as many non-Iranian peoples have adopted Iranian
   languages and cultures. However, other common traits have been
   identified as well, and a stream of common historical events have often
   linked the southern Iranian peoples, including Hellenistic conquests,
   the various empires based in Persia, Arab Caliphates, and Turkic
   invasions.

   Although most of the Iranian peoples settled in the Iranian plateau
   region, many expanded into the periphery, ranging from the Caucasus and
   Turkey to the Indus and western China. The Iranian peoples have often
   mingled with other populations, with the notable example being the
   Hazaras, who display a distinct Turkic- Mongol background that
   contrasts with most other Iranian peoples. Similarly, the Baloch have
   mingled with the Dravidian-speaking Brahui (who have been strongly
   modified by Iranian invaders themselves), while the Ossetians have
   invariably mixed with Georgians and other Caucasian peoples. Moreover,
   the Kurds are an eclectic Iranian people who, although displaying some
   ethnolinguistic ties to other Iranian peoples (in particular their
   Iranian language, and some cultural traits), are believed to have mixed
   with Caucasian and Semitic peoples. Modern Persians themselves are also
   a heterogeneous group of peoples descended from various ancient Iranian
   and indigenous peoples of the Iranian plateau, including the Elamites.
   Thus, not unlike the aforementioned example of Germanic peoples
   including the English, who are both of Germanic and Celtic origin,
   Iranians are an ethno-linguistic group, and the Iranian peoples display
   varying degrees of common ancestry and cultural traits that denote
   their respective identities.

Culture and assimilation

   Iranian model displaying traditional attire.
   Enlarge
   Iranian model displaying traditional attire.

   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. For
   example, the social event Norouz is an Iranian festival that is
   practiced by nearly all of the Iranian peoples as well as others in the
   region. Its origins are traced to Zoroastrianism and pre-historic
   times.

   Some Iranian peoples exhibit distinct traits that are unique unto
   themselves. The Pashtuns adhere to a code of honour and culture known
   as Pashtunwali, which has a similar counterpart amongst the Baloch,
   called Mayar, that is more hierarchical.

Religion

   Mazari Sharif's Blue Mosque in Afghanistan is a structure of cobalt
   blue and turquoise minarets, attracting visitors and pilgrims from all
   over the world. Many such Muslim architectural monuments can be
   attributed to the efforts of the Iranian peoples who are predominantly
   followers of Islam today.
   Enlarge
   Mazari Sharif's Blue Mosque in Afghanistan is a structure of cobalt
   blue and turquoise minarets, attracting visitors and pilgrims from all
   over the world. Many such Muslim architectural monuments can be
   attributed to the efforts of the Iranian peoples who are predominantly
   followers of Islam today.

   The early Iranian peoples may have worshipped various deities found
   throughout other cultures where Indo-European invaders established
   themselves. The earliest major religion of the Iranian peoples was
   Zoroastrianism, which spread to nearly all of the Iranian peoples
   living in the Iranian plateau.

   Modern speakers of Iranian languages mainly follow Islam. Some follow
   Judaism, Christianity and the Bahá'í Faith, with an unknown number
   showing no religious affiliation. Of the Muslim Iranian peoples, the
   majority overall are followers of the Sunni sect of Islam, while most
   Persians and Hazaras are Shi'a. Shi'a Islam and Sufism in Iran are both
   thought to be affected by Persianism. The Christian community is
   largely represented by the Russian Orthodox denomination, followed by
   Ossetians and Nestorians. Judaism is followed mainly by Persian Jews,
   Jews of Afghanistan, Kurdish Jews, and Mountain Jews (of the Caucasus),
   most of which are now found in Israel. The historical religion of the
   Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism and it has some followers. They are
   known as the Parsis in India, or Zoroastrians in Iran and Pakistan.

Iranian influence upon Turkic peoples

   In matters relating to culture, the various Turkic-speaking minorities
   of Iran (notably the Azerbaijani people) and Afghanistan ( Uzbeks and
   Turkmen) are often conversant in Iranian languages, in addition to
   their own Turkic languages, and also have Iranian culture to the extent
   that the term Turko-Iranian can be applied. The usage applies to
   various circumstances that involve historic interaction, intermarriage,
   cultural assimilation, bilingualism, and cultural overlap or
   commonalities.

   Notable amongst this synthesis of Turko-Iranian culture are the Azeris,
   whose culture, religion, and significant periods of history are linked
   to the Persians. Certain theories and genetic tests suggest that the
   Azeris are descendants of ancient Iranian peoples who lost their
   Iranian language (see Ancient Azari language) following the Turkic
   invasions of Azerbaijan in the 11th century CE. In fact, throughout
   much of the expanse of Central Asia and the Middle East, Iranian and
   Turkic culture has merged in many cases to form various hybrid
   populations and cultures, as evident from various ruling dynasties such
   as the Ghaznavids, Saljuqs, and Mughals.

   Iranian cultural influences have also been significant in Central Asia,
   where Turkic invaders are believed to have largely mixed with native
   Iranian peoples of which only the Tajik remain, in terms of language
   usage. The areas of the former Soviet Union adjacent to Iran,
   Afghanistan, and the Kurdish areas (such as Azerbaijan and Uzbekistan)
   have gone through the prism of decades of Russian and Soviet rule that
   has reshaped the Turko-Iranian cultures there to some degree.

Genetics

   Genetic testing of Iranian peoples has revealed many common genes for
   most of the Iranian peoples, but with numerous exceptions and regional
   variations. Genetic studies conducted by Cavalli-Sforza have revealed
   that Iranians cluster closely with European groups and more distantly
   from Near Eastern groups. Some of the common genetic markers may stem
   from the ancient Proto-Iranians and parallel the spread of Iranian
   languages, which may have also been adopted through a process of
   assimilation by indigenous peoples and thus account for the diversity
   found amongst the Iranian peoples. Nonetheless, preliminary genetic
   tests suggest common origins for most of the Iranian peoples:


   Iranian peoples

   Populations located west of the Indus basin, including those from Iran,
   Anatolia and the Caucasus, exhibit a common mtDNA lineage composition,
     consisting mainly of western Eurasian lineages, with a very limited
   contribution from South Asia and eastern Eurasia (fig. 1). Indeed, the
    different Iranian populations show a striking degree of homogeneity.
    This is revealed not only by the nonsignificant FST values and the PC
    plot (fig. 6) but also by the SAMOVA results, in which a significant
   genetic barrier separates populations west of Pakistan from those east
    and north of the Indus Valley (results not shown). These observations
     suggest either a common origin of modern Iranian populations and/or
                 extensive levels of gene flow amongst them.


   Iranian peoples

   Basically, the findings of this study reveal many common genetic
   markers found amongst the Iranian peoples from the Tigris to the areas
   west of the Indus. This correlates with the Iranian languages spoken
   from the Caucasus to Kurdish areas in the Zagros region and eastwards
   to western Pakistan and Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan in Central
   Asia. The extensive gene flow is perhaps an indication of the spread of
   Iranian-speaking peoples, whose languages are now spoken mainly upon
   the Iranian plateau and adjacent regions. These results relate the
   relationships of Iranian peoples with each other, while other
   comparative testing reveals some varied origins for Iranian peoples
   such as the Kurds, who show genetic ties to the Caucasus at
   considerably higher levels than any other Iranian peoples except the
   Ossetians, as well as links to Europe and Semitic populations that live
   in close proximity such as Jews and Arabs.

   According to a recent study, the ancestors of the Kurds were from an
   old Mediterranean substratum, i.e. Hurrian and Hittite groups.
   According to this study the Aryan ancestry of the Kurds and other
   Iranian-speaking populations in Anatolia is not supported by genetic
   analyses.

   Another recent study of the genetic landscape of Iran was completed by
   a team of Cambridge geneticists led by Dr. Maziar Ashrafian Bonab (an
   Iranian Azarbaijani). Bonab remarked that his group had done extensive
   DNA testing on different language groups, including Indo-European and
   non Indo-European speakers, in Iran. The study found that the
   Azerbaijanis of Iran do not have a similar FSt and other genetic
   markers found in Anatolian and European Turks. However, the genetic Fst
   and other genetic traits like MRca and mtDNA of Iranian Azeris were
   identical to Persians in Iran.

   Ultimately, genetic tests reveal that while the Iranian peoples show
   numerous common genetic markers overall, there are also indications of
   interaction with other groups, regional variations, and cases of
   genetic drift. In addition, indigenous populations may have survived
   the waves of early Aryan invasions as cultural assimilation led to
   large-scale language replacement (as with some Kurds, Hazaras and
   others). Further testing will ultimately be required and may further
   elucidate the relationship of the Iranian peoples with each other and
   various neighboring populations.

List of Iranian peoples

   Speakers of Iranian languages in modern times include:
     * Bakhtiaris
     * Baloch
     * Gilanis
     * Hazara
     * Kurds
     * Laks
     * Lurs
     * Mazanderanis ( Taberians)
     * Ossetians
     * Pashtuns
     * Persians

          + Tajiks
          + Farsiwans
          + Tats
          + Irani
          + Parsis

     * Talyshi
     * Wakhi
     * Zazas

   Note: Azeris are, due to historical ties with various ancient Iranians
   and their cultural ties with Persians, sometimes included as an Iranian
   people, although the modern Azerbaijani language is a Turkic language
   and the issue remains debated. (See Origin of Azerbaijani people and
   the Iranian Theory Regarding Azeri's for more details) The origin of
   South Slavic Serbs, Croats, and Bulgarians is sometimes also connected
   with Iranian peoples (see also: Theories on the origin of Serbs).

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_peoples"
   This reference article is mainly selected from the English Wikipedia
   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
   of authors and sources) and is available under the GNU Free
   Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.
