Fereydan

Fereydan (Persian: فریدن, Georgian: ფერეიდანი pereidani, Armenian: Փերիա P'eria) is a region of Isfahan Province, Iran.

Georgians in Fereydan

Main article: Georgians in Iran

The Fereydan Georgians (Georgian: ფერეიდნელები pereidnelebi) are an ethnographic group of the Georgian people who mostly live in the city of Fereydoon Shahr and in the Fereydan region of Iran.

Origins

During the Persian invasion of eastern Georgia by Shah Abbas in 1612, the region of Kakheti was devastated, and some of its population forced into exile. Upon the Shah's return to Persia, more than 300,000 ethnic Georgians from Kakheti were expelled to Isfahan province and the Fereydan county. Under the forced labor^{[citation needed]}, Georgians constructed bridges and organized the rehabilitation of the farmlands in the Fereydan valley.^{[citation needed]} Since the forced migration and islamisation, none of the Fereydan Georgians had any contacts with their motherland. However, they managed to maintain the Georgian language, which they call Phreidnuli (and is intelligible with East Georgian dialects). Today, Fereydan Georgians (5,000,000) are more than Georgians, which live in Georgia. (Less than 4,000,000).

Armenians in Fereydan

Main article: Iranian Armenians

Fereydan (or Peria) was and still partially populated by Armenians who were brought to this part of Iran by Shah Abbas of Safavid dynasty in 1603 and 1604, However the Armenian settlement in Fereydan dates back at no earlier than 1608.

The following is a list of villages inhabited by Armenians, which were part of Peria:

1. Boloran or Zarneh (still inhabited by Armenians)
2. Gharghon (still inhabited by Armenians)
3. Upper Khoygan (still inhabited by Armenians)
4. Singerd (still inhabited by Armenians)
5. Chigan
6. Drakhtak
7. Khong
8. Lower Khoygan
9. Millagerd
10. Namagerd
11. Sangbaran (BarfAnbar)
12. Shooreshkan
13. Savaran
14. Hazarjerib
15. Khoshgaleh
16. Hadan

Many Armenian villages are not totally deserted. From time to time they are visited by Fereydani Armenians who still possess properties there.

See also

• History of Armenia
• History of Georgia
• Bourvari
• Kakheti

References

• ARMENIAN COMMUNITY OF PERIA: 400 Years in the Making, by Jacklin Gharibian