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This article is about the Central Asian Persians known as Tajiks. Refer also to Persian people.
Tajiks
(تاجک Тоҷик)
Total population
ca. 18 to 26 million
Regions with significant populations
 Afghanistan
        (varying estimates)		8,600,000
11,000,000[1]
[2]
 Tajikistan5,849,331[3]
 Uzbekistan
        (suggestive estimates)		1,400,000
6-7,000,000[4]
[5]
 Pakistan1,220,000[6]
 Iran500,000[7]
 Russia120,000[8]
 Germany90,000[9]
 Qatar87,000
 United States52,000[10]
 Kyrgyzstan47,500[11]
 China41,083[12]
 Canada15,870
[13]
Languages
Persian
varieties of Dari and Tajiki
Religion
Islam (predominantly Sunni (Hanafi), with Shi'a (Twelver and Ismaili) minorities)

Tajik (Template:PerB Tājīk; UniPers: Tâjik; Tajik: Тоҷик; Russian: Таджики) is a genaral designation for a wide range of Persian-speaking peoples[14] with traditional homelands in present-day Tajikistan, Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, large refugee populations can also be found in both Iran and Pakistan.[15]

Alternative names include Fārsī (Persian), Fārsīwān (Persian-speaking), and Dīhgān or Dehqān (cf. [Деҳқон, Dehqon] Error: {{Lang-xx}}: text has italic markup (help), literally "peasant", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic").[16]

As a self-designation, the term Tajik, which earlier on had been more or less pejorative, has become acceptable only during the last decades, particularly as a result of Soviet colonial administration in Central Asia.[14]

History

Main articles: Iranian peoples, Persian people, Farsiwan, and Persian language

Like all Iranic peoples, and also the Indic, Dard, and Nuristani peoples, the Tajiks trace their origins to the ancient Aryan nomads[17] who settled in Central Asia as early as 4000 years ago.

The Tajiks trace their more immediate ancestry to the East Iranian-speaking Sogdians, which means that the historical ancestors of the Tajiks did not speak Persian - the southwestern Iranian language, today known as 'Farsi' in Iran and Afghanistan. The 'Tajiks' adoption of the now dominant southwestern branch Persian language is believed to have as its root cause, the Islamic conquest of Central Asia by Arabs and Turks. This conquest sent large numbers of Persians fleeing into Central Asia. Subsequently, many Persians, after conversion to Islam, entered Central Asia as military forces and settled in the conquered lands. As a result of these waves of Persian migration over the course of more than 200 years, the Tajiks have ethnic Persian ancestry in addition to their original East-Iranian and Turk ancestry. Cultural dissemination through Persian literature also helped to establish the new language, as well as intermittent military dominance. According to Iranologist Richard Nelson Frye, the Persian migration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the "modern" Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians along with East-Iranians, as the main ancestors of "modern" Tajiks.[18]

The geographical division between the eastern and western Iranians is often considered historically and currently to be the desert Dasht-e Kavir, situated in the center of the Iranian plateau.

Origin of the term

"Tājik" is a word of Turko-Mongol[19] origin and means (literally) Non-Turk[20]. The 17th century Persian dictionary Farhang Burhan Qati' (فرهنگ برهان قاطع) by Muhammad Husayn ibn Khalaf Tabrizi also defines it as "non-Arab" and "non-Turk". It has the same root[21] as the word Tat which is used by Turkic-speakers for the Persian-speaking population of the Caucasus. In a historical context, it is synonymous with Iranian[22] and particularly with Persian. Since the Turko-Mongol conquest of Central Asia, Persian-speakers in Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, Iran and all the way to Pakistan and Kashmir have been identified as Tājiks[citation needed]. The term is mainly used as opposed to "Turk" and "Mongol".

History of the name

First mentioned by the Uyghur historian Mahmoud Al-Kāshgharī, Tājik is an old Turkic expression referring to all Persian-speaking peoples of Central Asia. From the 11th century on, it came to be applied principally to all East-Iranians, and later specifically to Persian-speakers.[22] It is hard to establish the use of the word before the Turkic- and Mongol conquest of Central Asia, and since at least the 15th century it has been used by the region's Iranian population to distinguish themselves from the Turks. Persians in modern Iran who live in the Turkic-speaking areas of the country, also call themselves Tājik, something remarked upon in the 15th century by the poet Mīr Alī Šer Navā'ī.[23] In addition, Tibetans call all Persian-speakers (including those in Iran) Tājik.

The word "Tājik" in medieval literature

The word Tājik is extensively used in Persian literature and poetry, always as a synonym for Persian. The Persian poet Sa'adi, for example, writes:

شاید که به پادشه بگویند

ترک تو بریخت خون تاجیک

It's appropriate to tell the King,

Your Turk shed the blood of Tājik

It is clear that he, too, uses the word as opposed to Turk. The oldest known reference of this usage of the word Tajik in Persian literature, however, can be found in the writings of Djalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, himself being an Persian-speaker - and thus a "Tājik" - from present-day Afghanistan.[24]

Alternative names

Main article: Sart

As an alternative, the term Sart was also used as a synonym for Tājik and Persian in the medieval - post Genghis Khan - period. Turkic people named by this word the local Persian-speaking population. However, the term was abolished by the Soviet government of the Central Asian states.

Location

A Tajik guitar player wearing a traditional hat

The Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of Tajikistan, as well as in northern and western Afghanistan.

Afghanistan

Main article: Demography of Afghanistan

Tajiks comprise between 27-34% of the population of Afghanistan.[1][25] They predominate four of the largest cities in Afghanistan (Kabul, Mazar-e Sharif, Herat, and Ghazni) and the northern and western provinces of Balkh, Parwan, Kapisa, Panjshir, Baghlan, Takhar and Ghor, large parts of Konduz Province, and they predominate in the city of Herat and large parts of Farah Province.

In Afghanistan, the Tajiks do not self-identify as Tajik, and refer to themselves by their region, province, city, town, or village they are from; such as Badakhshani, Baghlani, Mazari, Panjsheri, Kabuli, Herati, etc.[26]

Tajikistan

Main article: Demographics of Tajikistan

Today, Tajiks comprise around 79.9% of the population of Tajikistan.[3]

Uzbekistan

Main article: Demographics of Uzbekistan
A view of the Registan architectural monuments in Samarkand. Although the second largest city of Uzbekistan, it is predominantly a Tajik populated city, along with Bukhara

In Uzbekistan the Tajiks are the largest part of the population of the ancient cities of Bukhara and Samarqand, and are found in large numbers in the Surxondaryo Province in the south and along Uzbekistan's eastern border with Tajikistan. According to official statistics (2000), Surxondaryo Province accounts for 20.4% of all Tajiks in Uzbekistan, with another 24.3% in Samarqand and Bukhara provinces.[27]

Official statistics in Uzbekistan state that the Tajik community comprises 5% of the nation's total population.[4] However, these numbers do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms.[28] During the Soviet "Uzbekization"[when?] supervised by Sharof Rashidov, the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave the republic for the less developed agricultural and mountainous Tajikistan.[29] It is only in the last population census (1989) that the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely declared on the basis of the respondent's ethnic self-identification.[30] This had the effect of increasing the Tajik population in Uzbekistan from 3.9% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989. Subjective expert estimates suggest that Tajiks may make up 20%- 30% of Uzbekistan's population.[5][31]

Kazakhstan

Main article: Demographics of Kazakhstan

According to the 1999 population census, there were 26,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan (0.17% of the total population), about the same number as in the 1989 census.

Kyrgyzstan

Main article: Demographics of Kyrgyzstan

According to official statistics, there were about 47,500 Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan in 2007 (0.9% of the total population), up from 42,600 in the 1999 census and 33,500 in the 1989 census.

Turkmenistan

Main article: Demographics of Turkmenistan

According to the last Soviet census in 1989, there were 3,149 Tajiks in Tukrmenistan, or less than 0.1% of the total population of 3.5 million at that time. The first population census of independent Turkmenistan conducted in 1995 showed 3,103 Tajiks in a population of 4.4 million (0.07%), most of them (1,922) concentrated in the eastern provinces of Lebap and Mary adjoining the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.[32]

Russia

The population of Tajiks in Russia is 120,000 according to the 2002 census, up from 38,000 in the last Soviet census of 1989.[8] Most Tajiks came to Russia after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

Physical characteristics

Children in Tajikistan

On the whole, Tajiks are a genetically eclectic population, displaying a wide range of phenotypes.[26] Physically, many resemble the Mediterranean-Caucasian stock,[26] whereas the Tajiks in Central Asia also show a Turko-Mongol admixture.

The government of Afghanistan officially distinguishes Tajiks from the Farsiwan and other Persian subgroups, such as Chahar Aimak or Hazara, usually due to physical appearance or religion.

Culture

Language

Main articles: Tajik language and Persian language

The language of the Tajiks, as of their Persian brothers in Iran, is Persian, also called Parsi-e Darbari (Persian of royal courts/Language of royal court). The cyrillic variety written in Tajikistan is called Tajiki. Persian is an Indo-European language that is part of the Iranian language group. Tajiks speak an eastern dialect of Persian, historically called Dari or also Parsi-e Khorasani (see also the Persian population of eastern Iran´s dialect). Historically, it was considered the local dialect of Persian spoken by the Tajik/Persian ethnic group in Central Asia, from where it spread westward only to drive the Arabic language out as the mothertongue of ethnic Persians. In Afghanistan, unlike in Tajikistan, Tajiks continue to use the Perso-Arabic script as well as in Iran. However, when the Soviet Union introduced the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, the Persian dialect of Tajikistan came to be considered a separate (Persian) language. This dialect remains greatly influenced by Russian for historical reasons.

A transcribed Tajik text can, in general, be easily read and understood by Persians outside Tajikistan, and vice versa, and both groups can converse with each other. The languages of the Persians of Iran and of the Tajiks of central Asia have a common origin. This is underscored by the Tajiks' claim to such famous writers as Omar Khayyám, Firdausi, Anwari, Rumi, other famous Persian poets. Russian is widely used in government and business in Tajikistan as well, but the government of Tajikistan is trying to replace it gradually with full Persian.

Religion

Mazar i Sharif's Blue Mosque in Afghanistan. Many such architectural monuments can be attributed to the efforts of the Tajik peoples who are predominantly followers of Islam today.

The great majority of Tajiks follow the Sunni Islam, although small Twelver and Ismaili Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Some of Sunni's famous scholars were from East-Iranian regions and therefore can arguably viewed as Tajik. They include Abu Hanifa, Al-Ghazali, Tirmidhi, Abu Dawood, and Imam Bukhari amongst many others.

In Afghanistan, Tajiks who follow Twelver Shiism are called Farsiwan[citation needed]. Additionally, small Tajik Jewish communities (known as Bukharian Jews) have existed since ancient times in the cities of Bukhara, Samarqand, Dushanbe, and other Tajik populated centers.[33] Over the 20th century, the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to Israel and the United States. Most of these Jewish emigrants have negative views towards Tajikistan especially because of the destruction of the Dushanbe synagogue.

Recent developments

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Afghanistan both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region. For instance, the President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, dropped the Russian suffix "-ov" from his surname and directed others to adopt Tajik names when registering births.[34] In an interview to Iranian news media in May 2008, Tajikistan's deputy culture minister said Tajikistan would study the issue of switching its Tajik alphabet from Cyrillic to Persian script used in Iran and Afghanistan when the government feels that "the Tajik people became familiar with the Persian alphabet".[35]

See also

Notes and references

  1. ^ a b "Afghanistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. December 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  2. ^ Dupree, L. "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy". In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online Edition ed.). United States: Columbia University. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Unknown parameter |accessmonthday= ignored (help); Unknown parameter |accessyear= ignored (|access-date= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ a b "Tajikistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. December 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ a b "Uzbekistan". The World Factbook. Central Intelligence Agency. December 13, 2007. Retrieved 2007-12-26. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ^ a b Richard Foltz, "The Tajiks of Uzbekistan", Central Asian Survey, 15(2), 213-216 (1996).
  6. ^ There are 1,000,000 Persian-speakers native to Pakistan and 220,000 Tajik war-refugees from Afghanistan remain in Pakistan. Ethnologue.com's entry for Languages of Pakistan. Census of Afghans in Pakistan.
  7. ^ UN Refugee Agency: about 50% of the total number of Afghan refugees in Iran in 2006 (920,000)
  8. ^ a b 2002 Russian census
  9. ^ GTZ: Migration and development – Afghans in Germany: estimate for Tajiks based on total of 100,000 Afghans in Germany.
  10. ^ This figure only includes Tajiks from Afghanistan. The population of people from Afghanistan the United States is estimated as 80,414 (2005). Of this number, 33% are estimated Tajiks. "US demographic census". Retrieved 2008-01-23.. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help) Robson, Barbara and Lipson, Juliene (2002) "Chapter 5(B)- The People: The Tajiks and Other Dari-Speaking Groups" The Afghans - their history and culture Cultural Orientation Resource Center, Center for Applied Linguistics, Washington, D.C., [http://worldcat.org/oclc/56081073 OCLC 56081073.
  11. ^ Ethnic composition of the population in Kyrgyzstan 1999-2007
  12. ^ "The Tajik ethnic minority". China.org.cn. Retrieved 2007-12-10.
  13. ^ This figure only includes Tajiks from Afghanistan. The population of people with descent from Afghanistan in Canada is 48,090 according to Canada's 2006 Census. Tajiks make up an estimated 33% of the population of Afghanistan. The Tajik population in Canada is estimated form these two figures. Ethnic origins, 2006 counts, for Canada.
  14. ^ a b C.E. Bosworth, B.G. Fragner (1999). "TĀDJĪK". Encyclopaedia of Islam (CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0 ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  15. ^ Afghan refugees in Iran and Pakistan
  16. ^ M. Longworth Dames, G. Morgenstierne, and R. Ghirshman (1999). "AFGHĀNISTĀN". Encyclopaedia of Islam (CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0 ed.). Leiden, The Netherlands: Koninklijke Brill NV. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  17. ^ Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress (1996). "Tajikistan - Ethnic Background". Country Studies Series. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-12-19. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |accessmonthday= (help)
  18. ^ Richard Nelson Frye, "Persien: bis zum Einbruch des Islam" (original English title: "The Heritage Of Persia"), German version, tr. by Paul Baudisch, Kindler Verlag AG, Zürich 1964, pp. 485-498
  19. ^ According to Professor Walter Bruno Henning, the term comes from Tat(Iranian)+Jik. Source: Dehkhoda dictionary under Tajik. Actual quote:استاد هنينگ تاجيک را ترکي ميداند مرکب از تا (= تات «ترک» + جيک «پسوند ترکي » جمعاً يعني تبعه ترک و اين کلمه را با «تازيک » و «تازي » (و طايي ) لغةً مرتبط نميداند - انتهي
  20. ^ Lambton, Ann K.S. Landlord and Peasant in Persia, p.57. I.B.Tauris, 1991. ISBN 1850432937.
  21. ^ Bergne, Paul. The Birth of Tajikistan, p. 4. I.B.Tauris, 2007. ISBN 1845112830.
  22. ^ a b M.E. Subtelny, "The Symbiosis of Turk and Tajik" in B.F. Manz (ed.), Central Asia in Historical Perspective, (Boulder, Col. & Oxford), 1994, p. 48
  23. ^ Ali Shir Nava'i Muhakamat al-lughatain tr. & ed. Robert Devereaux (Leiden: Brill) 1966 p6
  24. ^ C.E. Bosworth/B.G. Fragner, "Tādjīk", in Encyclopaedia of Islam, Online Edition: "... In Islamic usage, [Tādjīk] eventually came to designate the Persians, as opposed to Turks [...] the oldest citation for it which Schraeder could find was in verses of Djalāl al-Dīn Rūmī ..."
  25. ^ Dupree, L. "Afghānistān: (iv.) ethnocgraphy". In Ehsan Yarshater (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online Edition ed.). United States: Columbia University. Retrieved 2007-01-28. {{cite encyclopedia}}: |edition= has extra text (help); Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  26. ^ a b c Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress (1997). "Afghanistan: Tajik". Country Studies Series. Library of Congress. Retrieved 2007-12-19. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |accessmonthday= (help)
  27. ^ Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, table with number of Tajiks by province Template:Ru icon.
  28. ^ Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (February 23, 2000). "Uzbekistan". Country Reports on Human Rights Practices - 1999. U.S. Department of State. Retrieved 2007-12-19. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  29. ^ Rahim Masov, The History of the Clumsy Delimitation, Irfon Publ. House, Dushanbe, 1991 Template:Ru icon. English translation: The History of a National Catastrophe, transl. Iraj Bashiri, 1996.
  30. ^ Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, p. 195 Template:Ru icon.
  31. ^ Svante E. Cornell, "Uzbekistan: A Regional Player in Eurasian Geopolitics?", European Security, vol. 20, no. 2, Summer 2000.
  32. ^ Population census of Turkmenistan 1995, Vol. 1, State Statistical Committee of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 1996, pp. 75-100.
  33. ^ J. Sloame, "Bukharan Jews", Jewish Virtual Library, (LINK)
  34. ^ McDermott, Roger (2007-04-25). "Tajikistan restates its strategic partnership with Russia, while sending mixed signals". The Jamestown Foundation. Retrieved 2007-12-19. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |1= (help)
  35. ^ "Tajikistan may consider using Persian script when the conditions are met", interview of Tajikistan's Deputy Culture Minister with Iranian News Agency, 2 May 2008.

Further reading

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