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Iranian peoples

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This article is about the ethno-linguistic group. For the peoples of Iran, see Demographics of Iran.
Iranian peoples
Regions with significant populations
Iranian plateau and the Middle East, Anatolia, South Asia, Central Asia, the Caucasus and as immigrant communities in North America, and Western Europe.
Languages
Iranian Languages, a branch of the Indo-European language family.
Religion
Predominantly Shi'a Islam and Sunni Islam. There are also some adherents of Orthodox Christianity,[1] Nestorianism, Judaism, Bahá'í Faith, Zoroastrianism, Toshavim, Atheism, Agnosticism.

The Iranian peoples (also Iranic peoples) are an Indo-European ethnic-linguistic group, consisting of the speakers of Iranian languages,[3] a major branch of the Indo-European language family, as such forming a branch of Indo-European-speaking peoples. Their historical areas of settlement were on the Iranian plateau mainly in Iran, certain areas of Central Asia such as Tajikestan, most of Afghanistan, parts of Iraq, Turkey, Pakistan and scattered parts of the Caucasus Mountains.[4][5] Their current distribution is spread across the Iranian plateau, stretching from the Bengal in the east to central Anatolia in the west, and from Central Asia and the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf - a region that is sometimes termed the Iranian cultural continent, or Greater Persia by scholars, representing the extent of the Iranian languages and influence of the Persian People, through the geopolitical reach of the Persian empire.[6]

The Iranian group emerges from an earlier Indo-Iranian unity during the Late Bronze Age, and they enter the historical record during the Early Iron Age. The Persians formed the Achaemenid Empire by the 6th century BC, while the Scythians dominated the Eurasian steppe.[7][8] With numerous artistic, scientific, architectural and philosophical achievements and numerous kingdoms and empires that bridged much of the civilized world in antiquity, the Iranian peoples were often in close contact with the Greeks, Romans, Indians, and Chinese. In addition, the various religions of the Iranian peoples, including Zoroastrianism, Mithraism and Manichaeism, are believed by some scholars to be important early philosophical influences on Christianity and Judaism.[9] Early Iranian tribes are the ancestors of many modern Iranian peoples.

Name

Main article: Etymology of Arya

The term Iranian is derived from the Old Iranian ethnical adjective Aryana which is itself a cognate of the Sanskrit word Arya.[10][11] The name Iran is from Aryānām; lit: "[Land] of the Aryans".[12][13] The old Proto-Indo-Iranian term Arya, per Thieme meaning "hospitable", is believed to have been one of the self-referential terms used by the Aryans, at least in the areas populated by Aryans who migrated south from Central Asia. Another meaning for Aryan is noble. In the late part of the Avesta (Vendidad 1) one of their homelands was referred to as Airyanem Vaejah. The homeland varied in its geographic range, the area around Herat (Pliny's view) and even the entire expanse of the Iranian plateau (Strabo's designation).[13]

The academic usage of the term Iranian is 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 people is distinct from Germans. Many citizens of Iran are not necessarily "Iranian people" by virtue of not being speakers of Iranian languages and may not have discernible ties to ancient Iranian tribes. Unlike the various terms connected with the Aryan arya- in Old Indian, the Old Iranian term has solely an ethnic meaning[14] and there can be no doubt about the ethnic value of Old Iran. arya (Benveniste, 1969, I, pp. 369 f.; Szemerényi; Kellens).[15]

The name Arya lives in the ethnic names like Alan, New Persian: Iran, Ossertian: Ir and Iron.[15][16][17][18][18][19][20][21] The name Iran has been in usage since Sassanid times.[19][20]

The Avesta clearly uses airya as an ethnic name (Vd. 1; Yt. 13.143-44, etc.), where it appears in expressions such as airyāfi; daiŋˊhāvō “Iranian lands, peoples,” airyō.šayanəm “land inhabited by Iranians,” and airyanəm vaējō vaŋhuyāfi; dāityayāfi; “Iranian stretch of the good Dāityā,” the river Oxus, the modern Āmū Daryā.[15]

The term "Ariya" appears in the royal Old Persian inscriptions in three different contexts: 1) As the name of the language of the Old Persian version of the inscription of Darius the Great in Behistun; 2) as the ethnic background of Darius in inscriptions at Naqsh-e-Rostam and Susa (Dna, Dse) and Xerxes in the inscription from Persepolis (Xph) and 3) as the definition of the God of Iranian people, Ahuramazda, in the Elamite version of the Behistun inscription.[15][16][18] For example in the Dna and Dse Darius and Xerxes describe themselves as “An Achaemenian, A Persian son of a Persian and an Aryan, of Aryan stock”.[22] Although Darius the Great called his language the Iranian language,[22] modern scholars refer to it as Old Persian[22] due to the fact that it is the ancestor of modern Persian language.[23]

The Old Persian and Avestan evidence is confirmed by the Greek sources”.[15] Herodotus in his Histories remarks about the Iranian Medes that: “These Medes were called anciently by all people Arians; “ (7.62).[15][16][18] In Armenian sources, the Parthians, Medes and Persians are collectively referred to as Iranians.[24] Eudemus of Rhodes apud Damascius (Dubitationes et solutiones in Platonis Parmenidem 125 bis) refers to “the Magi and all those of Iranian (áreion) lineage”; Diodorus Siculus (1.94.2) considers Zoroaster (Zathraustēs) as one of the Arianoi.[15]

Strabo, in his "Geography", mentions the unity of Medes, Persians, Bactrians and Sogdians:[17]

The name of Ariana is further extended to a part of Persia and of Media, as also to the Bactrians and Sogdians on the north; for these speak approximately the same language, with but slight variations.

— Geography, 15.8

The trilingual inscription erected by Shapur's command gives us a more clear description. The languages used are Parthian, Middle Persian and Greek. In Greek the inscription says: “ego ... tou Arianon ethnous despotes eimi”(“I am lord of the kingdom (Gk. nation) of the Aryans”) which translates to “I am the king of the Iranian people”. In the Middle Persian, Shapour states: “ērānšahr xwadāy hēm” and in Parthian he states: “aryānšahr xwadāy ahēm”.[19][25]

The Bactrian language (an Middle Iranian language) inscription of Kanishka the founder of the Kushan empire at Rabatak, which was discovered in 1993 in an unexcavated site in the Afghanistan province of Baghlan clearly refers to this Eastern Iranian language as Arya[26][27] In the post-Islamic era one can still see a clear usage of the term Iran in the work of the 10th century historian Hamzeh Isfahani. In his famous book “the history of Prophets and Kings” writes: “Aryan which is also called Pars(Persia) is in the middle of these countries and these six countries surround it because the South East is in the hands China, the North of the Turks, the middle South is India, the middle North is Rome, and the South West and the North West is the Sudan and Berber lands”.[28] All this evidence shows that the name arya “Iranian” was a collective definition, denoting peoples (Geiger, pp. 167 f.; Schmitt, 1978, p. 31) who were aware of belonging to the one ethnic stock, speaking a common language, and having a religious tradition that centered on the cult of Ahura Mazdā.[29]

History and settlement

Main article: Ancient Iranian peoples

Roots

Main article: Indo-Iranians
The extent of the BMAC (according to the EIEC).

Having descended from the Proto-Indo-Iranians, it is widely believed that the Proto-Iranians separated from the Indo-Aryans, Dards (variously considered as Indo-Iranian or within the Indo-Aryan branch),[30] and the Nuristanis in the early 2nd millennium BCE, in Central Asia. The area between northern Afghanistan, the Aral Sea and the Urals is hypothesized to have been the region where the Proto-Iranians first emerged, following the separation of the Indo-Iranians,[31] in the area of the previous, Indo-Iranian Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex, a Bronze Age culture of Central Asia.

By the early 1st millennium, Ancient Iranian peoples such as Medes, Persians, Bactrians and Parthians populated the Iranian plateau, while others such as the Scythians, Cimmerians, Sarmatians and Alans populated the steppes north of the Black Sea. The Saka, Scythian, tribes spread as far west as the Balkans and as far east as Xinjiang. The Kushan Empire, with Bactrian roots/connections, once controlled much of Pakistan, some of Afghanistan and Tajikistan. The Kushan elite (who the Chinese called the Yuezhi) were either a Tocharian-speaking (another Indo-European branch) people or an Eastern Iranian language-speaking people.

The division into an "Eastern" and a "Western" group by the early 1st millennium is visible in Avestan vs. Old Persian, the two oldest known Iranian languages. The Old Avestan texts known as the Gathas are believed to have been composed by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism, with the Yaz culture (ca. 1500–1100 BCE) as a candidate for the development of Eastern Iranian culture.

Old Persian appears to have been established in written form by 519 BCE, following the creation of the Old Persian script, inspired by the cuneiform script of the Assyrians.[32]

Western Iranic peoples

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 (Eastern Iranian), in orange.
Achaemenid empire at its greatest extent
Bronze Statue of General Surena Hero of carrhae, National Museum of Iran.

During the 1st centuries of the first millennium BCE, 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 entered in contact with the Assyrians.[33] Remnants of the Median language and Old Persian show their common Proto-Iranian roots, emphasized in Strabo and Herodotus' description of their languages as very similar to the languages spoken by the Bactrians and Soghdians in the east.[13][34] Following the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire, the Persian language (referred to as "Farsi" in Persian) spread from Pars or Fars Province 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.

Old Persian is attested in the Behistun Inscription (ca. 519 BCE), recording a proclamation by Darius the Great. In southwestern Iran, the Achaemenid kings usually wrote their inscriptions in trilingual form (Elamite, Babylonian and Old Persian)[35] while elsewhere other languages were used. The administrative languages were Elamite in the early period, and later Imperial Aramaic.[36]

The early inhabitants of the Achaemenid Empire appear to have adopted the religion of Zoroastrianism.[37] The Baloch who speak a west Iranian language relate an oral tradition regarding their migration from Aleppo, Syria around the year 1000 AD, whereas linguistic evidence links Balochi to Kurdish and Zazaki.[38]

Eastern Iranic peoples

While the Iranian tribes of the south are better known through their texts and modern counterparts, the tribes which remained largely in the vast Eurasian expanse are known through the references made to them by the ancient Greeks, Persians, Indo-Aryans as well as by archaeological finds. Many ancient Sanskrit texts make references to tribes like Sakas, Paradas, Kambojas, Bahlikas, Uttaramadras, Madras, Lohas, Parama Kambojas, Rishikas, Tukharas or Tusharas etc. and locate them in the (Uttarapatha) (north-west) division, in Central Asia, around Hindukush range in northern Pakistan. The Greek chronicler, Herodotus (5th century BCE) makes references to a nomadic people, the Scythians; he describes as having dwelt in what is today southern Russia.

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 in the 1st millennium AD. 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.

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 migrations and invasions.[39] Another group of Alans allied with Goths to defeat the Romans and ultimately settled in what is now called Catalonia (Goth-Alania).[40]

Silver coin of the Indo-Scythian king Azes II (r.c. 35–12 BCE). Buddhist triratna symbol in the left field on the reverse.
Scythian Horseman, Pazyryk felt artifact, c. 300 BCE

Some of the Saka-Scythian tribes in Central Asia would later move further southeast and invade the Iranian plateau, large sections of present day Pakistan/Afghanistan and finally deep into the northwestern portion of the Indian subcontinent; i.e. present day Punjab (Persian for land of five rivers) (see Indo-Scythians). Another Iranian tribe related to the Saka-Scythians were the Parni in Central Asia, and who later become indistinguishable from the Parthians, speakers of a northwest-Iranian language. Many Iranian tribes, including the Khwarazmians, Massagetae and Sogdians, were assimilated and/or displaced in Central Asia by the migrations of Turkic tribes emanating out of Xinjiang and Siberia.[41]

The most dominant surviving Eastern Iranian peoples are represented by the Pashtuns, whose origins are generally believed to be from the Suleiman mountains in the Balochistan province of Pakistan, from which they began to spread until they reached as far west as Herat, north to areas of southern and eastern Afghanistan; and as eastward towards the Indus as well as adjacent areas of the Panjab and Sindh provinces of Pakistan. The Pashto language shows affinities to the Avestan and Bactrian.

The modern Sarikoli in southern Xinjiang and the Ossetians of the Caucasus are remnants of the various Saka tribes. The modern Ossetians claim[citation needed] 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 and Circassians.[39] Various extinct Iranian people existed in the eastern Caucasus, including the Azaris, while some Iranian people remain in the region, including the Talysh[42] and the Tats[43] (including the Judeo-Tats,[44] who have relocated to Israel), found in Azerbaijan and as far north as the Russian republic of Dagestan. A remnant of the Sogdians is found in the Yaghnobi speaking population in parts of the Zeravshan valley in Tajikistan.

Later developments

See also: History of Central Asia, History of the Middle East, History of South Asia, History of Iran, Persian Empire, History of the Kurds, History of Afghanistan, History of Tajikistan, History of Uzbekistan, History of Turkmenistan, History of Pakistan, History of the Balkans, History of Turkey, and History of Bangladesh
File:Salahaddin.jpg
Statue of Saladin "king of Egypt" near the Citadel of Damascus

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 people, including the Persians, Azaries, Kurds, Baluchis and Pashtuns, converted to Islam. The Iranian people would later split along sectarian lines as the Persians (and later the Hazara) adopted the Shi'a sect. As ancient tribes and identities changed, so did the Iranian people, many of whom assimilated foreign cultures and people.[45]

Later, during the 2nd millennium CE, the Iranian people 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, a Mongol-Turkic (Uzbek) peoples, which began in Afghanistan and shifted to South Asia encompassing various regions which now make up parts of Pakistan. All of the major Iranian people 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).

The following either partially descend from Iranian people or are sometimes regarded as possible descendants of ancient Iranian people:

Further information: Turkification, Slavicisation, and Sarmatism
  • Turkic-speakers:
  • Lands of Iran[48][dead link]</ref> and Caucasians.[49] Thus, due to their historical ties with various ancient Iranians, as well as their cultural ties to Persians,[50] the Azeris are often associated with the Iranian people (see Origin of Azerbaijani people and the Iranian theory regarding the origin of the Azerbaijanis for more details).[51]
    • Uzbeks: The modern Uzbek people are believed to have both Iranian and Turkic ancestry. "Uzbek" and "Tajik" are modern designations given to the culturally homogeneous, sedentary population of Central Asia. The local ancestors of both groups - the Turkic-speaking Uzbeks and the Iranian-speaking Tajiks - were known as "Sarts" ("sedentary merchants") prior to the Russian conquest of Central Asia, while "Uzbek" or "Turk" were the names given to the nomadic and semi-nomadic populations of the area. Still today, modern Uzbeks and Tajiks are known as "Sarts" to their Turkic neighbours, the Kazakhs and the Kyrgyz. The ancient Soghdians and Bactrians are among their ancestors. Culturally, the Uzbeks are closer to their sedentary Iranian-speaking neighbours rather than to their nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkic neighbours. Some Uzbek scholars, i.e. Ahmadov and Askarov, favour the Iranian origin theory.[52]
    • The native name of Yakuts is Sakha, very similar to the Sakkas, proposing Yakuts to be related of descendants of Scythians, specifically Sakkahs.
  • Slavic-speakers:
    • A few linguists suggest that the names of the South Slavic people, the Serbs and Croats are of Iranian origin. Those who entertain such a connection propose that the Sarmatian Serboi and Horouthos tribes might have migrated from the Eurasian steppe lands to eastern Europe, and assimilated with the numerically superior Slavs, passing on their name. Iranian-speaking people did inhabit parts of the Balkans in late classical times, and would have been encountered by the Slavs. However, direct linguistic, historical or archaeological proof for such a theory is lacking. (See also: Theories on the origin of Serbs and Theories on the origin of Croats)
    • Some modern Bulgarian historians claim that the Bulgars were of Iranian origin and that they migrated to Europe from the region of today's northern Afghanistan - Hindukush mountains, from the Kingdom of Balhara.[53][54][55][56] Their claims are based on medieval Armenian sources, the writings of ancient historians ("Ashharatsuyts" by Anania Shirakatsi; Agathias of Myrina, Theophylact Simocatta, Michael the Syrian) archaeological findings in modern Bulgaria, the similarities with Iranic languages (place names, people names, and Iranic words in modern Bulgarian),[57] similarities with culture (e.g: some buildings in Pliska were built in a Zoroastrian fashion; similarities in traditional music, dancing and carpet making) and the very close similarity of the DNA of Pamirian/Iranic people with that of modern Bulgarians[56][58] After their arrival on Balkans, the Bulgars subjugated and then formed an allience with the local Slavs and formed the Bulgarian nation.
  • Finno-Ugric speakers
    • Many Volga Finns may be of part Iranian admixture due to Bulgar invasion of the Volga basin, if they (Bulgars) were Iranian people.
    • Hungarians have long prided themselves as Scythians in the past, Scythians being an Iranian people, prior to the Finno-Ugric theory. It's possible they've undergone a language shift. In a Magyar folkore suggests Iranian admixture among Hungarian, when Hunor and Magor marry princesses who were Alans, another Iranian people. Jassic people of Hungary are of Ossetian origin. Szekely is pronounced "Sae-Kai" and are possibly of Iranian origin, as their name is similar to Sakka.

Demographics

See also: Iranian plateau, Demographics of Iran, Ethnic minorities in Iran, Demographics of Afghanistan, Demographics of Tajikistan, Iraqi people, Demographics of Iraq, Kurdistan, and Ossetia
Further information: Iranian citizens abroad and Kurdish diaspora

There are an estimated 150 to 200 million native speakers of Iranian languages, the five major groups of Persians, Lurs, Kurds , Baloch, and Pashtuns accounting for about 90% of this number.[59] Currently, most of these Iranian peoples live in Iran, the Caucasus (mainly Ossetia, other parts of Georgia, and Azerbaijan), Kurdish majority populated areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria, Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

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

The following is a list of Iranian people with the respective groups's core areas of settlements and their estimated sizes (in millions):

People region population
Persians
Iran
Persian speakers in- Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Pakistan, Uzbekistan
60
60-70
Pashtuns
Afghanistan and Pakistan
32
48-50
Kurds
Iran, Iraq, Turkey, Syria, Pakistan, Armenia,
Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Turkmenistan and Lebanon
32
23-36
Baluchis Iran, Pakistan & Afghanistan
15
10
Gilakis & Mazanderanis Iran
07
5-10
Lurs & Bakhtiaris Iran
026
6
Laks Iran
010
0.5
Pamiri people
Tajikistan, China (Xinjiang),
Afghanistan
009
0.9
Talysh Azerbaijan, Iran
009
0.5
Ossetians
South Ossetia and Georgia,
Russia (North Ossetia), Hungary
007
0.7
Zazas Turkey
03
3-5
Parsis Pakistan and India
001
0.1
Yaghnobi Uzbekistan and Tajikistan (Zerafshan region)
007
0.025
Kumzari Oman (Musandam)
007
0.021


  • The following peoples are considered to be at least partially descended from earlier supplanted Iranian speaking populations, despite speaking Turkic languages. Through a large degree of assimilation with earlier Iranian populations in their respective regions, these groups reflect a continuous cultural similarity with both Iranian speaking populations, as well as with one another. See "Turko-Iranian":
  1. Azeris
  2. Turkmen
  3. Uzbeks
  • 1 Although Azeris speak a Turkic language (modern Azerbaijani language), they are believed to be primarily descendants of ancient Iranians.[60] Thus, due to their historical ties with various ancient Iranians, as well as their cultural ties to Persians,[50] the Azeris are often associated with the Iranian peoples (see Origin of Azerbaijani people and the Iranian theory regarding the origin of the Azerbaijanis for more details).[51]
  • 2 The modern Uzbek people are believed to have both Iranian and Turkic ancestry. "Uzbek" and "Tajik" are modern designations given to the culturally homogeneous, sedentary population of Central Asia. The local ancestors of both groups - the Turkic-speaking Uzbeks and the Iranian-speaking Tajiks - were known as "Sarts" ("sedentary merchants") prior to the Russian conquest of Central Asia, while "Uzbek" or "Turk" were the names given to the nomadic and semi-nomadic populations of the area. Still today, modern Uzbeks and Tajiks are known as "Sarts" to their Turkic neighbours, the Kazakhs and the Kyrgyz. The ancient Soghdians and Bactrians are among their ancestors. Culturally, the Uzbeks are closer to their sedentary Iranian-speaking neighbours rather than to their nomadic and semi-nomadic Turkic neighbours. Some Uzbek Scholars e.g. Ahmadov and Askarov maximize the Iranian roots while minimize the Turkic roots of Uzbeks:[52]

Diversity

It is largely through linguistic similarities that the Iranian people have been linked, as many non-Iranian people 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 people, including Hellenistic conquests, the various empires based in Persia, Arab Caliphates and Turkic invasions.

Culture

See also: Proto-Indo-European society, Indo-Iranian mythology, and Iranian philosophy

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.[61]

Following the Iranian split from the Indo-Iranians, the Iranians developed an increasingly distinct culture. Various common traits can be discerned among the Iranian people. For example, the social event Norouz is an Iranian festival that is practiced by nearly all of the Iranian people as well as others in the region. Its origins are traced to Zoroastrianism and pre-historic times.

Some Iranian cultures exhibit traits that are unique unto themselves. The Pashtuns adhere to a code of honor and culture known as Pashtunwali, which has a similar counterpart among the Baloch, called Mayar, that is more hierarchical.[62]

Religion

Main article: Iranian religions
See also: Christianity in Iran, Islam in Iran, Islam in Tajikistan, and Islam in Afghanistan

The early Iranian people worshipped various deities found throughout other cultures where Indo-European immigrants established themselves.[63] The earliest major religion of the Iranian people was Zoroastrianism, which spread to nearly all of the Iranian people living in the Iranian plateau. Other religions that had their origins in the Iranian world were Mithraism, Manichaeism, and Mazdakism, among others.

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 people who are predominantly followers of Islam today.

Modern speakers of Iranian languages mainly follow Islam. Some follow Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism, and the Bahá'í Faith, with an unknown number showing no religious affiliation. Overall the numbers of Sunni and Shia among the Iranian people are equally distributed. Most Kurds, Tajiks, Pashtuns, and Baluch are Sunni Muslims, while the remainder are mainly Twelver Shi'a, comprising mostly Persians in Iran, and Hazaras in Afghanistan. Zazas in Turkey are largely Alevi, while the Pamiri peoples in Tajikistan and China are nearly all Ismaili. The Christian community is mainly represented by the Armenian Apostolic Church, followed by the Russian Orthodox and Georgian Orthodox Ossetians followed by Nestorians. Judaism is followed mainly by Persian Jews, Kurdish Jews, Bukharian Jews (of Central Asia) and the Mountain Jews (of the Caucasus), most of whom are now found in Israel. The historical religion of the Persian Empire was Zoroastrianism and it still has a few thousand followers, mostly in Yazd and Kerman. They are known as the Parsis in the Indian subcontinent, where many of them fled in historic times following the Arab conquest of Persia, or Zoroastrians in Iran. Another ancient religion is the Yazidi faith, followed by some Kurds in northern Iraq, as well as the majority of the Kurds in Armenia.

Elements of pre-Islamic Zoroastrian and shamanistic beliefs persist among some Islamized groups today, such as the Tajiks, Pashtuns and Pamiri peoples.

Cultural assimilation

See also: Persianization, Persianate society, Turko-Persian tradition, Turco-Persian, Turkification, Islamic conquest of Persia, and Arabization

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.[64] The usage applies to various circumstances that involve historic interaction, intermarriage, cultural assimilation, bilingualism and cultural overlap or commonalities.

Notable among this synthesis of Turko-Iranian culture are the Azeris, whose culture, religion and significant periods of history are linked to the Persians.[65] Certain theories and genetic tests[66] 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, Seljuqs and Mughals.

Iranian cultural influences have also been significant in Central Asia, where Turkic invaders are believed to have largely mixed with native Iranian people of which only the Tajik remain, in terms of language usage. The areas of the former Soviet Union adjacent to Iran (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

Further information: Haplogroup R1a1 (Y-DNA)

Two Y-DNA Haplogroups are supposed to be connected with Iranic people Haplogroup J2 and R1a1

J2a:

Haplogroup J2 especially the subcadle J2a is frequently found among almost all groups of Iranic people. In comparison with the Haplogroup R1a1, J2 is not only restricted to geographically eastern and western Iranic populations, but also found among north-western and south-western Iranic populations such as the Bakhtiaris and Mazanderani,[67][68] as well as geographically north-western Iranic Ossetians.[69] Despite its supposed origin in the fertile crescent, J2a is also found among Iranic populations in the east such as the Yagnobi which are of Soghdian origin [70] as well as the Parsis of India.[71] Beside the relatively high percentage among the Yagnobis in Central Asia, other Iranic populations tend to have a higher frequency of J2a when compared to neighboring Turkic populations. The relatively strong presence of J2a among Ossetians as well as Yagnobis proves distant from the supposed Mesopotamian origin region of J2, are carriers of this Haplogroup.

In the Indo-Iranian context, the occurrence of J2a in South Asia is limited to caste populations, with the highest frequencies found among upper castes such as the Brahmins as well as Muslims.[72][73] Compared with R1a1, J2a shows a more conservative distribution, stronger limited to Indo-Iranian origin groups.[72]

R1a1:

Haplogroup M17, also known as R1a1, has been supposed to be a diagnostic Indo-Iranian marker.[74] The highest R1a1 frequencies are detected in the Central Asian populations of Ishkashemi Tajiks (68%) and Pamiri Tajiks (64%) , both groups being remnants of the original Eastern Iranian population of the region.[74][75] Apart from these two groups, high frequencies of R1a1 are also found in Pashtuns (44.8%)[76] and eastern parts of the Iranian Highlands up to frequencies of 35%, similar to Northern India,[77] while Western Iran based on Iranians sampled (52 Samples from the western part of the country) appears to have had little genetic influence from the supposed R1a1-carrying Indo-Iranians about 10%,to attributed to language replacement through the "elite-dominance" model in a similar manner which occurred in Europe and India. In this regard, it is likely that the Kavir and Lut deserts in the center of Iran have acted as significant barriers to gene flow.[74]

Genetic studies conducted by Cavalli-Sforza have revealed that Iranians have weak correlation with Near Eastern groups, and are closer to surrounding Indo-Europeans speaking populations. [78] This study is partially supported by another one, based on Y-Chromosome haplogroups.[79]

The findings of this study reveal many common genetic markers found among the Iranian people from the Tigris river of Iraq to the Indus of Pakistan. 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 people, whose languages are now spoken mainly on the Iranian plateau and adjacent regions. These results relate the relationships of Iranian people with each other, while other comparative testing reveals some varied origins for Iranian people such as the Kurds, who show genetic ties to the Caucasus at considerably higher levels than any other Iranian people except the Ossetians, as well as links to Europe and Semitic populations that live in close proximity such as the Arab and Jews.[80][81][82][83]

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).[84] Bonab remarked that his group had done extensive DNA testing on different language groups, including Indo-European and non Indo-European speakers, in Iran.[66] 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. Azaris of Iran also show very close genetic ties to Kurds.[85]

See also

Literature and further reading

  • Banuazizi, Ali and Weiner, Myron (eds.). The State, Religion, and Ethnic Politics: Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan (Contemporary Issues in the Middle East), Syracuse University Press (August, 1988). ISBN 0-8156-2448-4.
  • Canfield, Robert (ed.). Turko-Persia in Historical Perspective, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge (2002). ISBN 0-521-52291-9
  • Curzon, R. The Iranian People of the Caucasus. ISBN 0-7007-0649-6.
  • Derakhshani, Jahanshah. Die Arier in den nahöstlichen Quellen des 3. und 2. Jahrtausends v. Chr., 2nd edition (1999). ISBN 964-90368-6-5.
  • Frye, Richard, Greater Iran, Mazda Publishers (2005). ISBN 1-56859-177-2.
  • Frye, Richard. Persia, Schocken Books, Zurich (1963). ASIN B0006BYXHY.
  • Kennedy, Hugh. The Prophet and the Age of the Caliphates, Longman, New York, NY (2004). ISBN 0-582-40525-4
  • Khoury, Philip S. & Kostiner, Joseph. Tribes and State Formation in the Middle East, University of California Press (1991). ISBN 0-520-07080-1.
  • Littleton, C. & Malcor, L. From Scythia to Camelot, Garland Publishing, New York, NY, (2000). ISBN 0-8153-3566-0.
  • Mallory, J.P. In Search of the Indo-Europeans, Thames and Hudson, London (1991). ISBN 0-500-27616-1.
  • McDowall, David. A Modern History of the Kurds, I.B. Tauris, 3rd Rev edition (2004). ISBN 1-85043-416-6.
  • Nassim, J. Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities, Minority Rights Group, London (1992). ISBN 0-946690-76-6.
  • Riasanovsky, Nicholas. A History of Russia, Oxford University Press, Oxford (2004). ISBN 0-19-515394-4.
  • Sims-Williams, Nicholas. Indo-Iranian Languages and People, British Academy (2003). ISBN 0-19-726285-6.
  • Iran Nama, (Iran Travelogue in Urdu) by Hakim Syed Zillur Rahman, Tibbi Academy, Aligarh, India (1998).
  • Saga of the Aryans, Historical novel on ancient Iranian migrations by Porus Homi Havewala, Published Mumbai, India (2005, 2010).

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External links

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