| Total population |
|---|
| 3[1] to 4 million[2] (2006) |
| Regions with significant populations |
| Provinces of Mazandaran, Gilan, and Golestan in Iran |
| Languages |
| Religion |
|
Mostly Shi'a Muslim |
| Related ethnic groups |
|
Persian and other Iranian peoples, peoples of the Caucasus |
The Mazandarani people are Iranian people[3][4][5] of Caucasus origin [6] living primarily in south of the Caspian Sea coast. The Elburz mountains mark the southern limit of the Mazandarani peoples.[7][8]
Contents |
The population of Mazandarani people is between three[1] to four million (2006 estimation)[2]. The dominant religion among Mazandarani people is Shiite Islam.[9]
They are mainly living in south east of Caspian Sea coasts. Many of them live as farmers and fishermen [1]. They are highly related to other Iranian people in Iranian plateau[1][10]. In fact, rise of the new wave of Iranian nationalism in modern history of Iran is associated with inspiration of the Pahlavi dynasty, a Mazandarani origin dynasty. During this period this ideology was fostered by Pahlavis as well as reviving pre-Islamic Iranian traditions, Persian language reforms, etc.[11]
The local Mazandarani, which belongs to Northwestern Iranian languages, is spoken among these people and most Mazandarani people are fluent in both Mazanadarni dialect and standard Persian.[7][9]. However, with the growth of education and press, the differentiation between Mazandarani and other Iranian dialects are likely to disappear.[7][9] Mazandarani is closely related to Gilaki and the two dialects [7] have similar vocabularies. These two dialects retain more than Persian does of the noun declension system that was characteristic of older-Iranian languages.[7]
Borjan states that Mazandarani has different sub-dialects and there exists a high mutual intelligibility among various Mazandarani sub-dialects.[9] Raymond Gordon in Ethnolue lists them as Gorgani, Palani, etc. However, he calls them dialects.[8]
In the Safavid era Mazandaran was settled by Georgian migrants, whose descendants still live across Mazandaran [12]. Still many towns, villages and neighbourhoods in Mazandaran bear the name "Gorji" (i.e. Georgian) in them, although most of the Georgians are already assimilated into the mainstream Mazandaranis. The history of Georgian settlement is described by Eskandar Beyg Monshi, the author of the 17th century Tarikh-e Alam-Ara-ye Abbasi, in addition many foreigners e.g. Chardin, and Della Valle, have written about their encounters with the Georgian Mazandaranis.
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