Khamseh
The Khamseh is a tribal confederation in the province of Fars in southwestern Iran. It consists of five tribes, hence its name Khamseh, "the five". The tribes are still partly nomadic, and some are Arabic speaking. They are sheep breeders, which they herd mounted on camels.
The history of the Khamseh confederation of tribes starts in 1861–1862 when Shah Naser ed-Din created the Khamseh Tribal Confederation. He combined five existing nomadic tribes, the Arab, Nafar, Baharlu, Inalu, and the Basseri and placed them under the control of the Qavam ol-Molk family. The pattern of forcibly uniting tribes was not a new idea, as the Safavid Shahs previously created homogenous Kizilbash confederations to temper the increasing strength of the Qashqai, who were gaining so much power. The Khamseh tribes were a mixture of Turks, Luri, and Arabs, but they all came to be called Arabs in contrast to the Turkic Qashqai.
Bibliography
- Nomads Of South Persia (1961) by Fredrik Barth (read book)