Peoples of the Caucasus in Iran
The terms People of the Caucasus and Caucasian people indicate two main groups of people in Iran:
- Immigrants from the South Caucasus and North Caucasus mainly due to policies of the Safavids and Qajars and to another extent due to the results of the Russo-Persian Wars of the early 19th century:
- Circassians (including the Abkhaz, Kabarday, Abazins, and Ubykh): Following the end of the Circassian insurgency in 1864 which triggered an exodus from North Caucasia, Circassian people had settled in small amounts in the territory of Iran. The Circassian population in Iran however for the vast majority stems from the Safavid and Qajar era. See Circassians in Iran
- Dagestani people. Amongst them the Laks are the most well known.[1]
- Autochthonous people of Transcaucasia:
- speaking South Caucasian languages:
- Georgians (Iranian Georgians): Christian Georgians were settled en masse in Iran's heartlands during the Safavid and Qajar era when the former ruled the Caucasus as part of its territories. Hundreds of thousands of Georgians were relocated by the Safavids starting from shah Tahmasp I) and most notably by shah Abbas I to various parts of Iran, including Isfahan, Mazandaran, and Gilan.[2] A certain amount also migrated as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. This policy continued till the Qajar era, when Iran lost it's Caucasian territories to Russia. (see Russo-Persian Wars) Nowadays all Iranian Georgians are reported to be Shia Muslims.[3] The Georgians played a crucial role in developing Iran's industrial economy, strengthening it's military, and populating newly built towns in various places in Iran.
- Armenians (Iranian Armenians)
- Azerbaijanis (Iranian Azerbaijanis)
- speaking South Caucasian languages:
Caucasian refugees
Iran and the Russian Empire fought 5 wars between the mid-17th century and 1828 (if not including the Anglo-Soviet Invasion of Iran. Iran eventually lost vast and often solidly Persian-speaking and Muslim territories spanning from Dagestan in the North Caucasus to what is today Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan and Armenia to the Russians per the Treaty of Gulistan and Treaty of Turkmenchay. The Russians killed many inhabitants of these Iranian ruled lands, and expelled the rest to Iran, or to a certain extent, Turkey.
See also
- Ethnic Cleansing of Circassians
- Ayrums
- Peoples of the Caucasus in Turkey
- Persian Cossack Brigade
- Battle_of_Ganja_(1804)#Immigration
References
- ↑ А. Г. Булатова. Лакцы (XIX — нач. XX вв.). Историко-этнографические очерки. — Махачкала, 2000.
- ↑ Matthee, Rudolph P. (1999), The Politics of Trade in Safavid Iran: Silk for Silver, 1600-1730.
- ↑ Rezvani, Babak (Winter 2009). "The Fereydani Georgian Representation". Anthropology of the Middle East 4 (2): 52–74. doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205.
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