Persian-speakers of Iran

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Persian-speakers of Iran

Otanes (prob.) • Dehkhoda • Mosaddeq • Hessaby • Khomeini Behbahani • Takhti • Nasr • Farrokhzad • Beizaei Ghomshei • Forouhar • Dowlatabadi • Kharrazi • Ansari
Total population
est.45-60 million
Regions with significant populations
Iran 35,600,000 (42 million including sub-groups) [1]  United States 691,000 - 2,560,000 [2] [3]  United Arab Emirates 400,000 [4]  United Kingdom 275,000 [5]  Israel 135,000 [6]  Canada 121,510 [7]  Germany 110,000 [8]  Qatar 73,000 [9]  France 62,000 [3]  India 60,000 [3]  Russia 50,000 [3]  Bahrain 48,000 [10]  Tajikistan 31,000 [9]  Netherlands 38,000 [3]  Oman 25,000 [9]  Australia 22,550 [11]  Pakistan 40,000 [3]  Greece 20,000 [3]  Kuwait 20,000 [3]  South Korea,  Japan and  Philippines 50,000 [3]  Sweden 15,000 [3]  Turkey 6,014 [12]  Belgium 6,000 [3]  Norway 6,000 [3]  Italy 5,910 [13]  South Africa 5,000 [3]  Finland 2,000 [3]
Languages
Persian
Religion
Predominately Shi'a Muslim,[1][14] and small minorities of Sunni Muslims, Bahá'ís, Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians.

The Persian-speakers of Iran (local names: فارسی‌زبانان IPA: [fɒːrˈsi-zæbɒːnɒːn] or پارسی‌زبانان [pɒːrˈsi-zæbɒːnɒːn]) are an ethnolinguistic group of numerous regional peoples who speak the Persian language dialects and varieties. Iranian Persian-speakers are also found in expatriate communities in bordering countries as well as the Persian Gulf states. Additionally, many expatriates reside overseas in North America (where many refer to themselves as ethnic Persians or Iranians) and in Europe. Iranian Persian-speakers are typically characterized by their usage of the Persian language as their mother tongue and a common culture.

Iranian Persians trace their linguistic roots to the ancient Indo-European Aryans who arrived circa 2000-1500 BCE. Starting around 550 BCE, from Persis where encompass the present province of Fars, the ancient Persians spread their language and culture to other parts of the Iranian plateau through conquest and assimilated local Aryan and non-Aryan groups over time. This process of assimilation continued in the face of Greek, Arab, Mongol and Turkic invasions and continued right up to Islamic times.^[15] Numerous dialects and regional identities emerged over time and Persian speakers tended to identify themselves mostly based on the geographical location and not by 'ethnicity' in the modern Western sense.

Persian-speakers, even under theocratic governments, have shown a strong predilection towards urbanization and modernity. Exiled communities in the United States and Europe have continued to maintain close ties with their families in Iran and are a source of Western influence. In addition, with the break-up of the former Soviet Union, Persian speakers have also begun to foster closer cultural ties with closely related groups in the Caucasus including the Tats and Talysh as well as Central Asian Persian speaking people in Afghanistan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

[edit] Related groups

Lurs or Lors and Laks, the Mazandaranis, Gilakis, and bakhtiaris are another branch of Iranian people living mostly in south-western Iran. These people mostly speak in a dialect or sub-dialect of Persian. The special character of the Luri dialects suggests that the Luri area was Iranicized from Persis and not from Media.^[16] Laks are related to Lurs and/or Kurds. Persian speakers can also be found outside Iran and include the Tajiks and Farsiwan of Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Xinjiang province of China and Northern Pakistan. The Tajiks are descendents of various Iranian peoples, as well as numerous invaders. Tajiks and their cousins the Farsiwan have a particular affinity with Persian speakers in neighboring Khorasan due to historical interaction some stemming from the Islamic period.

Other smaller groups include the Qizilbash of Afghanistan and Pakistan who are related to the Farsiwan and Azerbaijanis. In the Caucasus, the Tats are concentrated in Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Russian Dagestan and their origins are traced to Sassanid merchants who settled in the region. In addition, the Hazara and Aimaq are ethnic groups of partial Persianized Mongol and Turkic origin.

[edit] History

The Persian speakers are descendents of the Aryan (Indo-Iranian) tribes that began migrating from Central Asia into what is now Iran in the second millennium BC.^[17][18][19] The Persian language and other Iranian tongues emerged as these Aryan tribes split up into two major groups, the Persians and the Medes, and intermarried with peoples indigenous to the Iranian plateau such as the Elamites.^[20][21]

The ancient Persians from the province of Pars became the rulers of a large empire under the Achaemenid dynasty (Hakhamaneshiyan) in the sixth century BC, reuniting with the tribes and other provinces of the ancient Iranian plateau and forming the Persian Empire. Over the centuries Persia was ruled by various dynasties; some of them were ethnic Iranians including the Achaemenids, Parthians (Ashkanian), Sassanids (Sassanian), Buwayhids and Samanids, and some of them were not, such as the Seleucids, Ummayyads, Abbasids, and Seljuk Turks.

[edit] Language

The Persian language is one of the world's oldest languages still in use today, and is known to have one of the most powerful literary traditions, with formidable Persian poets like Ferdowsi, Hafez, Khayyam, Attar, Saadi, Nezami, Roudaki, Rumi and Sanai. By native speakers as well as in Urdu, Bengali, Turkish, Arabic and other neighboring languages, it is called Fārsī, and additionally Dari or Tajiki in the eastern parts of Greater Iran.

Persian is part of the Iranian sub-section of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Persian is a Western Dialect, and its speakers form the majority in Iran. The Eastern speakers, also called Dari or Tajiki, form majorities in Tajikistan, and Afghanistan,^[22] and a large minority in Uzbekistan. Smaller groups of Persian-speakers are found in Pakistan, western China (Xinjiang), as well as in the UAE, Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman and Azerbaijan.

[edit] Religion

The entrance to Shah Mosque (aka Imam Mosque or Shah Jame' Mosque) in Isfahan. This mosque is an example of Persian architecture during the Safavid dynasty.

Most Persian speakers in Iran are Shia Muslims, while some communities of Shia Sufis also exist. There is also a sizeable number of Sunni Muslims. Historically, some of the greatest Sunni Muslim scholars were Persian speakers or had Persian descent, including Abu Dawood, Hakim al-Nishaburi, Al-Tabarani, Ghazali, Imam Bukhari, Tirmidhi, Al-Nasa'i and Abu Hanifa, amongst many others. There are also smaller communities of Zoroastrians, Christians, Jews, and Bahá'ís. Bahá'ís are the largest non-Muslim religious minority in the country.^[23] There are also Persian speakers who are atheist and agnostic. Also see religious minorities in Iran.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Ethnologue's entry for Western Persian

v • d • e Ethnic groups in Iran Major Persian-speakers (51%) · Azeris (24%) · Gilaki and Mazandarani (8%) · Kurds (7%) · Arabs (3%)(Iraqis) · Lurs (2%)(Bakhtiari) · Baloch (2%) · Turkmens (2%) Minor (1%) Qashqai · Armenians · Persian Jews · Georgians · Assyrians · Circassians · Talysh · Tats · Kazakhs