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Eastern Iranians

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

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.

The most dominant surviving Eastern Iranians 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 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, Circassians and Georgians. Various extinct Iranian people existed in the eastern Caucasus, including the Azaris, while some Iranian people remain in the region, including the Talysh and the Tats (including the Judeo-Tats, 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

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 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.

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:

• Turkic-speakers:
  • Azeris: Although Azeris speak a Turkic language (modern Azerbaijani language), they are believed to be primarily descendants of ancient Iranians and Caucasians. Thus, due to their historical ties with various ancient Iranians, as well as their cultural ties to Persians, 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).
  • 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 Iranic 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.
• Slavic-speakers:
  • A few linguists suggest that the names of the South Slavic people, the Serbs and Croats, are not of Slavic origin, but rather Iranic. 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. Certainly, Iranic-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 Bulgarian historians claim that the Bulgars (the ancestors of modern Bulgarians) were of Iranian origin (not of Turkic as it is generally assumed) and that they migrated to Europe from the region of today's northern Afghanistan. Their claims are based on medieval Armenian sources and archaeological findings in modern Bulgaria. After their arrival on Balkans, the Bulgars mixed with the local slavs and formed the Bulgarian nation.

Demographics

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. Currently, most of these Iranian people live in Iran, the Caucasus (mainly Ossetia, other parts of Georgia, and Azerbaijan), Tajikistan, Uzbekistan (especially Samarkand and Bukhara), Afghanistan, Pakistan and the Kurdish majority populated areas of Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria.

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 million):

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

1. Azeris
2. Uzbeks
3. Bulgarians
4. Serbs
5. Croats
6. Jats
7. Slavic Macedonians
8. Hungarians
9. Volga Tatars
10. Chuvash people

• Although Azeris speak a Turkic language (modern Azerbaijani language), they are believed to be primarily descendants of ancient Iranians and Caucasians. Thus, due to their historical ties with various ancient Iranians, as well as their cultural ties to Persians, 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).
• 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 Iranic 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:
• Modern day Bulgarians are definitely, in part, descended from the ancient Bulgars. Scholars debate as to whether the latter were originally Turkic-speaking or Turkized Iranian-speaking warriors. See also: Mount Imeon and Kingdom of Balhara. Macedonian, Bulgarian and Old Bulgar have been known to share cognates with the Pamiri languages.Macedonians are very close to Bulgarians by language, as being the only 2 south Slavic people speaking the eastern south Slavic language family. They were often disputed between Greek Macedonians during name dispute.If Macedonians weren't related to ancient Macedon, it's they could instead could have originated from Bulgaria, who bulgarians themselves were turkized Iranian-speakers, to justify Macedonians of iranian origin instead of originating from ancient Macedonia. However what is interesting since it relates to Bactrians, who were a nation that were once part the Macedonian empire but the Bactrian language was iranian instead of greek.A group of Slavic Macedonians have even went to northern south asia to meet south asian alexandrian leftovers, who also claim greek ancestry but have iranic customs. Notable Burusho's Prince Ghazanfar Ali Khan and Princess Rani Atiqa have visited Skopje for DNA testing to see if they carried genetic markers of ancient Macedonians but later on acedemics have dismissed the claim as pseudoscience and moreover the burusho's carried common genetic markers with the sinti Romanis.It's easily dubunkable for a slavic macedonian to claim macedon ancestry since there were no slavs back then. Slavic Macedonian nationalists have claimed to be racially linked to Kalash people aswell, due to the claim of being descendants of alexander's army.
• The names of the South Slavic peoples, the Serbs and Croats, are theorised to be derived from certain ancient Iranian peoples, specifically the Sarmatians. The theory mostly stems from linguistic analysis, suggesting that the names 'Serb' and 'Croat' derive from the Sarmatian tribes of Serboi and Horouthos. These tribes might have migrated from the Eurasian steppelands to southern Poland (the postulated homeland of Serbs and Croats), assimilated with the numerically superior Slavs, and might have given their name to them (might have been a ruling core). See also: Theories on the origin of Serbs and Theories on the origin of Croats).

• There are two main hypotheses on the origin of the Jat people with a general consensus amongst scholars that they are largely descended from Indo-Scythian tribes who invaded northern Pakistan and India from the Oxus River valley, Central Asia. In addition, there are scholars who advocate a sizeable native Indo-Aryan lineage on the basis of ethnological, physical and linguistic standards. Finally, with the development of DNA analysis recent genectic studies are revealing important ancestral information.

B.S. Dhillon states that Jat people are mainly of Indo-Scythian lineage with composite mixing of Sarmatians, Goths & Jutes in History and study of the Jats. Historian James Tod agreed in considering the Jat people to be of Indo-Scythian Stock. Moreover, Alexander Cunningham, considered the Jat people to be the Xanthii (a Scythian tribe) of Scythian stock who he considered very likely called the Zaths (Jats) of early Arab writers. He stated "their name is found in Northern India from the beginning of the Christian era." These people were considered by early Arab writers to have descended from Medes and Zaths. Cunningham believes they "were in full possession of the valley of the Indus towards the end of the seventh century." Alexander Cunningham held that the Rajputs belonged to the original Scythian stock, and the Jats to a late wave of immigrants from the north west, of Scythian race. See also: Origin of the Jat people

• Hungarians have long prided descendants in their supposed Scythian origins until the discovery of the Finno-Ugric language family, the linguistic evidence for such claim is lacking. Many Hungarians today, refuse to accept these linguistic findings. Before settling into the Pannonian basin, ancient Magyar settlements often overlapped the Scythian region. According to the tale of Hunor and Magor, Huns and Magyars are descendants of Hunor and Magor who made offspring with princesses of alan origin. Jassic people are a community in hungary that claimed to be of Ossetian descent that once spoke the Jassic dialect. Along with old claims of Scythian ancestry, Hungarians have also claimed to be descendants of Huns, Avars and other ancient ethnic groups. The culture of Hungarian prehistory is very different from the culture of Finnic people, so it remains a big mystery how different cultures could share very similar language. It's possible prehistoric Magyars had undergone a language shift, although the present Hungarian language has been shown to have similarities with the language of the Sumerians, another ancient people Hungarians claimed to be descent of. Ancient cultures in Central Asia that Magyars could be associated with, are also associated with the Indo-Iranians, such as the Androvo culture. It's possible that prehistoric Hungarians could've been called Aryans, an ethno-lingusitic term to describe people who spoke the Indo-iranian languages.

• Chuvash people are the only group today that are known to speak the Chuvash language. The Chuvash are likely descendants of Volga Bulgars.Volga Tatars are a likely originate from the mixing of Cumans and Volga Bulgars. The Chuvash language now, is classified as Turkic in the ohgur branch but many scholars in the past considered that it was too different from the Turkic languages and it's origin could've been from another language. The Volga Tatar language has been mixed with the Bulgar language. Ancient Kipchaks have been recored to have a really high frequency of blond hair, and it has been proven through excavation, however blond hair is rare in modern turkic people of central asia, so there's a possibility of Iranian origin of kypchaks since blond hair is seen among iranian people. Blond hair is also present among tatars and the Chuvash.

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

Many of the cultural traits of the ancient Iranians were similar to other Proto-Indo-European societies. 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.

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 people exhibit distinct 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.

Religion

The early Iranian people worshipped various deities found throughout other cultures where Indo-European immigrants established themselves. 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.

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 and 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

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. 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. Certain theories and genetic tests 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

Some genetic testings of Iranian people have revealed many common genes for most of the Iranian people, but with numerous exceptions and regional variations. Other genetic scholars claim that the high-resolution Y-chromosome genotyping of their study allowed for an in-depth analysis unattained in previous studies of the area. The study reveals important migratory and demographic events that shaped the contemporary genetic landscape of the Iranians.

Genetic studies conducted by Cavalli-Sforza have revealed that Iranians cluster weakly with Near Eastern groups, and somewhat closer to surrounding IE peoples (such as Anatolians). Preliminary genetic tests suggest common origins for most of the Iranian people. This study is partially supported by another one, based on Y-Chromosome haplogroups.

The findings of this study reveal many common genetic markers found among the Iranian people from the Tigris to the areas west of the Indus. 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.

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). Bonab remarked that his group had done extensive DNA testing on different language groups, including Indo-European and non Indo-European speakers, in Iran. 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.

Ultimately, genetic tests reveal that while the Iranian people show numerous common genetic markers overall, there are also indications of interaction with other groups, regional variations and cases of genetic drift. Further testing will ultimately be required and may further elucidate the relationship of the Iranian people with each other and various neighboring populations.

Genetic roots

A large-scale research by Cavalli-Sforza reveals genetical similarities between all Eurasian speakers of Indo-European languages, including speakers of European, Iranian and Indo-Aryan languages; but this does not necessarily prove a common Indo-European origin for these populations and may be due to common Non-Indo-European ancestors (see Paleolithic Continuity Theory) who were later linguistically Indo-Europeanized (q.v.).

The results of tests focused on Y-chromosome haplogroups give a more detailed picture of the events which may have taken place in Iranian-speaking lands in the past 7,000-5,000 years.

Haplogroup M17, also known as R1a1, has proven to be a diagnostic Indo-Iranian marker. 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. Apart from these two groups, the eastern parts of the Iranian Highlands generally reveal the highest frequency of R1a1, up to 35%, similar to Northern India, 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 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.

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.

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External links

• Encyclopedia Britannica: Iranian languages
• The Changing Face of Iran a photo essay by Newsweek Magazine

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