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This article is about the Central Asian Persians known as Tajiks. Refer to Persian people regarding ethnic Persians in Iran. For South Asian Persians see or Parsis.

The Tajiks (Persian: تاجيک - Tâjik; also Тоҷик - Tojik) are one of the principal ethnic groups of Central Asia, and are primarily found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, Pakistan, and the Xinjiang province of China.

Application of the term

Tajiks descend from the Aryans, an ancient people who spoke Indo-European languages, and are among the oldest inhabitants of the region. They can trace their roots back to the original Iranian (Aryan) peoples that settled around Central Asia in ancient times, such as the Bactrians, Sogdians, Parthians as well as large numbers of Persians who fled to Central Asia, China, and India during the Islamic expansion.

The ancestors of the Tajiks have inhabited Central Asia (including modern Afghanistan and western China) for roughly 4,000 years. The term "Tajik" is generally applied to the Persian-speaking peoples of Iranian (Aryan) origin living in the lands east of Iran. Though in ancient times the population did not speak Persian (Tajik or Dari in modern etymology) as the region was inhabited primarily by Eastern Iranian tribes such as the afore mentioned. The switch to present day spoken language probably occurred under the Persian Sassanian dynasty after they overwhelmed the Indo-European Hephthalites and extended their influnce over much of the region from their base in Persia.

Other Persian-speaking groups living in Central Asia, such as the Hazara, and Aimak, are distinguished from the Tajiks in that they are mainly of non-Iranian origin, and only adopted the Persian language over the last millennium. The so-called Mountain Tajiks or Pamiris of the Badakhshan region in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and Pakistan as well as the group usually known as "Tajik" in China's western Xinjiang region are actually a collection of over a dozen small Eastern Iranian who merged with the Tajiks, who are themselves a very mixed group.

Origin of the term

The origin of the term "Tajik" is somewhat unclear. Today, most historians believe that the word "Tajik" - first mentioned by the Turkish historian Mahmoud Al-Kāshgharī - is an old Turkish expression referring to all Persian-speaking peoples of the region who are of Iranian origin. Alternatively some believe that it is a term of Eastern Iranian origin, which may originally have been applied by the inhabitants of Central Asia to the Arab conquerors of the region, and that its etymology is linked to the tribe of Tayy, whilst from the 11th century it came to be applied principally to Iranians. However, it is hard to establish use of the word before the Turkic conquest of Central Asia, and since at least the 15th century it has been used by the region's Iranian population to distinguish themselves from Turks. Even Persians in Iran who live in the Turkish-speaking parts of the country call themselves "Tajik", something remarked upon in the 15th century by the poet Mir Ali Sher Nawa'i of Herat . In addition to that, Tibetans call all Persians (including those in Iran) Tajik.

Based on these facts, the name Tajik can be considered a synonym for Persian.

In the Turco-Persian culture of the conquerors Timur and Babur, the word "Tajik" referred to the Persian-speaking clerks who were schooled in Arabic. In the Safavid era, "Tajik" referred to the Persian administors and nobles of the kingdom.

In addition, the name Tajik, both for the people and for the nation itself, is a geographic reference to the crown (Taj) of the Pamir Knot.

As an alternative, the term Sart was also used as a synonym for Tajik in the medieval post Genghis Khan period, and thus for a Persian speaker.

Location

Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of Tajikistan, as well as in northeastern Afghanistan and the cities of Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, and Herat. Tajiks also dominate the populations of the cities of Bukhara and Samarqand in Uzbekistan, and are found in large numbers in the Surxondaryo Province of southern Uzbekistan, and in the eastern part of that country, along its border with Tajikistan. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a much larger territory in Central Asia, but were largely displaced as waves of Turkic invaders moved into the region from the north and east. Today, Tajiks comprise around 79.9% of the population of Tajikistan, and between 25-30% of the population of Afghanistan. Official statistics in Uzbekistan state the Tajik community as comprising 5% of the nation's total population, although these numbers do not include many ethnic Tajiks whose mother tongue was Uzbek. Moreover, some Tajiks choose for a variety of reasons to declare themselves to be ethnic Uzbeks; it is widely believed that they make up 15 to 30 percent of the country's population.

In addition, there are an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tajiks found in western Pakistan (NWFP), most being refugees from the Afghan war while others are native to various regions such as Chitral (see Wakhi language) and the Gilgit Agency.

Language

The language of the Tajiks is Persian, also called Dari. The dialect of Tajikistan is called Tajiki. It is an Indo-European language, more specifically part of the Iranian language group. Tajik is an offspring of the Persian language, and belongs - along with Afghanistan's Dari - to the Eastern dialects of Persian. Historically, it was considered the local dialect of Persian spoken by the Tajik ethnic group in Central Asia; when the Soviet Union imposed the use of the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, it came to be considered a separate language in Tajikistan, partly for political reasons. (In Afghanistan, however, Tajiks continued to use the Arabic script.) The language has diverged from Persian, as spoken in Iran, having far fewer Arabic loan words. However, the language is greatly influenced by Russian because of political borders; nevertheless, a transcribed Tajik text can in general be easily read and understood by a speaker of the western dialect of Persian, and vice versa. The common origin of the two languages is underscored by the Tajiks' claim to such famous writers as Omar Khayyám, Firdausi, Rumi and Navoi.

Russian is widely used in government and business in Tajikistan as well.

Religion

The great majority of Tajiks follow the Sunni form of Islam, although small Ismaili and Jafari Shia minorities also exist in scattered pockets. In Afghanistan, Tajiks who follow Jafari Shiism are called Farsi or Farsiwan (Persians). Additionally, small Tajik Jewish communities (known as Bukharan Jews) have existed since ancient times in the cities of Samarqand and Bukhara, and in smaller numbers in Herat, Kabul, and other Tajik centers. Over the 20th century, the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to Israel and the United States, although many of these emigrants maintain ties with their homeland. Despite the advent of Christian missionaries to Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Tajik Christian population is virtually non-existent.

Physical characteristics

Physically, most Tajiks belong to the Mediterranean subgroup of the Caucasian race. While the average Tajik has dark hair and eyes with medium to fair skin, light hair and eyes are not uncommon, particularly in mountainous regions such as Badakhshan. Some Tajiks in Central Asia show definite Turkic-Mongol admixture, while remote Mountain Tajiks appear to more closely resemble the populations that existed before the Turkic and Mongol invasions. A minority of Tajiks in Afghanistan also show traces of Turkic-Mongol ancestry (possibly derived from the Hazara and/or Uzbeks) as well as some Indian phenotypes. In addition, Tajiks are often distinguished from the related Farsiwan by religion as opposed to appearance. The Tajiks, as a whole, are a somewhat eclectic population genetically and display a wide range of phenotypes.

Recent developments

The collapse of the Soviet Union and the civil war in Afghanistan both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region. Tajikistan in particular has been a focal point for this movement, and the government there has made a conscious effort to revive the legacy of the Samanid empire, the first Tajik-dominated state in the region after the Arab conquest.

Tajiks in China

The Tajiks (Chinese: 塔吉克族, Pinyin: Tǎjíkèzú) are one of the 56 nationalities officially recognized by the People's Republic of China.

This group with a population of 41,028 (2000), is located mainly in China's western Xinjiang region with 60% living in Taxkorgan Tajik Autonomous County; some researchers view them as a collection of over a dozen small East Iranian ethnic groups that are related to, but distinct from, the Tajiks of Tajikistan.

In China, the Tajik language has no official written form. The great majority of Chinese Tajik speakers (16,000) speak the Sariqul (or Sariköli) dialect and use Uyghur and Chinese to communicate with people of other nationalities in the area. A small proportion of Chinese Tajik speakers (6,000) speak the Wakhi dialect.

See also

• Persian people
• Iranian peoples
• List of famous Persian women
• Persian woman
• Persian culture

Notes & References

1. CIA - The World Factbook - Uzbekistan
2. US Department of State Report
3. D. Carlson, "Uzbekistan: Ethnic Composition and Discriminations", Harvard University, August 2003
4. CIA - The World Factbook - Afghanistan
5. CIA - The World Factbook - Tajikistan
6. Library of Congress Country Studies - Tajikistan - Historical & Ethnic Background - 1996
7. M.E. Subtelny, "The Symbiosis of Turk and Tajik" in B.F. Manz (ed.), Central Asia in Historical Perspective, (Boulder, Col. & Oxford), 1994, p. 48
8. Ali Shir Nava'i Muhakamat al-lughatain tr. & ed. Robert Devereaux (Leiden: Brill) 1966 p6
9. See for example the Country report on Uzbekistan, released by the United States Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor here.
10. J. Sloame, "Bukharan Jews", Jewish Virtual Library, (LINK)
11. Library of Congress Country Studies - Afghanistan - Ethnic Groups - Tajik - 1997

Literature

• Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1980
• Jawad, Nassim, Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities, London: Minority Rights Group, 1992, ISBN 0946690766.
• World Almanac and Book of Facts 2003, ISBN 0886878829.
• Gawarjon (ed.): Tǎjíkè-Hàn cídiǎn 塔吉克汉词典. Tujik ziv – Hanzu ziv lughot (Tajik-Chinese dictionary; Chengdu, Sichuan minzu chubanshe 1996).

External links

• Uzbekistan: Ethnic Composition And Discrimination
• Khorasan: History Of The Tajik Nation
• "Central Asian Jews." from The Red Book of the Peoples of the Russian Empire.
• The Tajik ethnic minority (China) (government website, in English)
• Ethnologue statistics on Eastern Farsi speakers. Statistics regarding Tajiki speakers.
• Geographic distribution of Tajiks world-wide
• Female Genetics
• Male Genetics (the origin of R1a1 is under question see) (see Genetics and Archaeogenetics of South Asia)

• Persian people
• Ethnic groups in Afghanistan
• Ethnic groups in Asia
• Ethnic groups in Pakistan
• Iranian peoples
• Ethnic groups in Tajikistan
• Ethnic groups in Uzbekistan