Iranian peoples of Russia, Iranian peoples of Dagestan
Total: up to approximately 200 million
Middle East, Central Asia, Asia Minor, South Asia, Transcaucasia and North Caucasus, Europe, America

Language

Iranian languages

Religion

Mostly Islam, also Zoroastrianism, Christianity, Bahaism, Yezidism, Judaism.

Included in

Indo-European family

Related peoples

Indo-Aryans, Dards, Nuristanis, Indo-Europeans Finno-Ugric Turks

Iranian peoples, Iranians(Persian اقوام ایرانی‌تبار‎ aɣvâm-e irâni-tabâr, Taj. mardumkhoi eroni; agvomi eroni-tabor, Ossetian iraynag adæmtæ) is a group of peoples of common origin speaking Iranian languages ​​of the Aryan branch of the Indo-European family of languages. currently distributed in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan; partly on the territory of Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Turkey, Crimea, Iraq, Syria, Oman, China, Azerbaijan, Georgia and southern Russia.

• 1 Origin of the name
• 2 Ethnogenesis
• 3 Ambiguity of the term "Iranians"
• 4 Iranian languages
• 5 Ancient Iranians
• 6 Modern Iranian peoples
  • 6.1 Formation history
  • 6.2 List of modern Iranian peoples
• 7 Culture and religion
  • 7.1 Greater Iran
    • 7.1.1 Iranian culture
    • 7.1.2 External influences and peoples with Iranian roots
    • 7.1.3 Religions
  • 7.2 Ossetia
• 8 See also
• 9 Notes
• 10 Links

origin of name

Indo-Europeans
Indo-European languages
Anatolian Albanian Armenian Baltic Venetian Germanic Illyrian Aryan: Nuristani, Iranian, Indo-Aryan, Dardic Italian (Romance) Celtic Paleo-Balkan Slavic Tocharian italicized dead language groups
Indo-Europeans
Albanians Armenians Balts Venetians Germans Greeks Illyrians · Iranians Indo-Aryans Italics (Romans) Celts Cimmerians Slavs Tokhars Thracians Hittites in italics now defunct communities
Proto-Indo-Europeans
Language Homeland Religion
Indo-European Studies p o r

The ethnonym "Iranians" comes from the historical name "Iran" (pehl. ērān, Persian ايراﻥ‎), derived from the ancient Iranian a (i) ryāna - Aryan (land), (land) of the Aryans. Wed avest. airyana- "Aryan", airyō.šayana "abode of the Aryans", airyå daiŋʹhāwō - "country of the Aryans", Parth. and sogd. aryān "Iran", Alan. *alān "alan".

Ethnogenesis

The origin of the Iranian-speaking peoples is associated with the collapse of the Indo-Iranian continuum, which took place approximately at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. on the former territory of the ancient, most likely, pre-Indo-Iranian Bactrian-Margian culture (Central Asia and Afghanistan). As a result, initially compact communities of Indo-Aryans, Mitannians and Iranians proper appeared, which turned out to be separated by geographical and linguistic barriers. From the end of II to the end of I millennium BC. e. there is a wide expansion of Iranian-speaking tribes from the Central Asian region, as a result of which the Iranians are settled in large areas of Eurasia from the west of China to Mesopotamia and from the Hindu Kush to the Northern Black Sea region.

Ambiguity of the term "Iranians"

In modern use, the word "Iranians" more often refers to the inhabitants of modern Iran, especially Persian-speaking ones, which is primarily due to the official renaming of this country in 1935 from "Persia" to "Iran". Meanwhile, the term "Iran" itself was originally used for a much larger region, which also includes Afghanistan and the south Central Asia(Greater Khorasan). To distinguish between the concepts modern state Iran" and "historical Iran" for the latter use the expression "Persia".

In addition, the term "Iran" itself is associated primarily with the Persian language and the Persian epic tradition (see Shahnameh). Other Iranian-speaking peoples developed their designations on the basis of a common ancient ethnonym, for example, among the ancestors of the Ossetians: alan< *aryāna.

Iranian languages

Main article: Iranian languages

The Iranian languages ​​are a group within the Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages, the Indo-Aryan and Dardic languages ​​are closest to them, originating with them from the same Indo-Iranian community, which broke up approximately at the beginning. II millennium BC e.

As a result of migrations over considerable distances and increasing isolation, Iranian unity disintegrates in the beginning. I millennium BC e., so the Iranian language group strongly differentiated, and the languages ​​of its extreme branches are completely incomprehensible.

The new Iranian community is characterized by the centuries-old dominance of the Persian colloquial and literary language(and its closely related branches in the form of the Dari language and Tajik) and its suppression of other Iranian languages, the legacy of which can be seen to this day.

ancient iranians

Scythians. Drawing of a vessel from Kul-Oba Persian warriors. Relief in Persepolis.

By the end of the 1st millennium BC. e. Iranian peoples settled in vast territories, including the Iranian plateau, Central Asia, the Hindu Kush region up to the Indus, Xinjiang, Kazakhstan, the steppes north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea.

Following the Iranian languages, it is sometimes customary to divide the ancient Iranian peoples into western and eastern, although for the ancient Iranians themselves such a division was hardly relevant, since in the 1st millennium all Iranian languages ​​were still very close to each other and mutually intelligible. Much more relevant was the difference in economic type: some Iranian peoples were sedentary farmers or mountain semi-sedentary shepherds, others mastered a nomadic lifestyle.

• Sedentary and semi-sedentary peoples
  • ancient Persians
  • Medes
  • Parthians
  • sagartia
  • satagity
  • zarangians
  • arachosia
  • Margians
  • Bactrians
  • Sogdians
  • Khorezmians
• nomadic peoples
  • saki
    • Saks of Khotan, who became a settled people.
  • Massagetae
  • couples
  • Scythians
  • Sarmatians
    • tongues
    • roxolans
    • Alans
  • Hephthalites
  • chionites

Modern Iranian peoples

History of formation

Compared with ancient era the ethnic map of modern Iranian peoples has undergone significant changes. The main milestones here were:

• Disintegration since the III century. n. e. world of Iranian-speaking nomads in the Eurasian steppes and its gradual assimilation by the Turkic nomads and Slavs. In the North Caucasus and in the Volga-Don steppes, the semi-nomadic Alanian ethnos persisted for a long time, finally losing its hegemony in the 13th-14th centuries. after the invasions of the Mongols and Tamerlane. The remnant of it, not subjected to linguistic assimilation, are the current Ossetians.
• Expansion first of the Middle Persian, and then its descendant of the New Persian language to the entire space of Greater Iran and the assimilation of many local Iranian dialects by it. As a result, an extensive Persian-Tajik community is formed from Hamadan to Ferghana, speaking closely related dialects. Only the community of Tats in northern Azerbaijan turned out to be somewhat isolated.
• The expansion of the Kurds from the regions of the central Zagros to upper Mesopotamia and the Armenian Highlands.
• The expansion of the Daylamites from the Caspian region, as a result of which the Zazak and Gurani tribes spread to the west, later integrated into the Kurdish community.
• The displacement of the Azeri language in Azerbaijan by the Oguz dialects of the Turkic family. Its remnants are the Tati dialects and the Talysh language.
• Migration of the semi-nomads of Gorgan and the formation of the Baloch in modern Balochistan.
• The expansion of the Pashtuns in Afghanistan to the west and north.
• Extensive, but far from complete, displacement of the Tajik language by Turkic dialects in Central Asia and northern Afghanistan and the formation of an Uzbek nation with strong settled Iranian traditions.

List of modern Iranian peoples

Dariush Talai, Iranian musician with tar Elderly Tajik Pashtuns: governors of Afghan provinces Hazara boy from Mazar-i-Sharif Pasha youth in national dress. Baloch peasant in Pakistan

• Persians and Tajiks(Persian, Dari فار# ، پار# ، ایرالی‌iclesی‌ et ، ت et fault, pårsån, rynihå (īrånīhå), tåjikhå (tåjīkhå), Taj. Forson, Eroni, then ҷi). Persians live mainly in Iran, partly in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. Tajiks live mainly in Tajikistan, Afghanistan, and partly in Uzbekistan. The problem of the relationship between Persians and Tajiks, whose dialects represent a continuum, is far from clear, which is especially evident in the example of Afghanistan, in the western regions of which the Persian-speaking population (Parsivans, Farsivans) is close in language, religion and traditions to the Persians of the Iranian regions of Khorasan and Sistan, and in In the eastern regions, the Persian-speaking population is called "Tajiks" and gravitates toward the Tajiks of Tajikistan. At the same time, the Dari language is recognized as one of the state languages ​​of the country, common to all Persian-Tajiks of Afghanistan, but based on the Persian-Tajik dialect of Kabul. The Persian-Tajiks of Afghanistan themselves usually distinguish themselves by religion (Shiism / Sunnism) and oppose themselves to nomads and semi-nomads as dekhkans (دهقان/دهغان), that is, settled farmers.
• Pashtuns(Pashto پښتون W. paṣ̌tún, East. paxˇtún pl. پښتانه W. paṣ̌tānə́, East. paxˇtānə́), they are also Afghans, an Eastern Iranian people, with a traditional nomadic and semi-nomadic life and an extensive tribal division, living in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
• Pashai(Persian پشه‌ای‎) - (self-name Lagman, Pashai) southeastern Iranian people, in Afghanistan (in the mountain valleys of the tributaries of the Kabul and Kunar rivers) and in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of modern Pakistan. The number of 100 thousand people. They speak the Pashai language of the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European family. The Dari and Pashto languages ​​are also widely spoken. The Pashai majority are Sunni Muslims and a small minority are Ismaili Muslims.
• Kurds(Kurd. Kurd / کورد, Kurd. Kurmancî / کورمانجی) - Western Iranian people, the main territory of residence between Turkey, Iraq, Iran and Syria. They have a tribal (clan) division and speak numerous dialects, grouped into two big adverbs: Kurmanji (Northern Kurdish) and Sorani (Southern Krudsk). The latter is much more fragmented, often Leks, Kelkhuri, Feyli, etc. are also distinguished from it. According to ethnic traditions, speakers of sharply different Zazak languages ​​​​(people zaza) and Gorani.
• Baloch(Baluchi. بلوچ balōč) - a nomadic and semi-nomadic ethnic group with a tribal division. The main territory of which is the Pakistani province of Balochistan and the Iranian province of Sistan and Balochistan.
• Mazenderans and Gilians(Mazend. مزرونی، تاپوری mazruni, topuri, Gil. گیلک giläk) are quite numerous peoples of the southern Caspian region, whose languages ​​do not have any status in Iran and are usually considered as dialects of the Persian language, although they are genetically quite far from it.
• Lura and Bakhtiari(لر، بختیاری lor, baxtiyårī) are traditionally nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes of Western Iran living in the Zagros Mountains. They speak dialects related to Persian.
• Pamir peoples- a set of diverse high-mountain ethnic groups speaking various East Iranian languages ​​​​(Shugnans, Rushans, Bartangs, Oroshorvs, Khufs, Sarykols, Yazgulyams, Ishkashims, Sanglichs, Vakhans, Munjans, Yidga) Live in the mountainous regions of Tajikistan and Afghanistan, as well as Pakistan and Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region of China. Also adjacent to them Yaghnobis(Yagnob. Yagnobi), whose dialect is the last relic of the Sogdian language.
• Ossetians(Ossetian iron, digoron) - mostly Iranian-speaking people, of local-Caucasian origin, most Ossetians are Christians. the force of long isolation is significantly different from all other Iranians.
• Hazaras(Khazar. azōra) - the descendants of the Mongol warriors who settled in the highlands of Afghanistan, mixed with the local population and mastered the local Persian-Tajik dialect.
• Charaimaki(Turk. "four tribes") - a set of nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes in the west of Afghanistan and the east of Khorasan, mainly of Turkic origin.
• tats(Tat. tat, parsi) - the people of Transcaucasia of Persian origin, whose language, due to isolation and archaism, goes beyond the scope of the Persian-Tajik dialect community itself.
• Talish(Talysh. Tolysh) - a people of Iranian origin, formed on a significant Caucasian substrate with an area of ​​\u200b\u200bresidence on the territory of Iran and Azerbaijan.
• Yasy(Hungarian Jászok, Ossetian Yastæ) - Iranian people in Hungary. By religion they are Catholic Christians.

There are also other local groups of Iranians - speakers of separate "small" languages, who usually do not ethnically separate themselves from the surrounding Iranian people (Persians, Pashtuns, Kurds) and are often bilingual.

• Carriers of the Tati dialects, common among Iranian Azerbaijanis in islands ("Azerbaijani Persians").
• Semnan heterogeneous language speakers (see Semnan)
• Speakers of Central Iranian Dialects (Rajas)
• Confessional community of Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman, carriers of the northwestern Iranian Dari language.
• Speakers of Fars and Larestan dialects.
• Bashkardi - a people in the southeast of Iran in the province of Hormozgan on the coast of the Gulf of Oman (southwestern Iranian dialects)
• Kumzari - a people in the UAE, Oman and the islands of the Strait of Hormuz (southwestern dialects)
• Zaza and Gorani, speakers of languages ​​of Caspian origin, integrated into the Kurdish community.
• Ormurs and Parachis are carriers of isolated northwestern dialects, distributed by islands in Afghanistan among the Pashtun and Tajik populations.
• Vanetsi are a group of Pashtuns with the Vanetsi language very different from other Pashto dialects.

Besides, in Arab countries The Persian Gulf is inhabited by Persian-speaking groups of Iranian origin: Ajams (Bahrain) and Huwala (UAE, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain)

Jews living in Iranian-speaking regions are carriers of various Jewish-Iranian languages

Culture and religion

Greater Iran

See also: Paniranism

Iranian culture

Most of the Iranian peoples belong to the cultural and historical region of Greater Iran, whose culture has evolved since the beginning. II millennium BC e. and during the I millennium BC. e. on the basis of the ancient Aryan traditions going back to the Proto-Indo-European traditions and the culture of the pre-Indo-European population of Central Asia (BMAC), the Hindu Kush and the Iranian plateau (Elam, Manna). Throughout history, Iranian peoples have been significantly influenced by interethnic contacts with the Middle East, especially with the civilizations of Mesopotamia, and later with the Greeks, Indo-Aryans, Turks, etc.

Zoroastrianism (Mazdeism), a prophetic religion, which became the main form of national beliefs of the ancient Iranians, had a great influence on the formation of the pan-Iranian culture. The remnants of Zoroastrianism are still noticeable in the traditions of the peoples inhabiting Greater Iran, including the Turkic-speaking ones. Zoroastrian beliefs were close to Zoroastrianism. Buddhism, Manichaeism and Christianity were also widespread in the ancient Iranian-speaking world.

The political culture of the Iranians was formed under the influence of vast empires founded by Iranian-speaking dynasties: the Achaemenid, Arshakid, Kushan and, above all, the Sassanian, in which Zoroastrianism and the idea of ​​the “Iranian kingdom” (pehl. Ērān-šahr) were widely promoted.

The Sasanian state was destroyed directly by the warriors of the Arab caliphs (7th century), which marked the beginning of the spread of Islam in Greater Iran. Since the completion of the Islamization of the Iranians as a whole (X century), the national revival of Iranian culture and the rise of the New Persian language under the auspices of the Samanids and subsequent Turkic dynasties coincide. This is the time of compiling the poetic code of the national Iranian epic Shahnameh, collected from pre-Islamic traditions dating back to the Avesta and folk tales about Iranian kings and heroes. Since this era, Persian cultural influence has spread over vast areas of the Muslim world from Asia Minor and Rumelia to East Turkestan and North India. The broad development of the Sufi movement is closely connected with classical Persian poetry in the Iranian world.

Traditional Iranian culture is based on a predominantly agricultural way of life. Agriculture in the Iranian region has long had an intensive oasis character, with extensive use of irrigation. The main grain crop is wheat, to a lesser extent rice. An important element Iranian life is also a garden. Cities from administrative centers (šahr (estān) - “place of power”) grew into large trading, craft, religious and cultural settlements. Iranians of different faiths are united by many common beliefs and traditions, the most striking of which is the celebration of the New Year of Novruz.

Despite the existence of Iranian peoples of different languages ​​in antiquity, most of the settled population of Greater Iran (دهقان dehqɒn "peasant") switched to the Persian language, which spread from Fergana to Khuzestan. Significant areas of other Iranian languages ​​have been preserved only in regions with significant cultural and economic originality. First of all, these are the high-mountain valleys of the Pamirs and the wooded and humid Caspian lowlands, where the economy is also based on agriculture, as well as areas where the traditional economy is based on semi-nomadic or mountain transhumance - Kurdistan, Lorestan, Balochistan and the lands of the Pashtuns. The pastoral Iranian peoples have a great cultural identity and often subordinate their lives to traditional codes of honor and social customs, like Pashtunvalai among the Pashtuns or Marai among the Balochs.

External influences and peoples with Iranian roots

Iranian culture provided big influence on the peoples of the Middle East, the Caucasus, South Asia, as well as the Eurasian nomads and their descendants in different guises: in the form of the culture of Iranian-speaking nomads, the cosmopolitan Achaemenid empire, the national-theocratic power of the Sassanids or the Persian-Muslim culture. Interaction with other peoples of the Greater Iran region and the extensive assimilation of the Iranian-speaking population in new ethno-linguistic communities led to the penetration of many elements of Iranian culture into the traditions of non-Iranian-speaking peoples. The ethnogenesis of many Turkic-speaking peoples (Azerbaijanis, settled Turkmens, Uzbeks, Uighurs) took place on a significant Iranian substrate. Also, the Parsis and Jats are considered Iranian groups that switched to the Indo-Aryan languages.

Religions

Most modern Iranian peoples are divided between two directions Islam:

• Sunnis: Tajiks, Pashtuns, Balochs, southern Talyshs (adherents of the Sufi Nakshbandi order), some Ossetians, Kurds (mainly Shafi'i madhhab).
• Twelver Shiites: Persians, part of the Iranian Kurds and most of the small peoples of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Mazenderans, Gilans, Semnans, etc.), northern Talysh, Tats, Farsivans of western Afghanistan (primarily Herats), Khazarians.

Other Shia currents are represented by:

• Ismailis- among the Pamir peoples;
• Alevis- among the Zaza people
• sect Ahl-e Haqq- among the Gorani and part of the neighboring Kurds.

Some of the Kurds profess Yezidism- a syncretic movement that has strongly departed from Islam and absorbed many pre-Islamic Iranian beliefs. Zoroastrianism survived only in the form of the Yazd and Kerman communities, whose representatives in modern times settled in other major cities of Iran. Currently, most of the Zoroastrians of Iran live in Tehran. Judaism Iranian-speaking groups of Persian, Mountain and Bukharian Jews profess.

• Orthodox Christianity- among the Ossetians (Iranian-speaking people living in the Caucasus)

Ossetia

The fate of another historical Iranian-speaking region - Alania, which was the last remnant of the world of the Scythian-Sarmatian nomads, developed differently. Intensive ties between the Alanian and other Sarmatian tribes with the oases of Central Asia, primarily with Khorezm and Sogd, inhabited by kindred Iranian-speaking peoples, did not stop until the end of the 1st millennium AD. e., when the Alans began to get closer to the local peoples North Caucasus and be drawn into the orbit of Byzantine influence. The remains of the Alans in the form of modern Ossetians were formed on a significant North Caucasian substrate and, in fact, are Caucasian people with traditional North Caucasian culture, but with noticeable Iranian roots.

A distinctive feature of the Ossetians is the confession Orthodox Christianity, which penetrated with the Byzantine preachers of the Alanian diocese starting from the 7th-8th centuries, but finally planted only with the entry of Ossetia into the Russian Empire. Folk Orthodoxy of the Ossetians is saturated with elements of traditional beliefs, dating back both to the Caucasian substratum and to the Aryan religion of the Alans. An important role in the culture of the Ossetians is played by the all-North Caucasian Nart epic, which included significant Indo-Iranian elements dating back to the beliefs of the Alans and Scythians.

At present, there is an active rapprochement of cultures with kindred Iranian peoples.

see also

• Greater Iran
• Iranian languages
• Tajiks

Notes

1. "The Paleolithic Indo-Europeans" - Panshin.com. Retrieved 4 June 2006.
2. Izmailova A.A. Talyshi (Ethnocultural processes).
3. E. Ehlers. AGRICULTURE in Iran
4. M. Bazin. BĀḠ ii. General
5. (people). Article from the Encyclopædia Britannica

   The Azerbaijanis are of mixed ethnic origin, the oldest element deriving from the indigenous population of eastern Transcaucasia and possibly from the Medians of northern Persia. This population was Persianized during the period of the Sāsānian dynasty of Iran (3rd-7th century ce).

6. Azerbaijanis in TSB
7. B.S. Dhillon: History and Study of the Jats, ISBN 1-895603-02-1

Links

• Encyclopaedia Iranica

Modern Iranian peoples
Southwestern subgroup	Bakhtiars Lurs Persians Tajiks Tats Farsivans Hazaras Charaimaks
Northwestern subgroup	Balochi Gilyans (Galeshes) Zazas Kurds (Yazidis) Mazenderans Talyshs
Southeastern subgroup	Pamir peoples (Badzhuvs Bartangs Vakhans Ishkashims Munjans Rushans Sarykols Khufs Shughnans Yazgulyams) Pashtuns Pashai
Northeastern subgroup	Ossetian Yaghnobis
Ethno-confessional groups	Zoroastrians: (Parsis of the Hebras) Ahl-e Haqq

Iranian peoples of Dagestan, Iranian peoples of the world, Iranian peoples of Russia, Iranian peoples of the north

Iranian peoples information about

Persians (the self-name of Irani) - the dominant nationality of Iran - make up, as noted above, slightly less than half country's population. In total, about 9.5 million Persians live in the countries of Western Asia; 9200 thousand of them live in Iran, about 90 thousand people in Iraq, in the area of ​​the "holy cities" of the Shiites - Najaf and Karbala, and the rest - in small groups of several tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan and the Arab countries, where, however, to Persians include all Iranian subjects, regardless of their nationality. Outside of Iran, the Persians are engaged in agriculture (Iraq), as well as trade and crafts; they constitute a prominent stratum among the oilfield workers in Saudi Arabia and in the Bahrain Islands.

The word "Iran" is derived from more ancient form"Ariana" (Airiana in the later edition of the Avesta), "the country of the Aryans." This term was used as the name of the main part of the state of the Sassanids, who called themselves "the kings of Iran and not Iran." It is also found in Arabic historical and geographical sources in the form "Iran-shahr" (state of Iran). This term has been preserved due to the revival of old traditions in the 10th century. Ferdowsi epic poem "Shahnameh". In the future, this term was assigned to the name of the country - Iran, regardless of the ethnic composition of its population. At the same time, for the name of the Persians, a term has long been used that comes from the name of the main area of ​​\u200b\u200btheir habitat - Fars, or Pars (in the Greek transmission), in Russian "Persians"; the language of this people is accordingly called "Farsi", in Russian "Persian". At the same time, the adjective "Iranian" derived from the term "Iran" was firmly entrenched in the name of a group of related languages ​​and peoples speaking them - "Iranian languages", "Iranian peoples".

Iranian nationalists using different meanings terms "Iran", "Iranian", "Iranian", mechanically united under these terms not only the country, but also all the peoples of multinational Iran, including the Persian people. In this work, following the tradition firmly established in Russian and Soviet literature, we draw a clear distinction between the terms: “Iran”, used in the meaning of the Iranian state and country; "Iranian" - in the sense of a group of Iranian languages ​​\u200b\u200band the peoples speaking them, "Persian" - in the meaning of the name of the main nationality of Iran and "Persian" language - in the meaning of the language of this people.

In Iran, the Persians mainly inhabit the Central, 1st, 2nd, 7th and 10th Astana, most of the 9th, the northwestern part of the 8th and the eastern part of the 5th and 6th Astanas, i.e. almost all areas of irrigated and cultivated land, with the exception of the regions adjacent to the northwest: Iranian Azerbaijan, from the west - Kurdistan and Khuzistan, and from the north - the settlement areas of Turkmens and Kurds in Khorasan bordering on the Soviet states of Central Asia.

Almost throughout the country, except for Iranian Azerbaijan and partly Kurdistan, the Persians make up the bulk of the urban population, engaged in crafts and trade, as well as the bulk of civil servants and freelancers. The ruling feudal-landlord and bourgeois elite of Iran, regardless of their actual origin, usually classifies themselves as Persians (a well-known part of the modern Iranian nobility comes from the Qajars and other Turkic tribes that dominated Iran since the time of the Safavids).

The rural population of certain Persian regions has a number of characteristic differences in appearance, in everyday life, economy, language, and often even retains its local names. Thus, the population of Gilan and Mazanderan is made up of the so-called Gilyaks and Mazanderans, as well as Talyshs and Galeshs. They speak special Iranian dialects and retain in everyday life many peculiar features that distinguish them from the Persians, from whom they also differ in their physical type.

A large number of the Persian rural population of the southern slopes of Elburz and the eastern slopes of Zagros is concentrated in oases located in the vicinity of large cities; many special local features and remnants of old Persian dialects are also preserved here. Almost everywhere in these northern regions of Iran, the rural Persian population lives side by side with other tribes and peoples of Iranian, Turkic or Arab origin.

In Khorasan, the Persian population predominately occupies the southern regions of the province, while its northern part is mainly inhabited by Turkmens and Kurds. Starting from the Kuchano-Mashkhed valley, the Persian language gains predominance, and south of Mashkhed, the Turkic language gradually disappears. "A significant part of the Persians lives further south, in Cain, as well as in Seistan, where they are called seistani.

In the western regions of Iran, populated sequentially from north to south by Azerbaijanis, Kurds, Lurs and Bakhtiars, as well as Arabs, the Persian population is almost completely absent. The same can be noted in relation to the southeastern part of the country, inhabited by the Balochs.

A very significant percentage of the population are Persians in the central and southern parts of the country, in the provinces located southwest and south of the Great Desert. In the districts of Kashan, Isfahan, Yazd, Kerman,. Bam, Shiraz, Abade, the Persians constitute the dominant majority of the population; at the same time, as noted in relation to other regions, the Persian population of each territorially isolated region, which often constituted a separate feudal possession in the past, has a number of characteristic features in everyday life and language, preserved to the present time

Of the total mass of Persians, it is necessary to single out the Gebrs, or Zardoshti, who profess Zoroastrianism, in contrast to the rest of the Persians, who are Shiite Muslims. The Gebras are a closed community and have little contact with the rest of the population; life saves them

many features that have already been lost by the rest of the Persians, which makes it possible to distinguish them in a special ethnographic group. The Gebras live in Iran mainly in the cities of Yazd and Kerman; some of them live in Tehran. In total, there are from 10 to 20 thousand Gebrs in Iran; a significant number of them live in northwestern India (Bombay).

Of the total mass of Persians, one should also single out a small number of so-called farce nomads in the Shiraz and Kerman provinces; very little is known about them.

The question of the origin of the Persian people is still insufficiently studied. Until now, no traces of Paleolithic man have been found on the territory of Iran and the regions closest to it. All primitive archaeological finds made in Iran belong to the Neolithic and Chalcolithic eras.

Excavations in Susa (Khuzistan), in Anau (on the territory of the USSR, near Ashgabat), in Mesopotamia, near ancient Persepolis, and in the north, near the cities of Damgan and Gorgan, yielded a large number of Late Neolithic tools and painted ceramics, and also found traces of a Neolithic dwelling . These finds showed that on the territory of Iran there was a developed agricultural culture, which was close to the cultures of the same type in Mesopotamia, North India and Central Asia and constituted with them a single cultural area. Some researchers believe that the existence of an earlier primitive agricultural culture was more likely to be possible on the Iranian plateau than on the plains of Mesopotamia, since the development of small rivers of the internal Iranian basin for irrigation seems to be easier than the development of large Mesopotamian rivers.

A large number of finds in Iran and neighboring countries date back to the Eneolithic period. Copper and bronze appeared here, apparently, already in the 4th millennium BC. e. and can be traced later - in the II millennium. The richest culture of the Luristan bronze is very peculiar, the oldest examples of which probably date back to the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e.

We owe our acquaintance with the names of some peoples who lived in the western part of the Iranian plateau to the written monuments of the ancient Mesopotamia. Such are the Lulubei, Gutei (mid-III millennium BC) and Kassites (XVIIT century BC), who at one time conquered the Mesopotamian plain. tamiya. However ethnic background these peoples remains unclear; in any case, neither Lulubei nor Gutei spoke Indo-European languages. It can be said with certainty that only from the middle of the 2nd millennium did separate Indo-European elements appear, for example, among the Hurrians on the upper reaches of the Euphrates, as well as among the above-mentioned Kassites, immigrants from the Zagros mountains; these elements are seen in the Indo-European names of kings, dynasties, gods, as well as in some common nouns.

The first news about the Indo-European tribes on the territory of Iran - about the Medes and related Persians - dates back to the 9th century. BC e., when these tribes are named in the Assyrian monuments. The Persian tribes, of which Herodotus numbers ten (six settled and four nomadic) 2, were originally under the rule of their kindred Medes, who created in the second half of the 7th century. before. n. e. strong state which extended its dominance to a number of neighboring countries. However, in the middle of the VI century. BC e. The Persians overthrew the power of the Medes.

The founder of the Achaemenid dynasty, Cyrus (558-529 BC) and his successors (Kambiz, Darius I) managed to unite the Persians, conquer a number of countries and peoples and create a vast state. This contributed to the withering away of primitive communal relations among the Persian tribes and the development of slavery; but Persian power in general did not have a single economic base and was only a military-administrative association. Characteristic in this regard is the inscription of Darius I on the construction of the palace in Susa, containing a list of peoples whose representatives were used in the construction of the palace as stone cutters, goldsmiths, construction workers and artisans in general. We find here Babylonians, Assyrians, Cilicians, Ionians (Greeks of Asia Minor), Indians, Medes, Egyptians. The Persians are absent from this list not only because at that time they were far inferior to the listed peoples in development material culture and crafts and could not put forward craftsmen from their midst for the construction and decoration of the royal palace. The reason lies in the fact that the Persians of the Achaemenid period had a military-tribal organization, thanks to which they managed to conquer most of the countries and peoples of Western Asia and force them to work for themselves. It is no coincidence that in the ancient Persian language the people and the army are called by the same word 3 .

After the fall in the IV century. BC e., as a result of the aggressive campaigns of Alexander the Great, the Achaemenid state on the territory of Iran, for several centuries there was a change of state formations, each of which, to the same extent as the state of the Achaemenids, was an association of various tribes and nationalities. However, the Persians did not occupy in these states the dominant position that they occupied in the state of the Achaemenids. This centuries-old period of intense struggle of the broad masses of the people, who were at different stages of socio-economic development, against the ever-increasing enslavement of their slave-owning nobility was at the same time, apparently, the period of the formation of the Persian people, as well as a number of other Iranian-speaking peoples on the territory of Iran and the Middle East. Asia. During this period, when a significant part of the Iranian-speaking tribes and nationalities began to intensively switch to agriculture, on the basis of old local cults, in particular the cult of fire, the dualistic religion of Zoroastrianism, which became so widespread in Iran and Central Asia, arose. Finally, it was during this period that the written form was formed and received on the basis of Aramaic alphabet the language of the ancient Persian people, called, in contrast to the ancient Persian language of the Achaemenid inscriptions, Middle Persian, or by the name of the largest state formation of that era - Parthia-Pahlavi 1 .

In 224 AD e. one of the princes of Fars, Ardeshir Papakan, revolted against the decrepit Parthian state, and a few years later he managed to create an extensive Sasanian 2 state.

In the centralized Sasanian state, originally (III-V centuries. I. e.) still slave-owning in its social basis, significant development was achieved by class differentiation among the free population, which led to the formation of separate classes - priests, warriors, farmers and artisans. The first two, to which the class of officials was later added, consisted of representatives of the landowning and slave-owning elite and were the main social support of the Sasanian monarchy; the farmers later merged into one estate with the artisans. Gradually, not only slaves, but also most of The free population turned out* to be dependent on the landowning nobility. There was a process of feudalization of Iranian society. Changes also took place in the religious life of Sasanian Iran. Zoroastrianism, with its cult not only of fire, but also of agriculture, was declared the state religion; Zoroastrian priests, who owned vast temple lands, constituted one of the large strata of the ruling class.

The protest of the oppressed masses against ever-increasing enslavement and social inequality found its expression in religious movements directed against Zoroastrianism. Arising in the 5th century in the north of Iran, the movement of the Mazdakites widely covered the Persian regions of Iran; it was attended by enslaved peasants, slaves, artisans, the urban poor, part of the small and medium landowners. This popular movement to a certain extent prepared the collapse of slaveholding relations.

The fierce class struggle in Sasanian Iran facilitated its conquest in the middle of the 7th century. Arabs, who included Iran in the newly formed state - the Caliphate. The conquerors brought with them a new religion - Islam, which gradually supplanted the ancient Zoroastrianism. The conquest also brought to Iran a new ethnic element - the Arabs, who gradually settled in the country and partially dissolved among the main population. Finally, the Arab conquerors accelerated the completion * of the process of feudalization of Iran. close to the Mazdakit movement.Brutally suppressing the uprisings, the Arab conquerors repeatedly used mass population movements.

The struggle of peoples against the Arab yoke and the development of feudalism led to the IX-X centuries. to the emergence on the territory of Iran and Central Asia individual states ruled by dynasties of local origin (Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Buyids).

From the beginning of the XI century. Iran fell under the centuries-old domination of the Turkic conquerors. In the XI century. Iran was conquered by the Seljuk Turkmens. After the weakening of their power at the end of the XII century. the country was torn apart by feudal civil strife, and in the end, after a short-term subordination to the sovereigns of Khorezm, it was conquered by the Mongols. From the end of the XIV century. Iran was taken over by Timur; in the second half of the XV century. Iran became the arena of struggle between the Timurids and two Turkmen dynasties - Ak-Koyunlu and Kara-Koyunlu. The period of Turkic and then Mongol domination is associated with a further change ethnic composition Iran: Numerous Turkic tribes appeared in the country, partly continuing to lead a nomadic lifestyle, partly moving to settled life and mingling with the main population of the country.

From the beginning of the XVI century. the Turkic dynasty of the Safavids (1502-1736) establishes its dominance over Iran. Initially, the Safavids relied on the armed forces of a number of Turkic tribes, united by them in the "Kizilbash Union". The Kyzylbash nomadic nobility formed the leading layer feudal class countries. Only during the heyday of the Safavid state, under Shahs Abbas I and Sefi I, the influence of the Qizilbash nobility was somewhat limited and the Safavids began to rely on the Iranian landowning aristocracy.

Waging successful wars with their neighbors, the Safavids practiced the mass resettlement of the conquered population (Armenians, Georgians) inland, and also moved individual groups population within the country (for example, Kurds were resettled in Khorasan to protect the borders). Most of the descendants of these settlers still live where their ancestors were settled by the Safavid shahs.

Under the Safavids, Shia Islam became the state religion of Iran.

The economic ruin of the country, due to the growth of feudal exploitation, the anti-feudal struggle of the masses and the struggle of submissive peoples against the power of the Safavid shahs were the reasons for the fact that from the second half of XVII in. The power of the Safavids began to decline. After the brief rule of the Afghans ( mid-eighteenth c.) and Nadir Shah, a native of the Turkic Afshar tribe, power in the country passed to Lur Kerim Khan, and in 1794 a long civil strife ended with the victory of the representative of the Turkic Qajar tribe, Aga Mohammed Khan. Thus began the reign of the hated the masses the Qajar dynasty (1794-1925), during which feudal exploitation and national oppression took on particularly acute forms. In the same period, great changes took place in the fate of Iran associated with the colonial enslavement of the country.

Already in the second half of the XVIII century. backward Iran, weakened by feudal anarchy, is beginning to attract the attention of European capitalists. Since 1763, the British, taking advantage of the weakness of the Iranian state, imposed on it a number of unequal treaties, which marked the beginning of the transformation of the Shah's Iran into a country dependent on England. In the future, this dependence continued to grow. In 1901, by threats and bribery, England forced the Shah to grant the English subject d'Arcy a concession for the monopoly exploitation of oil sources in the south of the country on conditions that were onerous for Iran. The Concession d'Arcy in 1909, on the initiative of the British Admiralty, was transformed into the Anglo-Persian oil company(later - the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company, abbreviated AINK), and more than half of all the company's shares were bought by the British government. The company has served as the main lever of not only economic, but also political enslavement Iran by British imperialism. AINC eventually turned into a state within a state: it received the right to maintain its own security and police, had its own access roads, marinas and ships, and actually controlled the appointment of the Iranian administration of Khuzistan, where oil development was carried out. Ruthlessly exploiting the workers, the company received huge profits. The English Shahinshah Bank also played a significant role in the enslavement of Iran.

At the same time, the northern regions of Iran were subjected to imperialist expansion by tsarist Russia.

By the beginning of the XX century. the imperialist enslavement of Iran has become a fait accompli. To characterize Iran's economic dependence on capitalist countries, chiefly England and Tsarist Russia, it is sufficient to point out that Iran had to pay only one interest annually on loans over £0.5 million. Art., which accounted for about one third of all government spending.

The transformation of Iran into a semi-colony severely retarded the development of domestic industry, prevented the emergence of factories and factories, and caused the decline of national manufacture and ancient crafts. The domination of foreign capital contributed to the strengthening of the existing political system and the preservation of feudalism in the country as the main economic structure. At the same time, due to the growth foreign trade and the development of commodity-money relations, the Iranian landlords were interested in increasing their land holdings, which they began to use for the production of crops that were in demand on the foreign market; as a result, the process of dispossession of the peasantry intensified. The Iranian bourgeoisie, unable to invest their capital in industry, put it into the ground and began to engage in usurious operations. A feverish purchase of land was carried out, prices for them rose, the landowners and the bourgeoisie began to seize peasant lands. The working masses responded to oppression by the ruling classes and foreign robbers with incessant uprisings. Almost half a century of the reign of Nasreddin Shah (1848-1896) was filled with unrest of the urban poor, artisans (the largest of them were the Babid uprisings of the 1840-1850s), and peasant uprisings.

Under these conditions, in the second half of the XIX century. in Iran, a national-bourgeois ideology began to take shape.

A sharp aggravation of internal social contradictions, the needs of the bourgeois development of the country, the struggle against its enslavement by the imperialists - all this served as the prerequisites for the Iranian bourgeois revolution 1905-1911 The immediate impetus was given by the revolution of 1905 in Russia, which played a great role in the history of Iran. Already at the turn of the 20th century. large masses of the unemployed rushed from Iran to the cities of Transcaucasia and Central Asia, where they adopted revolutionary experience from Russian workers. “Following the Russian movement of 1905,” wrote V.I. Lenin, democratic revolution embraced the whole of Asia - Turkey, Persia, China" 1 .

"World Capitalism and Russian movement 1905 finally awakened Asia. Hundreds of millions of the downtrodden, run wild in the medieval stagnation, the population woke up to a new life and to the struggle for elementary human rights, for democracy” 2 .

The Iranian bourgeois revolution did not fulfill the people's hopes and did not solve the objective task that it faced of creating an independent democratic state; the bourgeoisie proved incapable of resolving the agrarian question as well. However, the revolution of 1905-1911. led to the weakening of the feudal order. During the years of the Iranian bourgeois revolution, enjumen emerged throughout the country - self-government bodies that took an active part in leading workers' strikes in 1907-1908. By the same time, the first attempts to create workers' organizations, in particular the trade union of printers, date back.

During the First World War, despite the fact that Iran remained neutral, hostilities unfolded on its territory between the Turkish-German troops, on the one hand, and Russian and English, on the other. After the defeat of Germany, the British imperialists occupied the entire territory of Iran and in 1919 forced the Iranian government to sign the enslaving Anglo-Iranian agreement, which placed the state apparatus, army, finances, road construction and customs policy of Iran under British control. The signing of this agreement caused an explosion of indignation among the peoples of Iran: protest rallies were held in the cities, and the anti-imperialist movement in the country intensified. The agreement had to be cancelled.

The Great October Socialist Revolution had a huge impact on the development of the revolutionary and national liberation movement in Iran. new era in the liberation struggle of the peoples of the East, as well as the successes of Soviet Russia in the fight against intervention and the resolute rejection by the Soviet government of the policy of enslaving the underdeveloped countries. In 1918 and 1919 the Soviet government officially announced the annulment of all agreements of tsarist Russia directed against the independence of Iran; this statement was confirmed by the Soviet-Iranian treaty, signed in Moscow on February 26, 1921, the first equal treaty in the modern history of Iran. Under the influence of events in Russia in 1918-1922. Iran has a new wave popular movement, the national liberation movement developed in Gilan, there was an uprising of Sheikh Khiabani in Tabriz. Soviets were created in a number of cities, led by the social-democratic Adalat (Justice) party, renamed in 1920 into the Communist Party of Iran.

The national liberation movement in Iran was stifled by reactionary forces with the active help of the British imperialists. In February 1921, the British inspired a political coup in the country and brought their agent, Seyid Ziyaeddin, to power. The coup was carried out by the forces of the Iranian Cossack units with Reza Khan at the head. The government of Ziyaeddin fell a few months later, and Reza Khan in 1925 achieved the proclamation of himself as shah. The Qajar dynasty was overthrown.

The government of Reza Shah carried out landlord-bourgeois reforms, which played a well-known positive role in strengthening the Iranian state. However, these reforms were combined with a systematic suppression of the democratic movement. All democratic organizations were forced to go underground, national oppression intensified in the country, and the national movement was severely persecuted.

By the time of the reign of Reza Shah is the strengthening of American expansion in Iran. In 1922-1927. the so-called Milspaugh mission, violating the sovereignty and independence of Iran, tried to establish dominance of American monopolies in the country, primarily in the field of finance.

Starting in the 1930s, Reza Shah went into direct cooperation with Nazi Germany. German fascism began to take over the Iranian economy and turn the country into a springboard for an attack on the USSR. After the attack Nazi Germany on the Soviet Union despite repeated warnings from the Soviet government. Reza Shah continued to patronize German agents and give them asylum in Iran. Then the Soviet government was forced to send its troops to Iran on the basis of the Soviet-Iranian treaty of 1921, article 6 of which states that if third countries try to forcibly invade the territory of Iran or turn it into a base for military offensives against Soviet state, the Soviet government will have the right to send troops to the territory of Iran. At the same time, British troops were introduced into Iran, and somewhat later, US troops. In connection with the collapse of his policy, Reza Shah on September 16, 1941 was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Mohammed Reza.

The fall of the dictatorship of Reza Shah and the liberation nature of the Second World War caused a broad democratic movement in the country, led by the People's Party of Iran (Hizbe Tudeyeh Iran), which arose in 1941. The People's Party gained great prestige and soon became the only mass party of the working people of Iran. At the initiative of the People's Party, trade unions, democratic organizations of women, youth and peasant unions were created. have achieved great success. During these years, a broad working-class movement unfolded, which did not stop in subsequent years.

Previously, Iran was called Persia, and the country is still called that in many works of art. Often the culture of Iran is called Persian, Iranian civilization is also called Persian. Persians are called indigenous people Iran, as well as the people living in the countries of the Persian Gulf, the people living near the Caucasus, Central Asia, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North India.

The official name of the Iranian state is the Islamic Republic of Iran. The name of the country "Iran" is currently used for modern civilization, now the Persians are called Iranians, this is a people living in the territory between the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf. Iranians have been living in this territory for more than two and a half thousand years.

The Iranians have a direct relationship with the peoples who called themselves Aryans, who also lived in this territory in ancient times, they were the ancestors of the Indo-European peoples of Central Asia. For many years there have been invasions of the civilization of the Iranians, and in connection with this, the empire has undergone some changes.

Due to invasions and wars, the composition of the country's population gradually changed, the state expanded, and the peoples that fell into it spontaneously mixed. Today, we are faced with the following picture: as a result of a large number of migrations and wars, peoples of European, Turkic, Arab and Caucasian origin claim the territory and culture of Iran.

Many of these peoples live on the territory of modern Iran. Moreover, the inhabitants of Iran prefer that the country be called Persia, and them - Persians, in order to indicate their similarity and continuity in relation to Persian culture. Often the population of Iran does not want to have anything to do with a modern political state. Many Iranians have emigrated to the United States of America and Europe, but even there they do not want to compare themselves to the modern Islamic Republic of Iran, established in 1979.

The rise of a nation

The Iranian people are one of the oldest civilized peoples in the world. During the Paleolithic and Mesolithic times, the population lived in caves in the Zagros and Elburs mountains. The earliest civilizations in the region lived in the foothills of the Zagros, where they developed agriculture and animal husbandry, and the first urban culture was established in the Tigris and Euphrates basin.

The emergence of Iran is attributed to the middle of the 1st millennium BC, when Cyrus the Great creates the Persian Empire, which existed until 333 BC. The Persian Empire was conquered by Alexander the Great. In the sixth century BC, Persia regains its independence, and the Persian kingdom exists already until the seventh century AD.

The country is included in the Medina, and later in the Damascus caliphate with the advent of Islam to the territory of Persia. The original religion of the Zoroastrians practically disappears, being completely suppressed by Islam. Up to the present time, the same story of the unfolding of events is repeated in Iranian history: the conquerors of Iranian territory eventually become admirers of Iranian culture themselves. In a word, they become Persians.

The first of these conquerors was Alexander the Great, who swept through the area and conquered the Achaemenid empire in 330 BC. Alexander died soon after, leaving his generals and their descendants in this land. The process of dismemberment and conquest of the country ended with the creation of a renewed Persian Empire.

At the beginning of the third century AD, the Sassanids united all the territories to the east, including India, and successfully began to cooperate with the Byzantine Empire. The second Great Conquerors were the Arab Muslims who came from Saudi Arabia in 640 AD. They gradually merged with the Iranian peoples, and by 750 there was a revolution that pushed the new conquerors to become Persians, but interspersed with elements of their culture. This is how the empire of Baghdad was born.

The next conquerors who came with the wave Turkic peoples to the lands of Iran in the eleventh century. They established courts in the northeastern part of Khorasan and founded several large cities. They became patrons of Persian literature, art and architecture.

Sequential Mongol invasions The thirteenth century took place in a period of relative instability that lasted until the early sixteenth century. Iran regains its independence with the coming to power of the Persian Safavid dynasty. They set it up as state religion Shiism. And this period was the heyday of Iranian civilization. The capital of the Safavids, Isfahan, was one of the most civilized places on earth, long before most cities appeared in Europe.

The subsequent conquerors were the Afghans and the Turks, however, the result was the same as that of the previous conquerors. During the period of the conquest of Iran by the Qajar people from 1899 to 1925, Persia came into contact with European civilization in the most serious way. The industrial revolution in the West seriously shook the economy of Iran.

The absence of a modern army with the latest military weapons and vehicles leads to large losses of territory and influence. The Iranian rulers made concessions, giving the opportunity for the development of agricultural and economic institutions of their European competitors. This was necessary in order to raise funds necessary for modernization. Much of the money went directly into the pockets of the rulers.

A few years later, the country again comes to prosperity, thanks to the founding new dynasty. In 1906, a constitutional monarchy was proclaimed in Iran, which existed until 1979, when Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi was overthrown from the throne. In January 1979, Ayatollah Khomeini proclaims Iran an Islamic republic.

Ethnic relations of Iran

In Iran, there are basically no interethnic conflicts, especially considering the factor that a huge number of different nationalities live there. It can be concluded with confidence that no one persecutes or terrorizes ethnic minorities in Iran, and even more so there is no open discrimination.

Some groups living in Iran have always sought autonomy. One of the main representatives of such peoples are the Kurds living on the western border of Iran. These people are fiercely independent, constantly pressuring the Iranian central government to make economic concessions towards them and accept their autonomous decision-making powers.

However, outside of the urban areas, the Kurds already exercise formidable control over their regions. Iranian government officials navigate very easily in these areas. The Kurds in Iran, along with their counterparts in Iraq and Turkey, have long wanted to establish an independent state. The immediate prospects for this are rather dim.

nomadic generic groups in the southern and western regions of Iran also create some problems for the central government of the country. These peoples herd their goats and sheep and, as a result, are constantly nomadic for more than half of the year, these peoples have always been historically difficult to control.

These peoples are usually self-sufficient, and some of them are quite wealthy people. Attempts to normalize relations with these tribes in the past often met with violent actions. They are currently trying to make a fragile peace with the Iranian central authorities.

The Arab population in the southwestern Persian Gulf province of Khuzestan is showing its desire to break out of Iran. During the conflict between Iran and Iraq, Iraqi leaders supported the separatist movement as a way to counter Iranian officials. Severe social persecution in Iran was directed at the religious. Periods of relative calm alternated with periods of discrimination over the centuries. In accordance with current law Islamic Republic, these minorities were going through a difficult time.

While theoretically they should have been protected as "People of the Book" under Islamic law, Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians faced accusations of spying for Western countries or for Israel. Islamic officials also have a vague idea of ​​their tolerance for alcohol consumption, as well as relative freedom in relation to the female sex.

One group that has been widely persecuted dates back to the nineteenth century, but its religion was seen as a heretical Shia Muslim sect.

Persians, or Iranians, are the indigenous inhabitants of Persia (the current official name of the country is the Islamic Republic of Iran), the people of the Iranian group of the Indo-European family. Persians are the ethnic majority in Iran (51% of the country's more than 66 million population); they live mainly in the central and southern regions of Iran. A significant part of civil servants is recruited from the Persians. Outside of Iran, the Persians live mainly in neighboring countries - in Iraq, in the west of Afghanistan, in Azerbaijan and Turkmenistan. After the political upheavals of the second half of the twentieth century. a large group of Iranians emigrated to Europe and the United States. Today, a large number of immigrants from Iran also live in our country and in the southern states of the CIS. Along with the Afghans, they trade in the markets and conclude small wholesale deals. Many Persians abroad are engaged in religious propaganda.

Modern Iran is a multinational country. The main national minorities include Azerbaijanis (24% of the country's population), Kurds (7%), Gilans and Mazendarans (8% in total), Arabs (3), Lurs (2), Balochs (2), Turkmens (2), Turks (1), Bakhtiyars, Qashqais, Tajiks and other nationalities (in total - about 2% of the population). Formed as the state of the Persians, Iran in ancient times and in the Middle Ages carried out an active aggressive policy, Persian rulers united multilingual peoples and tribes under their rule. In the 7th century Persia was conquered by the Arabs. They brought with them Islam, which became the dominant religion: now 99% of the inhabitants of Iran are Muslims. At the same time, 89% of Iranians profess Shia Islam, 10% are Sunnis.
The poem "Confession of a Shiite" by the Russian poetess Lyudmila Avdeeva conveys the worldview of a simple Iranian:

There is no afterlife, I know, rich.
There is justice, all the joys are nearby.
And the beautiful Sheida will be with me.
And here on earth I don’t stand her gaze.

Here our family is the poorest of all in the quarter.
I don't dare to dream that Shade would be given to me.
It is hungry to live here, for so many years there is no work.
And there will be happy any unemployed.

There are rivers of mast, there are mountains of meat.
Rip fruit for dinner from the Garden of Eden.
Our neighbor Ali is dissatisfied with something.
He wants to study, but the house is not finished...

Shiite Islam, professed by only about one-tenth of all Muslims in the world, is the basis of the philosophy of life for the Persians.
Since 1979, in the Islamic Republic of Iran, the leadership of the state has been in the hands of Shiite theologians. The Islamic regime created a state unprecedented in modern history, in which all aspects of life were subordinated to the ideas of Shiite Islam. The political, legal, moral, aesthetic, ethical, cultural and philosophical ideas of the vast majority of Persians today are determined by the norms of Islam.
Love of God, clear and firm adherence to the norms and traditions of Islam is the main virtue highlighted by the inhabitants of modern Iran when emphasizing the positive character traits of a person. Of course, the set of positive characteristics of the Persian is not limited to these qualities.
A distinctive feature of the Iranians is hospitality. A polite welcome is the minimum that a foreigner who comes to this country for the first time can count on. The accusation of inhospitality is one of the worst in Iran. In any house you will be greeted with the words "Hosh amadid!" ("Welcome!"). The guest will be given the best place at the table and fed with the best and most varied dishes. Even if this is the house of the poorest Persian, the neighbors will help him meet the guest. For the host, there is nothing more pleasant than hearing from the guest that the efforts were not in vain, that he was amazed by the reception, the richness of the dishes and their taste.

Women at the demonstration carry a portrait President Khatami

Indeed, kindness is one of business cards Iranians. Communication with people in a Persian is imbued with respect for the interlocutor. When referring to each other, the Iranians use the words "aga" (master), "saheb" (master), "baradar" (brother), while adding "aziz" (dear), "mohtaram" (respected). People of equal status embrace and shake hands when they meet. When meeting with elders, Persians bow low. When expressing respect, gratitude and attention, Iranians often use right hand to the heart. Sociability, courtesy and politeness are the most frequently manifested communicative qualities of the Persians.
The highest moral principles of the Iranians include honoring the dead ancestors, respect for the elders and the elderly. The elders, according to the generally accepted opinion, are the personification of the clan, the family. The well-being of all depends on the success of everyone. Kinship, clan and tribal relations cement the nation. Compatriots who moved from the village to the city earlier than others help the newcomers in finding employment and arranging their lives. Among the Iranians, a tradition reminiscent of the Soviet subbotnik is common. Residents of one block, village or street collectively help their comrade in the construction of a new house. This event becomes a real holiday of labor. Singers and musicians come to support the workers. At the end of the work, everyone is treated to pilaf and sweets.

One of the distinguishing qualities of most Persians is the desire for beauty, love for art. After the proclamation of the Islamic Republic in 1979, the clergy pursued a policy of subordinating culture and art to the task of Islamizing Iranian society. "Western art" became forbidden. This slowed down the cultural enrichment of the country from outside, but at the same time stimulated the rise of folk art. Among ordinary Iranians there are many people endowed with the talents of musicians, poets, reciters, and artists. Persians have a great sense of humor. A joke, timely and appropriately said, allows you to survive adversity.
Iranians are superstitious. Muslims in Iran live in a world of permanent mystical attitude. They believe in evil spirits, talismans, witchcraft, divination, they believe that stones, trees, buildings can be sacred. Bread, water, crops, roads, sky, fire are also considered sacred. The spirits of the dead are considered terrible, which “roam in search of the living” and can inhabit them, especially women. Therefore, the Persians are afraid to appear in those places where, according to their belief, evil spirits live. Amulets are widespread among ordinary Iranians, designed to protect against the evil eye and damage. Amulets are hung around the neck of a newborn child, a boy, a beautiful girl and newlyweds, as it is believed that these people are in least degree protected from the "wiles of the evil spirit." In the villages they believe in ghosts, witches. Dream interpreters are very popular.
When communicating with the Persians, it is necessary to take into account, first of all, the peculiarities of their cultural and religious development. Earning the respect of the Persians is easier if you know the names of their great compatriots. Quoting Omar Khayyam, Saadi, Hafiz and other Iranian poets and philosophers will raise your authority in the eyes of the interlocutor. But a non-believer should avoid discussing religious topics with an Iranian. An Iranian will never tell you to your face that you offended him by hitting a thin string of his soul. However, in the future, such an insult to them will not be forgotten and may cause a cooling or even termination of relations.
During the Muslim fasting in the month of Ramadan, the way of life in Iranian families changes, it becomes more measured and slowed down. The working day is getting shorter. Important things are postponed for more late time. It makes no sense to expect a Muslim to quickly fulfill your request. A foreigner who is in Iran during fasting should not smoke, eat or drink in the presence of local residents during the daytime. Irritation can also be caused by the appearance of a European woman who has not covered her legs, arms and face from the looks of strangers. The state of inhibition in which Muslims are during fasting continues for some time after its end. The first days after fasting are considered the most dangerous. They account for the peak of traffic accidents in Tehran and other major cities. Drivers simply do not have time to adapt to the conditions of a sharply increased pace of life and an increase in the number of cars on the roads.
Despite the fact that Article 20 of the Iranian Constitution proclaims the equality of all members of society before the law, Iranian women are practically deprived of many rights. Legislatively, the man is considered as the head of the family, the woman in the family is subordinate to the man. Only men have the right to file for divorce. In the event of the death of a spouse, children are transferred to be raised in the family of the deceased husband, and the woman loses the right to her children. In the event of a divorce, the children also remain with the father. All women, Iranians and foreigners, in public places and institutions are required to wear a hijab - a cape on their heads. During the Iran-Iraq war of 1980-1988. in Iran, the slogan was distributed: "Iranian, the hijab is your trench!". In transport and in public places There are separate places for men and women. Women are not allowed to practice many professions (in particular, there cannot be a female singer, female judge, female archaeologist or geologist). The law allows a Muslim to marry a non-Muslim, but forbids an Iranian woman to marry a foreigner if he is not a Muslim. The Iranian woman's freedom of movement is also restricted by a number of Sharia provisions. A trip abroad can take place only if one of two mandatory conditions is met: accompanied by an adult male - a family member or with the written permission of her husband or father (for an unmarried woman).

Criminal penalties for women are more severe than those prescribed by the criminal code for similar crimes for men. In February 2003, two women were hanged for the murder of a man, and two more received life sentences.
To be sure, not everything is as bleak in Iran as the Western media make it out to be. Life in the country goes on. In recent years, there has been a certain liberalization in the way of life of the Iranians. Of course, they don't show "light porn" on TV, as in our country. But it is safe to say that the vast majority in Iranian society does not aspire to such "freedoms". The ability of the Iranians to easily and philosophically experience life's hardships is the core that allows this nation to develop, moving in the same direction with all of humanity. Being different from Europeans or Americans is no reason to declare people about whom they know little, "outlaws."
Iran is a multinational state in which religion performs a large number of functions, and the main one is the unification of people.

Iran is one of the largest states of Western Asia in terms of territory: its area is 1630 thousand km 2. Most of the country is located on the vast Iranian Plateau, the interior of which - the Iranian Plateau - has triangular shape and is surrounded by high chains of mountains, reaching a height of 4 thousand meters. From the north, the plateau is bordered by the Elburs mountain system, in which the highest mountain of Iran, the Damavend volcano (5670 m), is located. As a western continuation of the Paropamiz and Hindu Kush mountain systems, Elburz stretches in rows of parallel ridges along the southern coast of the Caspian Sea. The apex of the triangle is located on southeast from Ararat Azerbaijani Mountain country, crowned with an extinct volcano Savelan (more than 4800 m). The Kurdistan Range extends south from it. From the southwest and south, the Iranian Highlands are bordered by the Zagros (up to 4 thousand m) and Mekran (up to 2.5 thousand m) mountain systems; from the east - the East Iranian mountains (up to 2 thousand m). Between the mountain ranges bordering the plateau, there are vast valleys. Most of the internal Iranian plateau (altitude 1 thousand m) is located in the northwestern part of its salty Deshte-Kevir desert and the Deshte-Lut desert stretching southeast from it.

The outer slopes of the mountains bordering the plateau pass into the lowlands - the Caspian and Khuzistan; in the south, along the coast of the Persian Gulf, the seaside desert of Garmsir stretches; in the east is the Seistan plain.

The largest and only navigable river in Iran is the Karun; west of Karuna flows the river. Kerkha, ending with an extensive, up to 1 thousand km 2 lagoon, in the Deshte-Mishaya district in Khuzistan; in the north of Iran flows the river. Sefidrud, which flows into the Caspian Sea. The remaining rivers of Iran are much smaller, and most of them flow from the inner slopes of the mountains bordering the Iranian plateau.

Thus, most of the territory of Iran is a closed basin, the waters of which are devoid of flow into the seas or oceans. The products of washing out and weathering of rocks are carried out into inner regions and are deposited there, gradually leveling the surface and smoothing out the unevenness of the relief.

A characteristic feature of the Iranian plateau is the fact that the rivers of the internal basin do not go far into the interior of the country. They either get lost in the sands or flow into drainless, usually salty lakes, the largest of which are Urmia (Rezaye) - the only navigable lake in Iran - and Deryacheye-Nemek. So fresh water in Iran is of great value.

The bowels of Iran are rich in minerals - coal, iron ore, copper, lead, gold, silver, arsenic, sulfur G salt, etc. However, most of them are not developed. Iran's main fossil wealth is oil, the reserves of which are estimated at 1,800,000 tons. Iran's southwestern oil zone runs along the Iraqi border and the coast of the Persian Gulf; in the south it is continued by the oil-bearing regions of the Bahrain Islands and Saudi Arabia, in the north by Iraqi oil fields. The northern oil-bearing zone covers the southern slopes of Elburz and the Azerbaijani mountainous country.

By climatic conditions In Iran, the following areas can be distinguished:

humid subtropics in the South Caspian lowland, with an unhealthy climate and heavy rainfall;

dry subtropics in Khorasan and in the south of the country, in Fars and Khuzistan. with little rainfall and high summer temperatures;

mountainous, temperate hot climate in Iranian Azerbaijan and Kurdistan;

subtropical desert climate, sharply continental, with summer temperatures up to +50°C and winter frosts down to -25°C in inner Iran.

The South Caspian lowland and the slopes of the adjacent Elburz Mountains are rich in deciduous forests abounding in valuable tree species, including boxwood and ironwood. In some places, forests are impenetrable subtropical wilds. However, in general, forests have a limited distribution and the country is experiencing a shortage of timber products. The southern slopes of Zagros and other mountain ranges at an altitude of 1 to 2 km are covered with groves of oak, myrtle, pistachio and thickets of mountain dry-leaved shrubs. Above the forest belt, everywhere in the mountains stretches a belt of steppes and alpine meadows, which serve as summer pastures for herds of nomads. Desert-steppe vegetation prevails in inner and southern Iran; on the plains there are feather grass steppes, in the deserts - thickets of saxaul. Huge spaces saline deserts are almost completely devoid of vegetation.

The fauna of Iran is just as diverse. Of the predators, there are a tiger, a leopard, a leopard, a bear, a hyena, a wolf, a fox, a jackal, a wild cat; there are many wild boars in the forests; ungulates are found onager, deer G roe deer, mountain sheep, antelope, saiga, goitered gazelle, bezoar goat. In the huge lagoons of Khuzistan and on the coast of the Caspian Sea, various breeds of waterfowl winter. The coastal waters of the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf, as well as many rivers of Iran, abound with valuable commercial varieties of fish. The coast of the Persian Gulf is exposed to locust raids. The Soviet government renders enormous assistance to the national economy of Iran, sending, by agreement with the Iranian government, air detachments armed with chemicals to combat this terrible scourge of agriculture:

Iran is a multinational state. From December 1906 Iran - a constitutional monarchy. The Shah is constitutionally granted broad powers: he is supreme commander, has the right to dissolve parliament, declare war, conclude peace, etc.

Executive power is vested in the cabinet of ministers, which is responsible to the parliament, which consists of a lower house (mejlis) and an upper house (senate). Laws passed by Parliament are subject to approval by the Shah.

The right to vote is granted only to men over 20 years old, women and military personnel are deprived of voting rights. There are four deputies in the Majlis, who are elected from the religious curiae by representatives of the Christian, Zoroastrian and Jewish religious minorities.

The judicial system and legislation of Iran are built on the French model. Along with general courts of several instances, there are special courts: military, commercial, administrative, etc. There are also spiritual (Sharia) courts that deal with civil and religious cases; their decisions are not legally binding.

Administratively, since 1937, Iran has been divided into 11 astans (regions, governor-generals), with centers: 1st astan in Rasht, *2nd in Sari, 3rd in Tabriz, 4th in Rezaya, -th in Kermanshah, 6th in Ahvaz, 7th in Shiraz, 8th in Kerman, 9th in Mashhad, 10th in Isfahan and Central - in Tehran. Astana is divided into 49 shakhristans - provinces, districts.

Astanas are headed by astandars (governors general), who are appointed by the shah and report to the minister of internal affairs. Usually one person is appointed as astandar of the 3rd and 4th astans (Iranian Azerbaijan). Shahristans are headed by farmandars.

Shahristans are divided into bakhgis (districts) headed by bakhgidars, bakhshis are divided into dehistans (volosts) headed by dehdars. In the cities there are municipalities - giakhrdari, headed by shahrdars. All these officials are also appointed by the central government. At the head of the villages are the elders appointed by the governors - kedkhoda. According to the constitution, the shakhristans and bakhshis provide for local self-government bodies - enjumens, but the government has never convened them. In 1946, during the period of the rise of the democratic movement, in most provinces of the country, regional and city enjumen were elected, which included representatives of the people. However, during the suppression of the democratic movement in the winter of 1946/47, the Enjumen were dispersed.

As a result of the 1937 administrative reform territories of the former Iranian provinces, which had a relatively homogeneous national respect composition of the population were artificially divided and included in different astana. So, for example, Iranian Azerbaijan is divided into two Astana - the 3rd and 4th, and the Azerbaijani district Zanjan became part of the 1st Astana; Kurdistan became part of the 5th Astana, and its northern part - Mukri Kurdistan, with its center in the city of Mekhabad - was included in the 4th Astana.

The total population of Iran is estimated at 19,803 thousand 1 ; of which men - 50.2%, women - 49.8%. Average density The population in Iran is 12 people per 1 km2. About three-quarters of the country's population is concentrated in northern and central regions, where the density reaches 30 people per 1 km2. In the southern regions of the country, the density decreases to 6-7 people per 1 km 2, and in the area of ​​​​sand and salt deserts it drops to 1 person per 1 km 2.

In terms of diversity, complexity and diversity of its national composition, Iran ranks second after Afghanistan among the countries of Western Asia. The author of the “Military Geography of Iran”, the Iranian General Razmara, gave the following description of the national structure of his country: “Azerbaijanis are in the north, Turkmens, Afghans and Balochs are in the east; in the west - Kurds, Lurs and Bakhtiars, in the south - Arabs and Qashqai. What is left for Iran? One Tehran! 2.

Dominant: the nation in Iran is the Persians, which make up slightly less than half of the total population - 9200 thousand people. They are followed by: Azerbaijanis, whose number together with Azerbaijani nomadic tribes exceeds 4 million, Kurds - 1800 thousand, Arabs - 820 thousand; thousand, Turkmens - 200 thousand, Armenians - 130 thousand, Aisors - more than 75 thousand, Jews - 55 thousand, Afghans - 50 thousand, Gilyaks - 750 thousand, Galesh - 25 thousand, Talysh - 50 thousand ., Georgians - about 10 thousand. In addition, scattered throughout Iran big number small tribes and peoples.

Iranian reactionaries deny the existence of national minorities in the country. According to the official point of view established by Rezashah, all the inhabitants of the country are considered Iranians. Persian is the official language of all of Iran.