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- This is a page dedicated to the Persian people and clearing up any misconceptions about the Persian culture. You'll be able to find a lot of information about Persian culture on this page, like music, art, history, the people, the politics etc. And feel free to send a friend request.
- All writings on this page which are coloured in blue can be clicked, when you click on it it will take you to a link which can further describe that certain word or topic :)
Introduction
The Persians are an Iranic and Aryan ethnic group who speak the Persian language and share a common culture and history.
So significant is the role of Persians in history that the German philosopher, Hegel , considers Persians to be "the first historic people" and states: "In Persia first arises that light which shines itself and illuminates what is around...The principle of development begins with the history of Persia; this constitutes therefore the beginning of history"
Concentrations
Persians are the main ethnic group of Iran . They also inhabit neighboring countries, particularly Afghanistan , Tajikistan , and Uzbekistan . However, in these countries they are usually thought of as sub-groups and are referred to as "Tajiks" . Significant numbers of Persian immigrants also reside outside of these countries, with the largest communities found in the United States, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, Finland, United Kingdom, Israel, Canada, Kuwait, France, Italy, and Turkey. Bahrain, Iraq, and the UAE also have large indiginous (native) populations of Persians.
Terminology
The term "Persia" was adopted by all western languages through the Greeks and was used as an official name for Iran by the West until 1935. Due to the Iranian province of Pars (or Fars ) being the ancient centre of the Persian world and Iran, and the inhabitants of the Pars province being known as "Parsis" (which is the Persian word for "Persian"), the Greeks would refer to the Parsis as "Persians". And through the Greek language , all European languages adopted the word "Persia" to refer to Iran.
Sub-groups
Ethnic Persians can also be found outside of Iran and largely include the Tajiks who are mainly found in Afghanistan , Tajikistan , Uzbekistan , and the Xinjiang province of China . Tajiks make up around 34% of the population in Afghanistan and 80% of the population in Tajikistan . The official percentage of Tajiks in Uzbekistan is only 5%, however most people believe the numbers to be much higher, some scholars even put the percentage of Tajiks in Uzbekistan at around 40%. The Tajiks (which is a Turkic word to refer to Persians) started to immigrate from Iran and settle in Central Asia mainly after the Islamic conquest of Iran as newly converted Muslims. The Samanid Empire , which is considered to be the birth of the modern Tajik nation, was a Persian Muslim Empire in Central Asia, founded by Saman Khuda a Persian Zoroastrian noblemen who converted to Islam .
The Parsis , a small community in the Indian subcontinent (mainly India and Pakistan are also mainly descended from Persian Zoroastrian refugees who fled Iran from the Arab/Muslim conquests of the Persian Sassanid Empire . The Iranis are another small community mainly found in western India who are descended from more recent Persian Zoroastrian immigrants to the Indian subcontinent within the last two centuries. Many of them immigrated during the Qajar era when there was a lot of persecution for the Zoroastrians of Iran.
There is also the Qizilbash who are descendents of Persian Shi'ite mercenaries and warriors who stayed behind in Afghanistan , India and Pakistan after the Persian invasion and sacking of the Indian subcontinent led by Nader Shah in 1738. The Qizilbash of Afghanistan are part of the Tajik community, and they now number about 1 million.
Language
The Persian language is one of the world's oldest languages still in use today, and is known to have one of the most powerful literary traditions, with formidable Persian poets such as Ferdowsi , Hafez , Omar Khayyam , Saadi , Nezami , Rudaki , and, of course, the legendary Rumi . By native speakers as well as in Urdu , Arabic and other neighboring languages, the Persian language is called Farsi, and additionally Dari or Tajiki in the eastern parts of Greater Iran . The Persian language is part of the Iranian sub-section of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Persian-speakers are today in the majority in Iran , Tajikistan , and Afghanistan , and form a large minority in Uzbekistan as well. Smaller groups of Persian-speakers are also found in Pakistan , western China , as well as in Bahrain , Iraq , and Azerbaijan . There are over 130 million Persian-speakers in the world today.
Religion
The Persian civilization spawned four major religions: Zoroastrianism , Mithraism , Manichaeanism , and the Baha'i Faith . Other religions such as Mazdakism also arose from ancient Iran.
The religion of Zoroastrianism originates from ancient Iran and was the religion of most Iranic peoples (i.e. the Persians , Medes , Azeris , Parthians , Sagarthians , Bactrians , Khwarezmians , Sakas , Baluchis , Kurds , Laks , Mazandaranis , Ossetians , Pamiris , Pashtuns , Talysh people , Zazas etc). Zoroastrianism is said to be the first monotheistic religion and one of the first ever organized religions in the world. Many major religions such as Judaism , Christianity and Islam were heavily influenced by the Zoroastrian faith.
The majority of Persians in Iran are non-practising Shi'ite Muslims , while some communities of Shi'a Sufis also exist. There is also a small number of Persian Sunni Muslims in Iran. Large amounts of Christian, Jewish, Baha'i , Zoroastrian and Yazidi communities of Iranians also exist.
Amongst the Persians of Central Asia ( Tajiks ), Sunni Islam is the dominant sect of Islam, although small Ismaili and Jafari Shi'ite minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Historically, some of the greatest Sunni Muslim scholars and leaders in history were Persian, such as Tajik . They include Abu Hanifa , Al-Ghazali , Tirmidhi , Abu Dawood , and Imam Bukhari amongst many others.
In Afghanistan Tajiks who follow Jafari Shi'ism are referred to as Farsiwan . Additionally, small Tajik Jewish communities (known as Bukharian Jews ) have existed since ancient times in the cities of Samarqand , Bukhara and other Tajik centers. Over the 20th century, the majority of these Tajik Jews immigrated to Israel and the United States, although many of these immigrants maintain ties with their homeland. Also, despite the advent of Christian missionaries to Central Asia since the collapse of the Soviet Union , the Tajik Christian population is virtually non-existent.
History of Persian Civilization
Jiroft Kingdom (cradle of civilization) - 6000-? BCE
Proto-Elamite Civilization - 3500–2800 BCE
Elamite Kingdom - 2800–550 century BCE
Mannaean Kingdom - 1000–700 BCE
Median Empire - 728–550 BCE
Achaemenid Empire - 550–330 BCE
Seleucid Empire (Macedonian dynasty ruling the Persian lands, however there were many influential Persians who ran this empire) - 330–150 BCE
Parthian Empire - 248 BCE - 224 AD
Sassanid Empire - 224–651 AD
Islamic/Arab Invasion of Iran - 637–651 AD
Umayyad Caliphate (Empire) (Non-Persian Muslim Empire ruling the Persian lands, however there were many influential Persian Muslims in this Caliphate) - 661-750 AD
Abbasid Caliphate (Empire) (Non-Persian Muslim Empire ruling the Persian lands, however there were many influential Persian Muslims in this Caliphate) - 750-1258 AD
Tahirid Empire - 821–873 AD
Alavid Empire - 864–928 AD
Saffarid Empire - 861–1003 AD
Samanid Empire - 875–999 AD
Ziyarid Empire - 928–1043 AD
Buwayhid Empire - 934–1055 AD
Sallarid Dynasty - 942–979 AD
Ghaznavid Empire - 963–1187 AD
Ghurid Empire - 1149–1212 AD
Seljuk Empire (Persianized Oghuz Turks ruling over Persian lands) - 1037–1194 AD
Khwarezmian Empire - 1077–1231 AD
Ilkhanate Empire (Mongolian dynasty ruling over Persian lands) - 1256–1353 AD
Muzaffarid Dynasty - 1314–1393 AD
Chupanid Empire (Mongolian dynasty ruling over Persian lands) - 1337–1357 AD
Jalayirid Dynasty (Mongolian dynasty ruling over Iraq and western Iran) - 1339–1432 AD
Timurid Empire (Persianized Mongolian dynasty ruling over Persian lands) - 1370–1506 AD
Safavid Empire - 1501–1722 AD
Hotaki Empire (Pashtun dynasty ruling over Persian lands) - 1722–1729 AD
Afsharid Empire - 1736–1802 AD
Zand Dynasty - 1750–1794 AD
Qajar Empire - 1781–1925 AD
Pahlavi Dynasty - 1925–1979 AD
Islamic Republic of Iran - ruling Iran since 1979.