Qashqai people explained

Group:Qashqai
Total Ref:[1] [2] [3]
Popplace:Southern Iran, Central Iran
Langs:Qashqai, Persian
Rels:Shia Islam[4]
Related:Lurs, Kurds, Arabs,[5] Other Turkic peoples
Especially Chaharmahali Turks

Qashqai people (pronounced in Persian pronounced as /ɢæʃɢɒːˈjiː/; Persian: قشقایی; Kaşkayı in Turkish) are a Turkic tribal confederation in Iran. Almost all of them speak a Western Turkic (Oghuz) language known as the Qashqai language — which they call "Turkī" — as well as Persian (the national language of Iran) in formal use. The Qashqai mainly live in the provinces of Fars, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Bushehr and southern Isfahan, especially around the cities of Shiraz and Firuzabad in Fars.

The majority of Qashqai people were originally nomadic pastoralists and some remain so today. The traditional nomadic Qashqai traveled with their flocks twice yearly between the summer highland pastures north of Shiraz roughly 480 km or 300 miles south and the winter pastures on lower (and warmer) lands near the Persian Gulf, to the southwest of Shiraz. The majority, however, have now become partially or wholly sedentary. The trend towards settlement has been increasing markedly since the 1960s under government pressure, and encouragement, which has built housing for those willing to settle, starting in the early 20th century during the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty; However, for those who continue their migratory lifestyle, the Iranian government maintains and controls travel corridors for the Qashqai and their livestock, and other populations practicing pastoral migrations.[6]

The Qashqai are made up of five major tribes: the Amale (Qashqai) / Amaleh (Persian), the Dere-Shorlu / Darreh-Shuri, the Kashkollu / Kashkuli, the Shishbeyli / Sheshboluki and the Eymur / Farsimadan.[7] Smaller tribes include the Qaracha / Qarache'i, Rahimli / Rahimi and Safi-Khanli / Safi-Khani.

History

See main article: Turkic migration. Historically, the Turkic-speaking people are believed to have arrived in Iran from Central Asia from the 11th or 12th century onwards.

Told to Marie-Tèrése Ullens by the Ilbeg Malek Mansur, brother of the Ilkhan, Nasser Khan, Chief of the Qashqa'i, in 1953:

The Qashqai were a significant political force in Qajar Iran during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. During World War I, they were influenced by the German consular official Wilhelm Wassmuss and sided with the German Empire.[8] During World War II, the Qashgais attempted to organize resistance against the Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran, receiving some ineffectual assistance from Nazi Germany in 1943 by the means of Operation ANTON, which (along with Operation FRANZ) proved a complete failure.[9]

In 1945–1946 there was a major rebellion of a number of tribal confederacies, including the Qashgais, who fought valiantly until the invading Russians were repelled. The Qashgais revolted during 1962–1964 due to the land reforms of the White Revolution.[10] The revolt was put down and within a few years many Qashqais had settled.[10] Most of the tribal leaders were sent to exile. After the Iranian Revolution of 1979, the living leader, Khosrow Khan Qashqai, returned to Iran from exile in the United States and Germany.

Major tribes

The Qashqai tribal confederation consists of five major tribes, including the Dareshuri, Farsimadan, Sheshboluki, Amaleh, and Kashkuli.[11]

Amale / Amaleh

People of the Amaleh tribe were originally warriors and workmen attached to the household of the Ilkhani, or paramount chief; recruited from all the Qashqai tribes they constituted the Ilkhani's bodyguard and retinue.[12] By 1956, the Amaleh tribe comprised as many as 6,000 families.[13]

Dere-Shorlu / Dareshuri / Darehshouri

The Dareshuri are said to have joined the Qashqai tribal confederation during the reign of Karim Khan Zand (1163-93/1750-79).[14] According to Persian government statistics, there were about 5,169 Dareshuri families, or 27,396 individuals, in 1360 sh./1981.[15] The Dareshuri were "the greatest horse-breeders and owners among the Qashqai". The policy of forced sedentarization of the nomadic tribes pursued by Reza Shah Pahlavi (1304–20 SH./1925-41) resulted in the loss of 80–90 percent of the Dareshuri horses, but the tribe made a recovery after World War II.[16] Reza Shah Pahlavi also executed Hossein khan Darehshouri the head of Darehshouri family in order to take back the control of the Fars province which was controlled by Darehshouri tribe during Ghajar empire.

Kashkollu / Kashkuli

During World War I, the Kashkuli khans supported the British in their struggle against Ṣowlat-al-Dowla (Iyl-khan) and the German agent, Wilhelm Wassmuss. After the war, Ṣowlat-al-Dowla punished the Kashkuli. He dismissed the Kashkuli leaders who had opposed him and "deliberately set out to break up and impoverish the Kashkuli tribe".[17] Two sections of the tribe, which consisted of elements which had been loyal to Ṣowlat-al-Dowla, were then separated from the main body of the tribe and given the status of independent tribes, becoming the Kashkuli Kuchak ("Little Kashkuli") and Qarachahi tribes. The remaining tribe became known as the Kashkuli Bozorg ("Big Kashkuli") tribe.[18] The Kashkuli Bozorg tribe comprised 4,862 households in 1963. As Oliver Garrod observed, the Kashkuli Bozorg are "especially noted for their Jajims, or tartan woolen blankets, and for the fine quality of their rugs and trappings".[19]

Eymur / Farsimadan

The Farsimadan claim that they are of Ḵhalaj origin, and that, before moving to southern Persia, they dwelled in Ḵalajestan, a region southwest of Tehran.[20] The tribe was already in Fars by the late 16th century, for it is known that in October 1590 their leader, Abul-Qasem Beyg and some of his followers were punished for having sided with Yaqub Khan the Zul-Qadr governor of Fars, in a revolt against Shah Abbas I.[21] The population of the Farsimadan was estimated by Afshaar-Sistaani at 2,715 families or 12,394 individuals, in 1982.[22]

Culture

The Qashqai are pastoral nomads who rely on small-scale cultivation and shepherding. Traditional dress includes the use of decorated short tunics, wide-legged pants, and headscarves worn by women.[23]

Carpeting and weaving

The Qashqai are renowned for their pile carpets and other woven wool products. They are sometimes referred to as "Shiraz" because Shiraz was the major marketplace for them in the past. The wool produced in the mountains and valleys near Shiraz is exceptionally soft and beautiful and takes a deeper color than wool from other parts of Iran.

"No wool in all Persia takes such a rich and deep colour as the Shiraz wool. The deep blue and the dark ruby red are equally extraordinary, and that is due to the brilliancy of the wool, which is firmer and, so to say, more transparent than silk, and makes one think of translucent enamel".[24]

Qashqai carpets have been said to be "probably the most famous of all Persian tribal weavings".[25] Qashqai saddlebags, adorned with colorful geometric designs, "are superior to any others made".[26]

Notable individuals

Cultural references

See also

References

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Arakelova . Victoria . On the Number of Iranian Turkophones . Iran and the Caucasus . 2015 . 19 . 3 . 279. The main body of the Iranian Turkophone mass generally consists of two parts: proper Turkic groups—the Turkmen (from 0,5 to 1 million), partially the Qashqays (around 300,000), as well as Khalajes (currently Persian-speakers living in Save, near Tehran); and the Turkic-speaking population of the Iranian origin, predominantly the Azaris, inhabiting the north-west provinces of Iran roughly covering historical Aturpātakān.. 10.1163/1573384X-20150306.
  2. Book: Yale University. Transformations of Middle Eastern Natural Environments: Legacies and Lessons. 1998. 59. the Qashqa'i are members of a tribal confederacy of some 800,000 individuals.
  3. Book: Potter . Lawrence G. . Sectarian Politics in the Persian Gulf . 2014 . Oxford University Press . 290 . 978-0-19-937726-8 . 14 January 2023.
  4. Book: Adamec . Ludwig W. . Ludwig W. Adamec . Historical Dictionary of Islam . 2017 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1442277243 . 515 . 3.
  5. News: QAŠQĀʾI TRIBAL CONFEDERACY i. HISTORY. "Like most present-day tribal confederacies in Persia, the Il-e Qašqāʾi is a conglomeration of clans of different ethnic origins, Lori, Kurdish, Arab and Turkic. But most of the Qašqāʾi are of Turkic origin, and almost all of them speak a Western Ghuz Turkic dialect which they call Turki." In: Encyclopaedia Iranica. 13 May 2015. Foundation. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  6. Web site: Country Studies:Iran.
  7. Book: Dolatkhah, Sohrab. Le qashqay: langue turcique d'Iran. CreateSpace, Independent Publishing Platform.. 2016. Online. 13.
  8. Book: Marie-Thérèse Ullens de Schooten . 1950 . Lords of the Mountains . Travel Book Club . 114. 220789714 .
  9. Book: Adrian O'Sullivan . 5 August 2014 . Nazi Secret Warfare in Occupied Persia (Iran): The Failure of the German Intelligence Services, 1939-45 . Springer . 58 . 978-1-137-42791-5 . 1005751706 .
  10. Federal Research Division, p.125
  11. Web site: Encyclopaedia Iranica. QAŠQĀʾI TRIBAL CONFEDERACY i. 5 May 2015.
  12. Book: The Tribes of Fars. 1948. 71. Magee. G. F..
  13. Book: The Qashqai Nomads of Fars. 1974. 223. Pierre. Oberling.
  14. Book: Beck. Lois. The Qashqai of Iran. 1986. Yale University Press. New Haven, CT. 0300032129. 1st.
  15. Book: Afshaar-Sistaani. Iraj. Eall-ha, Chaadorneshinan va ṭavayef-e ashayeri-e Iran. 1987. Iraj Afshaar. Tehran.
  16. Book: Oberling. Pierre. The Qashqai Nomads of Fars. June 1974. Walter De Gruyter Inc. 9992263113. 277.
  17. Book: Magee. G. F.. The Tribes of Fars. 1945. London. 79.
  18. News: Kashkuli. Encyclopedia Iranica. Iranica. 12 May 2015. Foundation. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  19. Book: Oberling. Pierre. The Qashqai Nomads of Fars. June 1974. Walter De Gruyter Inc. 9992263113. 40.
  20. Book: The Tribes of Fars. 1948. 54. Magee. G. F..
  21. News: FĀRSĪMADĀN. Encyclopedia Iranica. Iranica, Pierre Oberling. 24 May 2015. Foundation. Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  22. Book: Eall-ha, Chaadorneshinan va ṭavayef-e ashayeri-e Iran. Tehran. 628. Afshaar-Sistaani. Iraj.
  23. Book: Human: The Definitive Visual Guide. Dorling Kindersley. 2004. 0-7566-0520-2. Winston. Robert. New York. 409.
  24. Hawley, Walter A. (1913) Oriental Rugs Antique & Modern. Reprint: Dover Publications, New York (1970), p. 116.
  25. Bennett, Ian (1978) "Later Persian Weaving." In: Rugs & Carpets of the World, edited by Ian Bennett, pp. 241, 243. Ferndale Editions, London, 1978. .
  26. Hawley, Walter A. (1913) Oriental Rugs Antique & Modern. Reprint: Dover Publications, New York (1970), p. 117.
  27. Web site: Nissan Qashqai :: Concept Car Database. 13 May 2015.
  28. Web site: Automobile.com: Where It's Easy to Compare Car Insurance Quotes. 13 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20080907015957/http://car-reviews.automobile.com/Nissan/concept/2004-nissan-qashqai-concept/580/. 7 September 2008.
  29. Web site: NISSAN – NEWS PRESS RELEASE. 5 December 2006. 13 May 2015. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160303201734/http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/NEWS/2006/_STORY/061205-01-e.html. 3 March 2016.
  30. Web site: Nissan crosses over into new territory – News – by Car Enthusiast. 13 May 2015.
  31. Web site: The Theory Of Naming A Car And The Nissan Qashqai.. May 7, 2020.
  32. Web site: How Did the Nissan Qashqai Get Its Name?. Kimiko. Kidd. April 23, 2020.
  33. Web site: What does "Qashqai" mean? | Go Nissan in Edmonton, AB. September 25, 2019. Go Nissan.
  34. Web site: Gabbeh. 1996. Written and directed by Mohsen Makhmalbaf MoMA . 2023-07-07 . The Museum of Modern Art . en.

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Qashqai people".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.