The Bakhtiari are of Iranian origin. Today, the majority of Bakhtiari live in the Ciarmahal regions of Bakhtiari and Khuzestan. They spend the summer in Ciarmahal va Bakhtiari (in the Zagros mountains) and winter in the low plains of Khuzestan. Most of the Bakhtiari is expressed in luri, a Persian dialect, and practices Shia worship. We point out that the Bakhtiari played an important role in the establishment of the Constitution in 1907. The mountainous route of the Bakhtiari is very difficult to travel, which uses the mule to move their luggage.
The dominant ethno-linguistic group in the Fars is that of the Gashgai who settled in the Fars in the 18th century. They are of Turkish descent and organized in a confederation. Traditionally, the Gashgai spend the winter at the foot of the Zagros Mountains, to the south and west of the Fars, climbing in the spring to the mountains north of the same region. The longest route between garmsir and sardsir is that of Gashgai Darreh Shuri. It is 670 km long. They travel in 40 days.
The gashgai confederation was powerful enough in the 19th and early 20th centuries to play an important role at the regional level and also at the national level, the provincial authorities counted on them to ensure order and security in rural areas. At the time qajar (1795-1925), they constituted the incontestable power of the region.
Between the 1950s and 1960s, the Gashgai, with nearly 150,000 people, was to be the largest organized nomadic group on the planet. In the 1960s, Mohammad Reza Shah broke their power by disarming them and nationalizing their pastures. Since then, many of the Gashgai are sedentary or have become semi-nomadic. The gabbeh (a type of simplified carpet) is the Gashgai handicraft specialty.
The Shah Savan (literally "those who like shah") live in the Ardebil region and differ from other ethnic groups due to their formation due to a government decision at the beginning of the 17th century. In fact, Shah Abbas І (1598-1628) created, starting from tribes of different origins, mostly of the Turkish language, a tribal confederation that was to serve to control the uprisings of the other nomads especially those of the Turks Ghezel Bash (red head) who had considerable power in the army and in the government. Shah Abbas not trusting them, tried to diminish their power. Like the Turcmeni, the Shahsavan saw their territory cut in two by the closure of the border with the former The Shahsavan spring transhumance lasts 15 days (300 km) and the autumn transhumance lasts 45 days. The Shahsavan spend spring at the foot of the mountains and in summer they rise higher. The Shahsavan folk literature is very rich. Their craft specialty is the kilim suzani. They are Shiites.
The Fars region also includes a confederation that of the Khamseh, formed in 1858 by the Qajar rulers to balance the power of the Gashgai. The Khamseh is a confederation that groups five tribes of Iranian, Arab and Turkish origin (Khamseh means in Arabic "five "). The Khamseh are for the most part Shiites and they dress like the Arabs.
They oscillate between the shores of the Persian Gulf and the mountains until they reach Ispahan. The Khamsehs were fearsome powers, weighing on the citizens who traded with the gulf a threat that was constant until the 20th century. The policy of sedentarisation was conducted here with some firmness.
Entered into the service of the Safavid dynasty (1501-1722), the Afshar were led to occupy the posts in the four chants of the empire. This led to a division of their population. The main groups are in Azerbaijan, Qazvin, Hamedan and in a region between Kerman and Bandar Abbas. Afshar traditionally practice great pastoral nomadism, but many have become farmers today.
The most important nomads to the south-east of Iran are the Baluchis. Baluci adopted great nomadism, passing the summer on the heights of the country and returning to the coast in winter, until the agrarian reform and the sedentarization he does not force them to work in urban centers like Zahedan.I Baluci remain semi-nomadic today and they live in the extreme south-east of Iran, in Balucestan.I Baluci are of Iranian origin and Sunni confession. Emeritus knights, excel in camel racing.
Traditionally practicing the great nomadism, the Turkmens way of life was regulated by their geographical environment. They became sedentary from 1925. The closure of the border with Russia from 1928 considerably changed their way of life. Today, most Turkmens are largely sedentary and have become farmers and fishermen. They live in the extreme north-east of Iran, in the Khorassan and Golestan regions, near the Turkmen Sahra.
The adoption of Shiism as an official religion in Iran triggers, starting from 1510, a return to mass to Iran of the Turkmen nomads of Anatolia, the Qara Qoyunlu and the Aq Qoyunlu, their Shiites, eager to leave the Sunni Ottoman ( the Turkmens of the north-east are Sunnites).
Among the ten important tribes, 3 are now in Iran and 7 in the Republic of Turkmenistan. The Qara Qoyunlu, Aq Qoyunlu and Yamut tribes are very famous. The Qara dynasty Qoyunlu ruled from 1275 to 1468 in the northwest, and was later replaced by the Aq Qoyunlu (1434-1514).
The headquarters of the Arab tribes is west of Khuzestan near Iraq. They are native to Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. Some arrived as early as the 1st century and others after the 7th century Arab invasion. The best known tribe is called bani ka'b and has been established around the Shatt-el-Arab.
