Bakhtiari
A nomadic group inhabiting the mountains of Khuzestan, a province in southwestern Iran, the Bakhtiari number almost 900,000. Traditionally, they migrate seasonally with their livestock between summer and winter pastures.
The Bakhtiari are mostly Shiʿite Muslims, but they retain many pre-Islamic customs. They can be divided into two main groups, the Haftlang (fifty-five tribes) and the Charlang (twenty-five tribes). They speak a dialect of Luri, an Iranian language closely related to Kurdish.
Women have an unusually high place in Bakhtiari society; they go about unveiled and can travel freely. The wives of khans or chieftains have been known to act as judges, and women sometimes head a migrating group of other women and children in the summer, after the men depart with the animals to mountainous pastures.
History
Although their origins are obscure, the Bakhtiari are believed to have migrated from Syria in the tenth century CE. They were known as the Great Lurs and retained regional autonomy during the rule of the various empires that dominated the region. In the early twentieth century, oil was discovered in the area they inhabited, and the British courted their khans and paid them to protect the oil wells and pipelines. The Bakhtiari played a pivotal role in the deposition of Ahmad Shah (1898–1930), the last ruler of the Iranian Qajar dynasty (1794–1925), in 1908–1909.
Modern Times
Reza Shah Pahlavi (1878–1944), who was elected shah in 1925, forced many Bakhtiari into settlements in the 1920s and 1930s during his attempts to modernize the country, but the Bakhtiari regained their prominence following his abdication in 1941. His son and successor Muhammad Reza Pahlavi (1919–1980) married Soraya, the daughter of a Bakhtiari khan, and many Bakhtiari returned to their nomadic way of life.
With the Islamic Revolution of 1979, the Bakhtiari became second-class citizens; both their ethnicity and their unorthodox religious practices made them a target of suspicion. Today they make much of their income by weaving and exporting rugs.
Further Reading
Mortensen, Inge Demant, and Ida Nicholaisen, eds. (1993) Nomads of Luristan: History, Material Culture, and Pastoralism in Western Iran. London: Thames & Hudson.
This is the complete article, containing 341 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
