Qajar (tribe)

The Qajars (Persian: ایل قاجار, romanized: Ile Ǧâjâr; Azerbaijani: قاجارلار, romanized: Qacarlar)^[a] are a clan of the Bayat tribe of the Oghuz Turks who lived variously, with other tribes, in the area that is now Armenia, Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran.

Qajar

A 19th century photo of Darab Mirza Qajar, a Qajar tribesman.
Total population
Over 35,000[1] (1994)
Regions with significant populations
Iran
Languages
Persian Azerbaijani[2]
Religion
Islam[3]
Related ethnic groups
Oghuz Turks

By the end of the Safavid era, the Qajars had split into several factions.^[4] These included the Ziyādoghlu (Ziādlu), associated with the area of Ganja and Yerevan, as well as the Qoyunlu (Qāvānlu), and Davālu (Devehlu) the latter two associated with the northern areas of contemporary Iran.^[4]

Background

The Qajars were one of the original Turkoman Qizilbash tribes that emerged and spread in Asia Minor around 10th and 11th centuries.^[5] They later supplied power to the Safavids since this dynasty's earliest days.^[5] Numerous members of the Qajar tribe held prominent ranks in the Safavid state. In 1794, a Qajar chieftain, Agha Mohammad Khan, a member of the Qoyunlu branch of the Qajars, founded the Qajar dynasty which replaced the Zand dynasty in Iran. He launched his campaign from his power base south of the Caspian Sea, capturing its capital Isfahan in 1785.^[6] A year later, Tehran accepted Mohammed's authority.^[6]

According to Olson et al., which was published in 1994 and specifically deals with the ethnography of the Russian Empire and Soviet Union, the Qajars were historically a Turkic tribe that lived in Armenia. They resettled in the region of Azerbaijan during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are considered to be tribal Azerbaijanis.^[1] American anthropologist Richard Weeks also notes that the Azerbaijanis of Iran, depending on their place of residence, use the designation Qajar.^[7]

Olston et al. adds that in the 1980s the Qajar population exceeded 35,000 people, most of whom lived in Iran.^[1]

See also

• Qajar dynasty
• Qajar family tree

Notes

1. also spelled Kadjars, Kajars, Kadzhars, Cadzhars, Cadjars, Ghajars, etc.