Thursday, September 21, 2017

Afshar (General Staff, 1924)

Afshar



A tribe of Persians who are spread over Kirman, Fars, Luristan, and Khuzistan, and round the lake of Urumieh. No good account of them is available. They are said to be of Turkish origin and to speak a dialect of that language. Morier says their two principal branches are Shamlu and Karklu, and they number 20,000 families. They principally reside in towns and are to be found in great numbers at Ab-i-Vard, the birthplace of Nadir Shah, who was of the Karklu branch of this tribe, and at Kalat, the place so carefully peopled and strengthened by that conqueror. The Afshars are looked on with great suspicion by the present dynasty of Persia. They were one of the seven Turkish tribes to whom Shah Ismai’il Safavi owed much of his success, and to whom, in consequence, he gave the name of Kizil Bash. Napier adds that Shah Ismai’il Safavi, who brought the clan from Azarbaijan, whither they had emigrated in the track of Tartar traders from the banks of the Jaxartes, settled there in the open valley of the Qibqan, in which are the hamlets of Darband Qibqan, the first village in the state of Darreh Gaz.
Layard says the tribe of Gunduzlu of Khuzistan is a branch of the Afshar tribe. They were found here by Nadir Shah and compelled by him to return to the north of Persia, but in his death they again went back to their former pastures. Before their deportment by Nadir, the Afshars occupied the greater part of the province of Khuzistan to the foot of the great chain of mountains, and even the country now inhabited by the Ka’b Arabs, where Dauraq was their principal settlement. The Bakhtiari were confined to the mountains, and the Afshars were generally sufficiently powerful and united to oppose them with success if they ventured into to plain. The Gunduzlu now number 1,500 fighting-men, and acknowledge the supremacy of the Bakhtiari Chief.

The Afshars also found round lake Urumieh and in the district of Sain Keleh in the south-east of the province of Azarbaijan. In the latter the title was disputed by the Chahardauri tribe, with whom they are in consequence in a constant state of feud.
Sheil, who commanded a regiment of Afshars of Urumieh, says they are the wildest and most turbulent lot in Persia, always quarreling, robbing and getting drunk. Nevertheless, they had fine physiques, and had the making of very excellent soldiers in them.
There are also Afshars in the Kangavar district of Kirmanshah; they are sedentary and of the Shiah persuasion.
They have the character in Persia of being officious and loquacious flatterers.
Abbott mentions coming across encampments of Afshars at several places on his route from Bam to Shiraz.― (Morier; Malcolm; Layard; Sheil; Abbott; Napier.)



Gazetteer of Persia. Volume III, Part I: A to K, Simla: Government of India Press, 1924, pp. 22―23.

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