The Khamseh ( fa, ایلات خمسه) is a tribal confederation in the province of
Fars in southwestern
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. It consists of five tribes, hence its name ''Khamseh'', "''the five''". The tribes are partly nomadic, Some are Persian speaking
Basseri, some are Arabic speaking Arabs, and some are Qashqai Language speaking (Inalu, Baharlu and Nafar). They are sheep breeders, which they herd mounted on camels.
The history of the Khamseh confederation of tribes starts in 1861–1862 when
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar
Naser al-Din Shah Qajar ( fa, ناصرالدینشاه قاجار; 16 July 1831 – 1 May 1896) was the fourth Shah of Qajar Iran from 5 September 1848 to 1 May 1896 when he was assassinated. He was the son of Mohammad Shah Qajar and Malek ...
created the Khamseh Tribal Confederation. He combined five existing nomadic tribes, the Arab, Nafar, Baharlu, Inalu, and the
Basseri and placed them under the control of the Qavam ol-Molk family. The pattern of forcibly uniting tribes was not a new idea, as the Safavid Shahs previously created homogenous
Qizilbash
Qizilbash or Kizilbash ( az, Qızılbaş; ota, قزيل باش; fa, قزلباش, Qezelbāš; tr, Kızılbaş, lit=Red head ) were a diverse array of mainly Turkoman Shia militant groups that flourished in Iranian Azerbaijan, Anatolia, t ...
confederations to temper the increasing strength of the Qashqai, who were gaining so much power.
The Khamseh tribes were a mixture of Persians, Turks, and Arabs.
Tribes
*The
Basseri (Persian)
*The Inalu (Qashqai - Turkic)
*The
Baharlu (Qashqai - Turkic)
*The Nafar (Qashqai - Turkic)
*The
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
(Arabic)
See also
*
Demographics of Iran
Demography () is the statistics, statistical study of populations, especially human beings.
Demographic analysis examines and measures the dimensions and Population dynamics, dynamics of populations; it can cover whole societies or groups ...
*
Ethnic minorities in Iran
References
Further reading
* Nomads Of South Persia (1961) by
Fredrik Barth about the
Basseri Tribe
read book
* Nomads Of Persia (2014) by Ehsan Yousefi about the
Basseri Tribe
* Ali Mohammad Najafi. Khamseh Tribes happenings
Persian tribes
Ethnic groups in Iran
Fars Province
Iranian Arab people by location
1861 establishments in Iran
Turkic peoples of Asia
{{Asia-ethno-group-stub