The Firozkohi () are a sub-tribe of the
Chahar Aimaq ethnic group in
Afghanistan
Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...
, one of the four major Aimaq tribes, which also include the
Jamshidi,
Taymani, and
Taimuri.
The Firozkohi speak the
Aimaq dialect
Aimaq or Aimaqi () is the dominant eastern Persian language, Persian ethnolect spoken by the Aimaq people in central northwest Afghanistan (west of the Hazarajat) and eastern Iran. It is close to the Dari varieties of Persian. The Aimaq people are ...
of
Dari Persian
Dari (; endonym: ), Dari Persian (, , or , ), or Eastern Persian is the variety of the Persian language spoken in Afghanistan. Dari is the Afghan government's official term for the Persian language;Lazard, G.Darī – The New Persian ...
and
Pashto
Pashto ( , ; , ) is an eastern Iranian language in the Indo-European language family, natively spoken in northwestern Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. It has official status in Afghanistan and the Pakistani province of Khyb ...
. They claim
Achakzai
The Achakzai or Achekzai (; ) are a Durrani Pashtun tribe that resides on both sides of the Durand Line, centered on Killa Abdullah District in Pakistan with some clans as far away as Afghanistan's Kandahar Province as well as Firuzkuh in Ir ...
Pashtun
Pashtuns (, , ; ;), also known as Pakhtuns, or Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group primarily residing in southern and eastern Afghanistan and northwestern Pakistan. They were historically also referred to as Afghans until 1964 after the ...
descent. They are named after
Firozkoh, the medieval capital of the
Ghurid dynasty
The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; ; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian Tajik origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of Ghor, and became an Empire from 1175 to 1215. The Gh ...
.
The Firozkohi are semi-nomadic and inhabit the valleys of the
Murghab River
The Marghab River (Dari/Pashto: مرغاب, ''Murghāb'', Balochi: مرگاپ), anciently the Margiana (Ancient Greek: Μαργιανή, ''Margianḗ''), is an long river in Central Asia. It rises in the Paropamisus Mountains (''Selseleh-ye Sa ...
,
largely in
Badghis Province
Bādghīs () is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan, located in the northwest of the country, on the border with Turkmenistan. It is considered to be one of the country's most underdeveloped provinces, with the highest poverty rate. T ...
.
Origin
The traditional chiefs of the northern Firozkohi tribe are known as ''Zay Ḥākem.'' They claim descent from
Achakzai
The Achakzai or Achekzai (; ) are a Durrani Pashtun tribe that resides on both sides of the Durand Line, centered on Killa Abdullah District in Pakistan with some clans as far away as Afghanistan's Kandahar Province as well as Firuzkuh in Ir ...
Pashtuns, whereas the tribe takes its name from Firozkoh, the capital of the Ghurid dynasty.
History
In 1987, the Firozkohi were the second-largest Aymaq tribe, after the Taymani. Both Firozkohi and
Taymani tribes claim descent from Pashtun tribes.
See also
*
Aimaq people
The Aimaq, Aimaq Persians (), or Chahar Aimaq (), also transliterated as Aymaq, Aimagh, Aimak, and Aymak, are a collection of Sunni and mostly Persian-speaking nomadic and semi-nomadic tribes. They live mainly in the central and western highla ...
*
Hazaras
The Hazaras (; ) are an ethnic group and a principal component of Afghanistan’s population. They are one of the largest ethnic groups in Afghanistan, primarily residing in the Hazaristan (Hazarajat) region in central Afghanistan. Hazaras al ...
References
{{Authority control
Aymaq
Afghan nomads
Ethnic groups in Badghis Province
Modern nomads