Zand (tribe)

The Zand tribe (Laki: ئیل زند) is a Laki-speaking Kurdish tribe[1][2][3] mainly populating the countryside of Khanaqin in Iraq and in the provinces of Kurdistan and Hamadan in Iran.[4][5][1]

Origins

According to John R. Perry, some Zand communities spoke Kurdish while others spoke Luri, and the Zand tribe was variously considered Kurdish or Lur, and that "the reason for this confusion is evidently the position of the Zand home, at the eastern limit of the line through Kermanshah that traditionally divides Luristan from Kurdistan and where in practice Kurdish and Luri customs and dialects are intermingled. The narrative sources clearly imply, however, that the Zands regarded themselves, or at least were regarded, as quite distinct from their neighbors the Fayli Lurs on the one hand and the Kurds of Ardalan on the other. The Lak tribes, whose dialect shows characteristics of Kurdish rather than Luri, were apparently immigrants into this northernmost zone of Luristan, or were settled there by Shah 'Abbas. In the later Safavid Period, the Zands are mentioned together with the Laks as Lurs."[6]

According to the third edition of the Encyclopedia of Islam, the Zands "were a branch of the Laks, a subgroup of the northern Lurs, who spoke Luri, a Western Iranian language".[7] According to The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World, likewise, the Zand tribe "spoke the Lakk dialect of the Lur language".[8] When Ely Bannister Soane visited a remnant of the Zand tribe around Kifri, he wrote that they were "Shafii Sunnis" and spoke "southern Kurmanji", and that its leaders denied any Lur connection, claiming to be originally from their present homeland and having only migrated to Shiraz when Karim Khan Zand was in power before returning after the breakup of the tribe.[9]

History

The Sharafnama mentioned the Zand tribe, alongside the Laks, as minor Kurdish tribes who were Persian subjects.[10][11] Zayn al-Abidin Shirvani listed the Lak tribes as Zand, Mafi, Bajalan, and Zandi-yi Kala, which was said to be the tribe of Karim Khan Zand.[10] Others claimed Karim Khan belonged to the Bagala clan of the Zand tribe.[12]

According to Tarikh-e Gitigusha, Nader Shah Afshar deported the Zand tribe to the Gaz valley in Khorasan after hearing of their bravery.[13] Nader Shah deported around 6,000 families of the Shaqaqi tribe, who were used against the Afghans, alongside 300 families of the Zand tribe, to Khorasan. After the death of Nader Shah, the Zand tribe returned to their homeland while Karim Khan Zand established his power.[14] The Zand tribe were mainly concentrated in Pari and Kamazan, two villages near Malayer.[6][15] The wives of Karim Khan and his troops often fought beside their husbands in battle against the Afghans, and the Afghans made a point to heap scorn upon the victorious Zand units by accusing their men of "hiding behind their women’s skirts."[15] During another battle, against the Afshars of Urmia, women of the Zand tribe helped free their husbands from chains and also fought.[16] The Zand tribe also had a conflict with the Qajar tribe over the Iranian monarchy.[17]

After the Qajar dynasty came to power, Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar tried to exterminate the Zand tribe and anyone associated with it.[18][19] When the Zand tribe were massacred at the beginning of Qajar rule, many of them fled to Kurdistan.[20] There were various groups claiming descent from the Zands. Lur groups said to be of Zand origin were noted by Rabino, Schindler, and Beer, while Kurdish groups said to be of Zand origin were noted by Edmonds, Nikitine, and Zaki.[21] Pierre Oberling noted eight villages in Bamposht, in Sistan and Baluchestan province, inhabited by Balochi-speaking Zands who descended from the soldiers accompanying Lotf Ali Khan on his flight to Bam.[22] There were also some Qashqai tribes of Zand descent.[23] In Fars province, the Bayati music system was known as Bayat-e Tork or Bayat-e Zand.[24]

References

  1. 1 2 "نگاهی به تغییرات زیستی و اسمی ایل لک به گواهی قدمت تاریخ" (in Persian). ILNA. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  2. ↑ Hamzeh'ee, M. Reza (1990). The Yaresan: A Sociological, Historical and Religio-historical Study of a Kurdish Community. p. 62. ISBN 9783922968832.
  3. ↑ Soane, E. B. (1918). Notes on the tribes of Southern Kurdistan. Baghdad. pp. 37–38.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Archibald Roosevelt (1944). "Kurdish tribal map of Iraq : showing the Iraq portion of Kurdistan and the major Kurdish tribal divisions within Iraq". Yale University.
  5. ↑ Edmonds, Cecil John (1957). Kurds, Turks, and Arabs. Oxford University Press. p. 279.
  6. 1 2 Karim Khan Zand: A History of Iran, 1747-1779, John R. Perry, 2015, pp. 17, ISBN 9780226661025.
  7. ↑ Tucker, Ernest (2020). "Karīm Khān Zand". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). Brill Online. ISSN 1873-9830.
  8. ↑ Frye, Richard N. (2009). "Zand Dynasty". In Esposito, John L. (ed.). The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World. Oxford University Press.
  9. ↑ Notes on the Tribes of Southern Kurdistan, Ely Banister Soane, 1918, pp. 37-38.
  10. 1 2 Minorsky, Vladimir (2012). "Lak". Encyclopaedia of Islam (Second ed.). Brill Publishers. doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_0562. ISBN 978-90-04-16121-4.
  11. ↑ "LAK TRIBE". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
  12. ↑ "ZAND DYNASTY". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
  13. ↑ Chinese, Kurds, Iranians and the Silk Road: A Historical Perspective, Shabnam Dadparvar, Ismail Shams, 2025, pp. 103, ISBN 9781036447854.
  14. ↑ The Yaresan, M. Reza Hamzeh'ee, 2021, pp. 62-63, ISBN 9783112400906.
  15. 1 2 Iran at War: 1500-1988, Kaveh Farrokh, 2011, pp. 130, ISBN 9781780962214.
  16. ↑ The Heavenly Rose-garden: A History of Shirvan & Daghestan Abbas-Kuli-aga Bakikhanov, Willem M. Floor, 2009, pp. 136-137, ISBN 9781933823270.
  17. ↑ The Impact of the West on Iranian Social History, Nikki R. Keddie, 1955, pp. 39.
  18. ↑ The Kurdish National Movement: Its Origins and Development, Wadie Jwaideh, 2006, pp. 18, ISBN 9780815630937.
  19. ↑ خاستگاه خيزش:‏ سرآغازى بر جامعه‌شناسى توسعه و جنبش‌هاى اجتماعى در ايران، محمدرضا همزه‌ای، 2005, pp. 182, ISBN 9789645905819.
  20. ↑ ايلها (ايلات) و عشاير كردستان، عبدالحمید حیرت سجادی، 2002, pp. 113-114, ISBN 9789647425230.
  21. ↑ Karim Khan Zand: A History of Iran, 1747-1779, John R. Perry, 2015, pp. 17-18, ISBN 9780226661025.
  22. ↑ Oberling, Pierre (July 20, 2004). "KURDISH TRIBES". Encyclopaedia Iranica.
  23. ↑ "KAŠKULI BOZORG". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2026-08-18.
  24. ↑ "BAYĀT-E TORK". Encyclopaedia Iranica. Retrieved 2026-08-18.

Further reading

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