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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Iran
Index
There has never been a census of pastoral nomads in Iran. In
1986 census officials estimated that nomads totaled 1.8 million.
The number of tribally organized people, both nomadic and
sedentary, may be twice that figure, or nearly 4 million. The
nomadic population practices transhumance, migrating in the spring
and in the fall. Each tribe claims the use of fixed territories for
its summer and winter pastures and the right to use a specified
migration route between these areas. Frequently summer and winter
camps are widely separated, in some cases by as much as 300
kilometers. Consequently, the semiannual migrations, with families,
flocks, and household equipment, may take up to two months to
complete. The nomadic tribes are concentrated in the Zagros, but
small groups are also found in northeastern and southeastern Iran.
The movements of the tribes appear to be an adaptation to the
ecology of the Zagros. In the summer, when the low valleys are
parched from insufficient rainfall, the tribes are in the higher
elevations. When the snows begin to fall and cover the pastures of
the higher valleys, the tribes migrate to low-lying pastures that
remain green throughout the winter because of the seasonal
rainfall.
Traditionally, the nomadic tribes have kept large herds of
sheep and goats, which have provided the main source of red meat
for Iran. During migrations the tribes trade their live animals,
wool, hair, hides, dairy products, and various knotted and woven
textiles with villagers and townspeople in return for manufactured
and agricultural goods that the nomads are unable to produce. This
economic interdependence between the nomadic and settled
populations of Iran has been an important characteristic of society
for several centuries.
During the Qajar period (1795-1925), when the central
government was especially weak, the nomadic tribes formed tribal
confederations and acquired a great deal of power and influence. In
many areas these tribal confederations were virtually autonomous
and negotiated with the local and national governments for
extensive land rights. The largest tribal confederations, such as
those of the Bakhtiari and the Qashqai, were headed by a paramount
leader, or ilkhan. Individual tribes within a confederation
were headed by a khan, beg, shaykh, or sardar.
Subtribes, generally composed of several clans, were headed by
kalantars. The head of the smallest tribal unit, the clan,
was called a kadkhuda.
Reza Shah moved against the tribes with the new national army
that he began creating while minister of war and prime minister
(1921-25). After he became shah, his tribal policy had two
objectives: to break the authority and power of the great tribal
confederation leaders, whom he perceived as a threat to his goal of
centralizing power, and to gain the allegiance of urban political
leaders who had historically resented the power of the tribes. In
addition to military maneuvers against the tribes, Reza Shah used
such economic and administrative techniques as confiscation of
tribal properties and the holding of chiefs' sons as hostages.
Eventually, many nomads were subdued and placed under army control.
Some were given government-built houses and forced to follow a
sedentary life. As a result, the herds kept by the nomads were
unable to obtain adequate pasturage, and there was a drastic
decline in livestock. When Reza Shah abdicated in 1941, many
nomadic tribes returned to their former life-styles.
Mohammad Reza Shah continued the policy of weakening the
political power of the nomadic tribes, but efforts to coerce them
to settle were abandoned. Several tribal leaders were exiled, and
the military was given greater authority to regulate tribal
migrations. Tribal pastures were nationalized during the 1960s as
a means of permitting the government to control access to grazing.
In addition, various educational, health, and vocational training
programs were implemented to encourage the tribes to settle
voluntarily.
Following the Revolution, several former tribal leaders
attempted to revitalize their tribes as major political and
economic forces. Many factors impeded this development, including
the hostile attitude of the central government, the decline in
nomadic populations as a result of the settlement of large numbers
of tribespeople in the 1960s and 1970s, and the consequent change
in attitudes, especially of youth raised in villages and towns.
By the mid-1980s, it seemed that the nomadic tribes were no
longer a political force in Iranian society. For one thing, the
central government had demonstrated its ability to control the
migration routes. Moreover, the leadership of the tribes, while
formally vested in the old families, effectively was dispersed
among a new generation of nonelite tribespeople who tended to see
themselves as ethnic minorities and did not share the views of the
old elite.
Data as of December 1987
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