Fun Facts

Some fun facts are about the Bakhtiari culture is that they have 2 players in the NFL( David and Eric) one plays for the Green Bay Packers and one is a free agent right now. How would of thought that an Bakhtiarian person from Iran is playing professional football now. The Bakhtiari are noted in Iran for their remarkable music which inspired Alexander Borodin. The Bakhtiari dialect is the most popular dialect of the Lurish Language. The term "bakhtiari" can be best translated as "companion of chance" or "bearer of good luck"The term has deep Persian roots and is the result of two smaller words "bakht" and "yar" complied together. "Bakht" is the Persian word for "chance" and "yar", "iar", "iari" literally means "companion". The latter designation largely relates to the nature of the tribe's annual "migration". This has to do with the harsh nature of Bakhtiari life and overcoming of countless difficulties that Bakhtiaris have faced in the Zagros ranges. In this sense, Bakhtiaris view themselves as a hardworking tribe, facing numerous obstacles everyday and yet fortunate enough to overcome each of these challenges as a solid unit. The Bakhtiari men and girl live permanently in the village of Karyak, about 120 miles south of Esfahan where the Kershan River, a tributary of Karun, serves as the boundary between the Bakhtiari and Boyer Ahmadi tribes.

Intro/Index

In my Geography class my group had gotten picked the North Africa/ South West Asia. The culture i had gotten assigned the Bakhtiari culture. This culture is from 11 to 12 million in population. The Bakhtiari (Persian)  are a southwestern lurish tribe. They speak the Bakhtiari, a southwestern Iranian dialect, belonging to the Luri Language. They reside in the Iranian state, primary inhabit Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari and eastern Khuzestan, Lorestan and Isfahan. They speak a between of languages of Bakhtiari and Persian and their religion is Shia Muslim.

• History
• Homeland
• World
• Cosmos
• Birds
• Neighbors
• Migration
• Interview
• Cultural Survival
• Fun facts
• References 

References

Trying to find information on the Bakhtiari tribe was hard because it is not that big of a population unlike getting information in America. Their people really do not use the internet and its a tight community so they do not use technology how we use it everyday. I could not find any books of the Bakhtiari culture, so i got most of my information from the a couple different internet sources. Also, i got some of my information from the interview I did with Moshen Rezaee. Between the internet and my interview is where i collected and gathered my information to make this blogs. All of the sources gave my great information about the Bakhtiari culture and showed me the difference between what they do in society and what we do in society today. Their culture is very different than what ours is and you will see that throughout the whole blog.

Interview

Today I interviewed Mohsen Rezaee Bakhtiari, born 9 September 1954. He was born in the Masjed Soleyman, Khuzestan province of Iran. Rezaee married in 1974. He has five children, two sons and three daughters. His eldest son, Ahmad, migrated to the United States in 1998 and sought political asylum. He spoke against the policies of the Iranian Islamic government, and accused his father and others of supporting terrorist acts. He returned to Iran in 2005, recanting his statements. However, he later migrated to the United Arab Emirates in 2011. On 13 November 2011, his body was found dead in a hotel in Dubai. It was reported that he was killed by a hotel servant, but the Dubai Police stated that he had died after taking a large quantity of antidepressants. His brother, Omidvar, is a member of the Parliament of Iran since 2008.He is an Iranian politician, economist, former military commander, and secretary of the ExpediencyDiscernment Council of Islamic Republic of Iran.  He spent his childhood and adolescence in the oil-rich city of Masjed Soleyman (Irsoleymān) in southwestern Iran. Along with his close friends. He started his political and cultural struggle against the Shah' s regime. In the last year of high school, he was arrested by the Shah Security service SAVAK  in Ahvaz, interrogated and tortured. He was 17 when he served five months in solitary confinement. He did not stop his political activities after he was released from prison. Rezaei arrived in Tehran  in 1974 to study mechanical engineering at Iran University of Science andTechnology.   He studied and worked at the same time. SAVAK intensified its crackdown on guerrilla groups to which he was a member. He had to abandon the university. Now he is retired and he is living his life through his family. He is a very intelligent person that told me how different it is to grow up in Iran compared to us growing up in America. He plans to visit America in a couple years and it would be neat to try to keep in touch with him and meet a friend from a different country.

Cultural Survival

Under the Pahlavi Regime, the Lurs lost thier freedom and their semi independent status, and the Lur's territories were divided into several administrative units without any regard for traditional boundaries. For instance the Lurikuchek has been limited to modern Luristan while Posht, formerly ruled by the Wali Dynasty, was incorporated into Ilam province. The most dramatic change caused by the Pahlavi regime was the loss of freedom and the semi independent status of the Lurs. Prior to the establishment of the Pahlavi regime, basic decisions were made within the local communities. The Bakhtiari was ruled by a local dynasty who paid certain tribes to the central government, while internal affairs were taken care of by the members of that dynasty. In Luristan, each tribal group acted as a semi independent unit. In Posht, the Walis were supreme, while the tribes of Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed and those of Mamasani also enjoyed the same internal freedom. The Pahlavi regime, however, sent high ranking officials from Tehren to supervise the Lur territories. Just prior to the recent revolution, all governors, generals were directly appointed by the Shah without taking into consideration the existence of the Lurs communities. Lurs, like other Iranians, were prohibited from organizing political parties, forming associations or expressing themselves through mass media and public gatherings. 

Under the Pahlavi regime, the Lurs lost their freedom and their semi-independent status, and the Lurs' territories were divided into several administrative units without any regard for traditional boundaries. For instance, Lur-i-kuchek has been limited to modern Luristan while Posht-kuh, formerly ruled by the Wali dynasty, was incorporated into Ilam province. The most dramatic change caused by the Pahlavi regime was the loss of freedom and the semi-independent status of the Lurs. Prior to the establishment of the Pahlavi Regime, basic decisions were made within the local communities. For instance, the Bakhtiari was ruled by a local dynasty who paid certain tributes to the central government, while internal affairs were taken care of by the members of that dynasty. In Luristan, each tribal group acted as a semi-independent unit. In Posht-kuh, the Walis were supreme, while the tribes of Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed and those of Mamasani also enjoyed the same internal freedom. The Pahlavi regime, however, sent high-ranking officials from Tehran to supervise the Lur territories. Just prior to the recent revolution, all governors-general were directly appointed by the Shah without taking into consideration the existence of the Lurs' communities. Lurs, like other Iranians, were prohibited from organizing political parties, forming associations or expressing themselves through mass media and public gatherings. - See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/iran/lurs-iran#sthash.zYSbR8X6.dpuf

nder the Pahlavi regime, the Lurs lost their freedom and their semi-independent status, and the Lurs' territories were divided into several administrative units without any regard for traditional boundaries. For instance, Lur-i-kuchek has been limited to modern Luristan while Posht-kuh, formerly ruled by the Wali dynasty, was incorporated into Ilam province. The most dramatic change caused by the Pahlavi regime was the loss of freedom and the semi-independent status of the Lurs. Prior to the establishment of the Pahlavi Regime, basic decisions were made within the local communities. For instance, the Bakhtiari was ruled by a local dynasty who paid certain tributes to the central government, while internal affairs were taken care of by the members of that dynasty. In Luristan, each tribal group acted as a semi-independent unit. In Posht-kuh, the Walis were supreme, while the tribes of Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed and those of Mamasani also enjoyed the same internal freedom. The Pahlavi regime, however, sent high-ranking officials from Tehran to supervise the Lur territories. Just prior to the recent revolution, all governors-general were directly appointed by the Shah without taking into consideration the existence of the Lurs' communities. Lurs, like other Iranians, were prohibited from organizing political parties, forming associations or expressing themselves through mass media and public gatherings. - See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/iran/lurs-iran#sthash.zYSbR8X6.dpuf

nnder the Pahlavi regime, the Lurs lost their freedom and their semi-independent status, and the Lurs' territories were divided into several administrative units without any regard for traditional boundaries. For instance, Lur-i-kuchek has been limited to modern Luristan while Posht-kuh, formerly ruled by the Wali dynasty, was incorporated into Ilam province. The most dramatic change caused by the Pahlavi regime was the loss of freedom and the semi-independent status of the Lurs. Prior to the establishment of the Pahlavi Regime, basic decisions were made within the local communities. For instance, the Bakhtiari was ruled by a local dynasty who paid certain tributes to the central government, while internal affairs were taken care of by the members of that dynasty. In Luristan, each tribal group acted as a semi-independent unit. In Posht-kuh, the Walis were supreme, while the tribes of Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed and those of Mamasani also enjoyed the same internal freedom. The Pahlavi regime, however, sent high-ranking officials from Tehran to supervise the Lur territories. Just prior to the recent revolution, all governors-general were directly appointed by the Shah without taking into consideration the existence of the Lurs' communities. Lurs, like other Iranians, were prohibited from organizing political parties, forming associations or expressing themselves through mass media and public gatherings. - See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/iran/lurs-iran#sthash.zYSbR8X6.dpuf

nder the Pahlavi regime, the Lurs lost their freedom and their semi-independent status, and the Lurs' territories were divided into several administrative units without any regard for traditional boundaries. For instance, Lur-i-kuchek has been limited to modern Luristan while Posht-kuh, formerly ruled by the Wali dynasty, was incorporated into Ilam province. The most dramatic change caused by the Pahlavi regime was the loss of freedom and the semi-independent status of the Lurs. Prior to the establishment of the Pahlavi Regime, basic decisions were made within the local communities. For instance, the Bakhtiari was ruled by a local dynasty who paid certain tributes to the central government, while internal affairs were taken care of by the members of that dynasty. In Luristan, each tribal group acted as a semi-independent unit. In Posht-kuh, the Walis were supreme, while the tribes of Kuh-Gilu-Boir Ahmed and those of Mamasani also enjoyed the same internal freedom. The Pahlavi regime, however, sent high-ranking officials from Tehran to supervise the Lur territories. Just prior to the recent revolution, all governors-general were directly appointed by the Shah without taking into consideration the existence of the Lurs' communities. Lurs, like other Iranians, were prohibited from organizing political parties, forming associations or expressing themselves through mass media and public gatherings. - See more at: http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/iran/lurs-iran#sthash.zYSbR8X6.dpuf

Cosmos

The Bakhtiari tribe seen from a cosmos perspective is that they have about 11 to 12 million in population. The main members of the tribe is Saad ad- Daula, Teymer, Mohammad, Shapour, Navad, Yaser and many other family members. Bakhtiaris occupy the mountain tract in South-West Persia lying roughly between longitudes 31 to 34 N and 48 40' to 51 E, bound on the south by the plains of Khuzistan and on the north by the districts of Chahar Mahal, Faridan, and Khonsar where the central Iranian Plateau blends into the great southern mountain range. Bakhtiaris were semi-nomadic and their livelihood depended on the survival of their herds of sheep, cattle, and horses. The most popular cities for the Bakhtiari is the  province of Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari  and parts of the provinces Khuzestan, Isfahan and Lorestan in Iran. The most popular languages are Persian and Bakhtiari.The Bakthtiaris became Muslims after the Arabs invaded Iran almost 1400 years ago. They converted to Shi'ism following the Safavid invasion in the 16th Century CE. Previously, Bakhtiaris were Zorostrain. Some famous Bakhtiari people is David Bakhtiari (NFL player), Fereydoon Moshiri (Prominent contemporary Persian Poets), Bahran Moshiri (Historian and scientist), and Soraya Esfandiary (Queen of Iran 1951-58). The Bakhtiari are noted in Iran for their remarkable music which inspired Alexander Borodin. The Bakhtiari dialect is the most popular dialect of the Lurish Language.

Migration

Migration is the big part of the Bakhtiari culture because a percentage are still nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters and winter quarters. Nomads are communities of people who move from one place to another with all of their livestock and other goods they need. They usually leave due to weather conditions or due to food scarcity.   This means they have move up the mountains in the summer time to higher elevations and move back down the mountains during the winter time due to the harsh conditions. This requires a lot of moving things around, like living quarters, cattle, and farming. Imagine on moving ever year due the conditions people live in. The Bakhtiari tribe has a lot of moving to do each year with moving all of their belongings from the top of the mountain to the bottom of the mountain. If us Americans had to do that, people would not survive because we have never dealt with the hardships of moving like that. When it gets cold out people just put the heat on, when its hot out people put the AC on. People in the Bakhtiari tribe do not have the same luxuries we do so they have to adjust to the climates surrounding them and if they have to move  for a period of time due tot he weather they will. They do not have the same materials we do to build homes or the supplies like us too, so they do what they have to to survive. So for people migration is a big part of their lifestyle due where they live or what supplies they have to deal with. The Bakhtiari tribe deals with it like it is a job and they are costumed to it. 

Neighbors

The Bakhtiari tribe is primarly located in the eastern part of the province or the eastern part of the Zagros Mountains. They inhabit Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari and eastern Khuzestan, Lorenstan and Isfahan. One tribe that was a neighbor of theirs was the Gutians, were a tribe from the northern and central ranges of the Zagros Mountains that overran southern Mesopotamia. Gutians as a barbarous, ravenous people from Gutium or Qutium in the mountains, presumably the central Zagros  east of Babylon and north of Elam. Gutium is also mentioned based in modern-day Kurdistan. Another neighbor of theirs is the Shahrazor, where they live on the foothills of the Zagros to Iraq. The plain extends from the foothills of the Zagros into today's Iraq from Sulaimaniyeh to Kirkuk. In Persian, shahr means city, land or region while zor means power, difficulty, generosity, and plenty. The Sassanian satrapy of Shahrazor would have included the modern Kurdish Iraqi provinces of Suleimania and Kirkuk, as well as eastern parts of the Diyala province. Shahrazor's links to Aryan history go back to the legendary times. Also, the Assyrians are neighbors that live close by to the Bakhtiari, living in the north- central Zagros mountains. The land of the Lullubi centered in today's Rania, Iraq and the upper reaches of the Shahrazor/ Shaarazor  plain. Another neighbor is the Zamua, which are located south of Lake Urmia between Urmia and present- day Sanandaj near the upper reaches of the Diyala river, as well as land of the Mehri. The core of the Zamua lands was centered around the the valley where the modern city of Sulaimaniyeh in Iraq is situated. These are just some of the neighbors that live along the Zagros Mountains and the outskirts. All of these neighbors have some or little connection with each other. Usually each tribe keeps to themselves unless for trades or other needs of services that other tribes can help and provide for others.

Birds

The Bakhtiare people live in and around the valleys of the Zagros Mountains so they have a diverse amount of birds in the area. Of 324 breeding species, 131 occur widely in the Palearctic region, 81 are Western Palearctic species, reaching the easternmost extremities of their ranges in Iran, while 19 are typically Eastern Palearctic species, reaching the westernmost tip of their ranges in Iran. Despite the fact that large portions of the country are arid to semi-arid, Iran possesses a very rich and diverse bird fauna; over 490 species are known to have occurred. Two main factors are responsible for this; the great range of habitats from permanent snows to deep deserts and from lush deciduous forest in the north to palm groves and mangroves in the south and Iran’s position at a crossroads between three major faunal regions. The bulk of the country lies within the Palearctic faunal region, which stretches from Europe and North Africa across north and central Asia to the Soviet Far East and Japan. Lying along the southern edge of this region, Iran’s bird fauna includes a large Western Palearctic faunal element, reaching its eastern extremity in the central Alborz and Zagros mountains, and a smaller, but still marked, Eastern Palearctic element, which extends into northeastern Iran in the highlands of Khorasan. In a number of cases, western and eastern forms either closely related species or well differen­tiated subspecies of a single species come together with a narrow zone of hybridization in the central Alborz. The birds vary from which part of the mountain they are located but the most popular birds in these locations are the snow finch, caspian snow-cock, green woodpecker, robins, geese, swans, coots. Those are just some of the most popular species of the birds, they have between 20000 to 25000 different pairs of flamingos and 1000 to 1600 pairs of white pelicans and other birds similar to them. Regular censuses in recent years have estimated the mid-winter population of ducks, geese, swans, and coots at well over a million birds, with perhaps as many birds again occurring on passage in spring and autumn

World

The world compared to the Bakhtiari culture life is very different from what most people view the world. Us Americans would not like to live the way the Bakhtiari people live. The communication is different than what we do in everyday life, people in their tribe do not use cell phones in their everyday life like us. In American alot of things are luxuries to us and alot of people do not take things for granted. For their cultures, they use everything to the best of their availability. Most of their people are nomadic meaning they work within their communities to provide for everyone. For example, they hunt for their food, they make their own clothes and cooking ware, and they farm themselves. They are self- sufficient for the most part and the stuff that they do not have, they trade for it. They live in a smaller state so they do not have all the resource just given to them, they have to fend for themselves. They do not have supermarkets on every corner like we do. People in America can go to any store and can find basically whatever they want to buy because we use money for an exchange. People in America do not make their own products anymore, their aren't as many farmers or people in the industry that provide things for people as much as they use too. Now a days people are relying more on other people to do things for them expecting things to get done. Unlike the Bakhtiari people which do everything for themselves to survive, we do not. We survive off of the people that brings the goods and services for us and use currency to trade for it. We both have trading that is an integral part of our lives but we use them in many different ways to survive in our lifestyles. 

Homeland

The homeland of the Bakhtiari people is in the state of Iran. They inhabit about 156,000 square kilometers in and near the central Zagros Mountains of Iran. The most recent estimate of their population in this area is about 3 to 4 million people. They are traditionally nomadic pastoralists who make their winter encampments in the low hills along the narrow fringe of the northeast Khuzestan plain and their summer pastures in the intermontane valleys. Other Bakhtiari live in permanent agricultural settlements throughout the larger area, except at the highest elevations.  The latter designation largely relates to the nature of the tribe's annual "migration". This has to do with the harsh nature of Bakhtiari life and overcoming of countless difficulties that Bakhtiaris have faced in the Zagros ranges. In this sense, Bakhtiaris view themselves as a hardworking tribe, facing numerous obstacles everyday and yet fortunate enough to overcome each of these challenges as a solid unit.
Nevertheless, the origins of Bakhtiaris are ancient and it may have very well been the case that the tribe underwent a series of name changes throughout its life. However It is mostly acclaimed that the designation "Bakhtiari" came largely into use some where in antiquity. The Bakhtiari people are mainly from two tribal divisions, Chahar lang (English: Four Legs) and Haft lang (English: Seven Legs). Due to the harsh nature of their life style, Bakhtiaris have been able to keep their blood lines intact, largely marrying within their own tribe. Bakhtiaris trace a common lineage, being divided into the Chahar Lang  (The Four Legs) and Haft Lang (The Seven Legs) groups, each controlled by a single powerful family. The overall Khan alternates every two years between the chiefs of the Chahar Lang and the Haft Lang. The latter designation largely relates to the nature of the tribe's annual "migration". This has to do with the harsh nature of Bakhtiari life and overcoming of countless difficulties that Bakhtiaris have faced in the Zagros ranges. In this sense, Bakhtiaris view themselves as a hardworking tribe, facing numerous obstacles everyday and yet fortunate enough to overcome each of these challenges as a solid unit.

History

In the Bakhtiari culture they had two different periods of time and they are Constitutional Revolution and the Pahlavi Period. In Iran's contemporary history, the Bakhtiari have played a significant role; particularly during the advent of the country's Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907). This event was largely secured through the Bakhtari campaign which eventually deposed Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (1907-1909)The Bakhtiari tribesmen, under the leadership of the Haft Lang khans Sadar Assad   and his brother Najaf Qoli Khan Bakhtiari- Saad ad- Daula  (also referred to as Samsam-os Saltane), captured Tehran, and as a result saved the revolution. These events eventually led to the abdication of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar in 1909, and his exile to Russia. This incident secured Saad ad- Daula the position of Prime Minister in the period that followed the abdication of the Qajar Shah. Nonetheless with Russian backing the Shah would soon return in 1911 by landing with a coalition of forces at Astarabad. However, his efforts to reclaim his throne would bear no fruit. In this sense, the Bakhtiaris played a critical role in saving the revolution from the Qajar forces.With the expansion of Bakhtiari influence, urban elites (particularly in Tehran) began to worry in regards to a potential Bakhtiari takeover of Persia's affairs. Prior to this point, the Bakhtiari had largely remained within their own territorial boundaries. The Bakhtiari influence would continue to play an important role within the early 20th century politics of Iran. Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-1941) would be amongst the first modern Shahs who made destruction of the Bakhtiari influence, his mission. The existence of Oil on Bakhtiari territory further motivated the Pahlavi monarch to undermine the autonomy of the tribe and force its population to adhere  to the commands of the central government. Reza Shah Pahlavi would eventually execute few noteworthy tribal leaders as to crush Bakhtiari autonomy and maintain control over the tribe. Amongst the executed Khans, was Mohammad Reza Khan (Sardar-e-Fateh), the father of what later became the Pahlavi Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiari. The latter event was a turning point for Bakhtiari and their rise within Iranian politics.