Hazara
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Hazaras | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 |
|||||||||
| A young Hazara boy poses for a photograph outside his home. | |||||||||
| Total population | |||||||||
|
3 to 7 million |
|||||||||
| Regions with significant populations | |||||||||
|
|||||||||
| Languages | |||||||||
| Persian (Hazaragi and Dari dialects) |
|||||||||
| Religions | |||||||||
| Shi'a, some Ismaili, some Sunni | |||||||||
| Related ethnic groups | |||||||||
| Mongol, Turkic, Iranian |
The Hazara are an ethnic group who reside mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region, called Hazarajat or Hazaristan, and speak the Hazaragi dialect of the Persian language. Because of a lack of accurate census data, as well as a history of centuries of discrimination, estimates of the size of the Hazara population vary greatly and are highly politicized. Estimates range from the most common 19% [1] to higher numbers, but the lack of an accurate census for decades means that there is little verifiable information at present. Significant populations of Hazaras also live in Pakistan and Iran.
Contents |
[edit] History and origins
The main theory states that the Hazara seem to have mainly Mongolian origins with some Caucasoid admixture, as evidenced by physical attributes and parts of their culture and language. It is commonly believed that the Hazara are descendants of the armies and settlers of Genghis Khan's Mongolians, which marched into the area in the 12th century. Oral traditions among Hazaras claim direct descent from Genghis Khan himself. Modern Genetics has identified the Y-chromosome of Genghis Khan. This chromosome is virtually absent outside the limits of the Mongol empire except amongst the Hazara people, where it reaches highest frequency anywhere. The Global Gene Project reported over a quarter of their sample Hazara males have the Y chromosome of Genghis Khan. [2][3]. This theory is further strengthened since the Il-Khanate Mongols rulers, beginning with Oljeitu, embraced Shia Islam. Today, almost all Hazaras adhere to Shiism, whereas Afghanistan's other ethnic groups are predominately Sunni.
There are other beliefs holding Hazaras as descendants of the Koshanis [4], the ancient dwellers of Afghanistan famous for constructing the Buddhas of Bamyan; proponents of this view hold the geography of Hazara homeland and the similarity in the facial features of the Hazaras and those on the frescoes and Buddhas statues in Bamiyan. Other less known theories hold Hazaras as people of Turkic origin. Proponents of the Mongol view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their families settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol Empire dissolved in the thirteenth century, converting to Islam and adopting local customs (cultural diffusion).
However, the main Mongolian mixing theory is contested on the basis of historical events surrounding Genghis Khan's invasion of what today constitutes central Afghanistan. The invading Mongol armies encountered fierce resistance from the locals around Bamyan, who had Asian features like the invading Mongols [5]. This suggests that people with Mongolian features inhabited central Afghanistan, possibly of Uyghur Turkic origin, long before Genghis Khan's invasion and probably arrived there in much earlier waves of migration out of Central Asia.[citation needed]
Historical records also mention that in a particularly bloody battle around Bamyan, Genghis Khan's grandson Motochin was killed. He ordered Bamyan burnt to the ground in retribution, renaming it Ma-Obaliq ("Uninhabitable Abode").
After the fall of the Il-Khan empire in Persia, the Safavid Shah Abbas drove out the Mongols from Persia to their eastern province of Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan). Some sources say he drove out the Uzbeks but the distinction is unclear. Around 1550, the first mention of Hazaras are made by the court historians of Shah Abbas, as well as in the Baburnama distinguishing Hazaras from the Chughtai Uzbeks. This is when the national identity of Hazaras apparently began.
[edit] Language
The Hazaragi language is a distinctive dialect of the Persian language, with some Mongolian and Turkish vocabulary. Many of the urban Hazaras in the larger cities of Kabul and Mazari Sharif speak Dari, while Hazaras from the Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi regions have the many admixture of the Mongolian in their language. Hazaras in Quetta, Pakistan date back to around 1890, and use more Urdu and English words.
[edit] Religion
Hazaras are predominantly Shia Muslims, although there are significant populations of Sunni and Ismaili Hazaras in north and northwestern Afghanistan. Often Sunni Hazaras can blur the lines with the Tajiks and Pashtuns.
[edit] Political
Since the early 1990s, the Hizb-e-Wahdat political party is the most important Hazara movement. The most influential member, prior to his capture and execution by the Taliban, was Abdul Ali Mazari. This execution at the hands of the Taliban made Abdul Ali Mazari a martyr and a hero to the impoverished Hazara people.
[edit] Migration
Besides the major populations of Hazaras in Quetta, Pakistan and Iran, there are significant communities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, the UK and particularly the Northern European countries such as Sweden and Denmark. Many young Hazara have migrated in particular to Australia, legally through education or work visas, or as refugees without visas. The most notorious case was the MV Tampa incident [6] in which a shipload of refugees, mostly Hazaras, were rescued by the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa and subsequently sent to Nauru, where many refugee claims were rejected by Australia, and to New Zealand, where all claims but one were approved. Refugees in Quetta have set up a remittance economy which has led to the opening of foreign money exchange places to handle the currency coming in.
A recent anthropological book, War and migration : social networks and economic strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan by Alessandro Monsutti argues that migration is in fact the traditional way of life of the Hazara people, referring to the seasonal and historical migrations which have never ceased and do not seem to be dictated only by emergency situations such as war.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- About the Hazara people
- Y-Chromosomal DNA Variation in Pakistan (American Journal of Human Genetics, 2002)
- Where west meets east: the complex mtDNA landscape of the southwest and Central Asian corridor (Oxford Ancestors)
- Genghis Khan a Prolific Lover, DNA Data Implies (National Geographic, 2003)
- Australia ships out Afghan refugees (BBC)
- War and migration : social networks and economic strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan / Alessandro Monsutti ; translated by Patrick Camiller.
[edit] Footnotes
Categories: Articles lacking sources from January 2007 | All articles lacking sources | Articles with unsourced statements since February 2007 | All articles with unsourced statements | Articles with unsourced statements since January 2007 | Iranian peoples | Ethnic groups in Afghanistan | Ethnic groups in Asia | Ethnic groups in Iran | Ethnic groups in Pakistan | Muslim communities
