Qashqai people
 
|
|
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (c. 1.5 million (1997) ) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Southern Iran, Central Iran | |
| Languages | |
| Qashqai, Persian | |
| Religion | |
| Shia Islam [2] | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Azerbaijanis,Turkic peoples |
Qashqai (pronounced [qaʃqaːjiː]; also spelled Qashqa'i, 'Qashqay,' Kashkai, Kashkay, Qashqayı, Gashgai, Gashgay, in Persian: قشقایی) are a conglomeration of tribes of Turkic ethnic origins. They mainly live in the Iranian provinces of Fars, Khuzestan, Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad, Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari, Bushehr and southern Isfahan, especially around the city of Shiraz and Firuzabad in Fars. Almost all of them are bilingual, speaking the Qashqai language - which is a member of the Turkic family of languages and which they call Turki — as well as (in formal use) the Persian language. The majority of Qashqai people were originally nomadic pastoralists and some remain so today. The traditional nomadic Qashqai travelled with their flocks twice yearly to and from the summer highland pastures north of Shiraz roughly 480 km or 300 miles south to the winter pastures on lower (and warmer) lands near the Persian Gulf, to the southwest of Shiraz. The majority, however, have now become partially or wholly sedentary. The trend towards settlement has been increasing markedly since the 1960s.
The Qashqai are made up of five major tribes including the Amale / Amaleh, the Dere-Shorlu / Darreh-Shuri, the Kashkollu / Kashkuli, the Shishbeyli / Sheshboluki, the Eymur / Farsimadan, and some small tribes such as Qaracha / Qarache'i, Rahimli / Rahimi and Safi-Khanli / Safi-Khani (the first of these pair spellings is the rendering of these names as they are pronounced in the Qashqai language and the second forms are the transliteration of these names as written in Persian
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