Persians
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Featured: |
This article is about the Persians, a nationality and an ethnic group. For the ancient empire, see Persian Empire.
The Persians live mainly in Persia (Iran), in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, and Uzbekistan. In Central Asia they are called Tajiks.
The Persians became the rulers of a large empire under the Achaemenid dynasty in the sixth century BC. Over the centuries Persia was ruled by various dynasties; some of them were ethnic Persians (the Sassanids, Buwayhids, Samanids, and others), and some of them were not (the Seleucids, Seljuk Turks, Mongols, Safavids, and others).
The Persian civilization spawned three major religions: Zoroastrianism, Mithraism, and Manichaeanism. All of these reflect the extreme dualism of Persian culture.
According to the 2004 CIA World Factbook, 51% of Iran's current population is ethnically Persian. Other estimates put the figure as high as 70%. A number of other ethnic groups are represented in Iran, including the non-Persian Aryan group, the Gilaki; the Turkish-descended Azerbaijanis Turkmen and Kurds; and a few Arabs and other minorities. See Demographics of Iran for more detail.
See also
- Iranian Peoples
- List of Iran-related topics
- List of Afghanistan-related topics
- List of Tajikistan-related topics
- List of Uzbekistan-related topics
- Demographics of Iran
- Demography of Afghanistan
- Demography of Tajikistan
- Demography of Uzbekistan
- Persianate society
- Persianization
- Turkic peoples
- Turco-Persian
- Parsis of Pakistan & India
