Hazara
The Hazara are an ethnic group who reside mainly in the central
Afghanistan mountain region, called
Hazarajat or
Hazaristan. 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 as low as 9% to as high as 19-25% of Afghanistan's population, but the lack of an accurate census for decades means that there is little verifiable information at present. Significant populations of Hazaras also exist in
Pakistan and
Iran.
Encyclopedia
The
Hazara are an ethnic group who reside mainly in the central
Afghanistan mountain region, called
Hazarajat or
Hazaristan. 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 as low as 9% [https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/fields/2075.html] to as high as 19-25% of Afghanistan's population, but the lack of an accurate census for decades means that there is little verifiable information at present. Significant populations of Hazaras also exist in
Pakistan and
Iran.
History and origins
One 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 army of
Genghis Khan, which marched into the area in the 12th century, but there are also beliefs holding Hazaras as descendents of the
Koshanis, the ancient dwellers of Afghanistan famous for constructing the
Buddhas of Bamiyan; or 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 13th century, converting to
Islam and adopting local customs .
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 Bamiyan, who had Asian features like the invading Mongols. 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.
Historical records also mention that in a particularly bloody battle around
Bamiyan, Genghis Khan's grandson Motochin was killed. He ordered Bamiyan burnt to the ground in retribution, renaming it Ma-Obaliq .
After the fall of the
Il-Khan empire in
Persia, the
Safavid Shah Abbas drove out the Mongols from Persia to
Khorasan . 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.
The Global Gene Project reported over a quarter of their sample Hazara males have the Y chromosome of Genghis Khan.
Language
The Hazaragi language is a unique dialect of the
Persian language, with some
Mongolian and
Turkish vocabulary. Hazaragi is categorized in the Indo-European language family, and 16% to 20% of Afghans speak it. Many of the urban Hazaras in the larger cities of
Kabul and
Mazar-i-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
Pakistan date back to around 1890, and use more
Urdu and
English words.
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.
Political
Since the early
1990s, most Hazaras support the Hizb-e-Wahdat political party. The most influential member, prior to his capture and execution by the
Taliban, was
Abdul Ali Mazari. His
death made him the symbolic leader of many of the Hazara people.
Migration
Besides the major populations of Hazaras in
Quetta,
Pakistan and
Iran, there are signifiant communities in
Australia,
New Zealand,
Canada, the
US, the
UK and particularly the Northern European countries such as
Sweden and
Denmark. Many Hazara youth 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 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, 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.
See also
External links
