Hazara
The
Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central
Afghanistan mountain region called
Hazarajat. They make approximately 15% of
Afghanistan's population. There are also significant populations of Hazaras in
Pakistan and
Iran.
History
Historically Hazaras seem to have
Mongolian origins, as evidenced by physical attributes and parts of the culture and language. It is commonly believed that Hazaras are descendants of
Genghis Khans army, which marched into the area during the 1200s. The proponents of this view hold that many of the Mongol soldiers and their family members settled in the area and remained there after the Mongol Empire dissolved in the 1300's, converting to Islam and adopting local customs. However this 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 inhabitants of areas around Bamiyan which seemed to share Mongoloid features with their invaders. In a particularly bloody battle around Bamiyan, Genghis Khan's own grandson by the name of "Motochin" was killed, in return for which Genghis ordered the city burnt and leveled to the ground, and named it "Ma-Obaliq", literally meaning the "Uninhabitable abode". It is clear from these historical evidences that Hazara people with Mongoloid features inhabited Central Afghanistan long before Genghis Khan's invasion, and probably arrived there in much earlier waves of migration out of Central Asia.
Language
The language
Hazaragi is a unique dialect of the
Persian language, with many
Mongolian and
Turkish elements.
Religion
Hazaras are predominantly Shia (twelver)
Muslims, although there are significant populations of Sunni and
Ismaili Hazaras in the north and northwestern
Afghanistan. The
Aimagh (Chahar Aimag) Hazaras for instance are predominantly Sunni.
Political
Politically, most Hazaras have fallen under the
Hizb-e-Wahdat party since the early
1990s. The most influential person of the party was Ustad
Abdul Ali Mazari, who was taken captive and killed by the
Taliban. The martyrdom made him the symbolic leader of this ethnic group.
Category:Afghan culture
Category:Ethnic groups
pl:Hazarowie