Tajiks are a large ethnic group, the origin history of which dates back to the ancient Iranian people. Today they inhabit not only modern Tajikistan, but also other countries of the world.
Tajiks are a collective name for a people of Iranian origin. Experts in the field of demography evaluate its total number in various ways, and these estimates largely depend on the nature of the understanding of the term and the inclusion of certain national groups in it. These estimates range from 14 to 44 million people.
Features of Tajiks
The roots of the Tajiks go back to the Iranian people, which was formed more than 4 thousand years ago. Initially, this term was used to refer to all Iranians professing the Muslim religion, but later some isolated ethnic groups united by a pronounced national identity, for example, the Iranians themselves, emerged from this category.
Population experts agree that Tajiks should be classified as a Caucasian race. At the same time, however, the indicated nationality belongs to its special category - the Mediterranean subgroup. Such a feature, against the background of the prevalence of dark skin color and dark eyes and hair among the representatives of this nationality, allows the existence of a certain proportion of representatives within it with sufficiently light hair, skin and eyes.
Researchers associate the manifestation of such features with the region of residence of such representatives: as a rule, they are found not in the flat part of Central Asia, which is characterized by a hot climate and an active sun, but in mountainous areas, where the role of a dark pigment acting as a protection from solar radiation is not so important.
The adverbs spoken by representatives of the Tajik people belong to different varieties of the Persian language. Among them, the Tajik language proper, which is widespread in the countries of the former USSR, stands out, as well as Dari, Farsi and other dialects. At the same time, researchers in the field of linguistics argue that all ethnic groups using the most diverse dialects of the Persian language, if necessary, are able to communicate effectively and understand each other perfectly.
Region of residence
The largest number of representatives of the Tajik people today are concentrated in five countries, which constitute the predominant geographic halo of this nationality. These include Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. According to various estimates, between 20 and 40 million Tajiks collectively live in these countries.
It is noteworthy that all of the listed countries are in close geographical proximity to each other, which indicates the spread of this nationality within their borders through active migration. In addition, thanks to migration, there are quite large groups of Tajiks in other countries of the world, for example, in Germany, the United States and China.