Editing Tajiks

{{Short description|Iranian ethnic group native to Central Asia}}
{{about|the present-day Tajik people|the historical term for Iranian peoples|Tajik (word)|other uses}}
{{pp|small=yes}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2025}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group            = Tajiks<br />{{small|Тоҷикон}}<br />{{small|{{lang|fa|تاجيکان}}}}
| image            = Happy Tajik children.jpg
| caption          = A Tajik [[Nowruz]] festival in [[Tajikistan]], 2018
| population       = {{circa|'''20–23 million'''}}
| region1          = {{flagcountry|Afghanistan}}
| pop1             = {{circa|9–12 million (2025)}}
| ref1             = <ref>{{cite web |title=Why Tajikistan Is Taking a Stand Against the Taliban |url=https://carnegieendowment.org/posts/2021/10/why-tajikistan-is-taking-a-stand-against-the-taliban?lang=en |website= [[Carnegie Endowment for International Peace]] |date=26 October 2021 |access-date=5 May 2025 |quote=[M]ost researchers’ estimates [of ethnic Tajiks] hover around 20 percent.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tajiks in Afghanistan |url=https://minorityrights.org/communities/tajiks/ |website=Minority Rights Group |access-date=3 May 2025 |quote=Though their exact numbers are uncertain and as with other communities are contested, previous estimates have suggested that Tajiks make up around 27 per cent of the population, making them the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan after the Pashtuns.}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Afghan, Tajik in Afghanistan |url=https://joshuaproject.net/people_groups/14372/af |website=Joshua Project |access-date=3 May 2025 |language=en |last1=Project |first1=Joshua }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web | url=https://digital.lib.washington.edu/researchworks/bitstream/handle/1773/40616/Mobasher_washington_0250E_17869.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y | title=Political Laws and Ethnic Accommodation: Why Cross-Ethnic Coalitions Have Failed to Institutionalize in Afghanistan | website=digital.lib.washington.edu | first=Mohammad Bashir | last =Mobasher | publisher=University of Washington}}</ref>
| region2          = {{flagcountry|Tajikistan}}
| pop2             = {{circa|9 million}} (2025)
| ref2             = <ref>{{Cite web | url=https://unece.org/sites/default/files/2023-09/WS10RizoevENG.pdf | title=Dissemination of the Republic of Tajikistan Population and Housing Census data 2020 | website=unece.org}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/countries/tajikistan-population | title=Tajikistan Population 2024 (Live) }}</ref>
| region3          = {{flagcountry|Uzbekistan}}<br />{{spaces|4}}
| pop3             = 1,657,336 (2021)
| ref3             = <ref>{{cite web | url=https://data.egov.uz/eng/data/6117a05996188a0f14ac917b?page=1 | title=Permanent population by national and / Or ethnic group, urban / Rural place of residence }}</ref><ref name="Lena Jonson 2006. pg 108">Lena Jonson (1976) "Tajikistan in the New Central Asia", I.B.Tauris, p. 108: "According to official Uzbek statistics there are slightly over 1 million Tajiks in Uzbekistan or about 3% of the population. The unofficial figure is over 6 million Tajiks. They are concentrated in the Sukhandarya, Samarqand and Bukhara regions."</ref>
| region4          = {{flagcountry|Russia}}
| pop4             = 350,236 (2021)
| ref4             = <ref name=Russiancensus>{{cite web|title=Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации|url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/tab-5_VPN-2020.xlsx|publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service (Russia)|Federal State Statistics Service]]|access-date=31 August 2024}}</ref>
| region6          = {{flagcountry|Kyrgyzstan}}
| pop6             = 59,900 (2022)
| ref6             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stat.gov.kg/en/opendata/category/312/|title=Total population by nationality (assessment at the beginning of the year, people)|language=en|work=Bureau of Statistics of Kyrgyzstan|date=2021|access-date=28 February 2022|archive-date=28 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028023525/https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Kyrgyzstan|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region7          = {{flagcountry|Kazakhstan}}
| pop7             = 58,712 (2025)
| ref7             = <ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.stat.gov.kz/api/getFile/?docId=ESTAT355258|title=Численность населения Республики Казахстан по отдельным этносам|website=stat.gov.kz|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=27 May 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200527204929/https://www.stat.gov.kz/api/getFile/?docId=ESTAT355258|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region8          = {{flagcountry|China}}
| pop8             = 50,896 (2020)
| ref8             = <ref>{{cite web|title=塔吉克族|url=http://www.gov.cn/test/2006-04/14/content_254445.htm|website=www.gov.cn|access-date=6 December 2016|archive-date=24 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224172410/http://www.gov.cn/test/2006-04/14/content_254445.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| region9          = 
| pop9             = 
| ref9             = 
| languages        = [[Persian language|Persian]] ([[Dari]] and [[Tajik language|Tajik]]) <br />{{small|Secondary: [[Pashto]], [[Russian language|Russian]], [[Uzbek language|Uzbek]]}}
| religions        = Predominantly [[Sunni Islam]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://asiaplus.tj/news/16/47964.html|title=Все новости|access-date=14 February 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825055806/http://asiaplus.tj/news/16/47964.html|archive-date=25 August 2010}}</ref> <br /> Minority: [[Shia Islam]]<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|title=Tajikistan|work=U.S. Department of State|access-date=14 February 2015|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513180616/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|url-status=live}}</ref>
| native_name      = 
| native_name_lang = 
| related_groups   = Other [[Iranian peoples]]
}}

'''Tajiks''' ({{langx|fa|تاجيک، تاجک|Tājīk, Tājek}}; {{langx|tg|Тоҷик|Tojik}}; also spelled ''Tadzhiks'' or ''Tadjiks'')<ref>{{cite book |last1=Stevenson |first1=Angus |title=Oxford Dictionary of English |date=19 August 2010 |publisher=OUP Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-957112-3 |page=1809 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=anecAQAAQBAJ |language=en |quote=variant spelling of Tajik}}</ref> is the name of various [[Persian language|Persian]]-speaking<ref name="EofI-Tadjik">{{cite encyclopedia|author1=C.E. Bosworth|author2=B.G. Fragner|title=TĀ<u>DJ</u>ĪK|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]|edition=CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|year=1999}}</ref> [[Iranian peoples|Eastern Iranian]] groups of people native to [[Central Asia]], living primarily in [[Afghanistan]], [[Tajikistan]] and [[Uzbekistan]]. Even though the term ''Tajik'' does not refer to a cohesive cross-national ethnic group,<ref name="nourzhanov">Nourzhanov, K., & Bleuer, C. (2013). Forging Tajik Identity: Ethnic Origins, National–Territorial Delimitation and Nationalism. In Tajikistan: A Political and Social History (pp. 27–50). ANU Press. Link: [http://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctt5hgxx8.10]</ref><ref name="brasher" /> Tajiks are the largest [[ethnicity]] in Tajikistan, and the second-largest in Afghanistan and Uzbekistan. They speak varieties of Persian, a [[Western Iranian language]]. In Tajikistan, since the 1939 Soviet census, its small [[Pamiris|Pamiri]] and [[Yaghnobi people|Yaghnobi]] ethnic groups are included as Tajiks.<ref name="suny" /> In China, the term is used to refer to its Pamiri ethnic groups, the [[Tajiks of Xinjiang]], who speak the [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian]] [[Pamiri languages]].<ref name=arlund1>{{cite book|title=An Acoustic, Historical, And Developmental Analysis of Sarikol Tajik Diphthongs. PhD Dissertation|last=Arlund|first=Pamela S.|year=2006|publisher=The University of Texas at Arlington|page=191|url=http://repositories.tdl.org/tdl/handle/10106/438|access-date=3 May 2010|archive-date=10 December 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131210124041/http://repositories.tdl.org/tdl/handle/10106/438|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=felmy>{{cite book|title=The voice of the nightingale: a personal account of the Wakhi culture in Hunza|last=Felmy|first=Sabine|year=1996|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|location=[[Karachi]]|isbn=0-19-577599-6|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gTtuAAAAMAAJ|access-date=13 October 2015|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410121622/https://books.google.com/books?id=gTtuAAAAMAAJ|url-status=live}}</ref> In Afghanistan, the Pamiris are counted as a separate ethnic group.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Minahan|first1=James B.|title=Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia|date=10 February 2014|publisher=ABC-CLIO}}</ref>

As a self-designation, the literary [[Persian language|New Persian]] term ''Tajik'', which originally had some previous pejorative usage as a label for eastern [[Persians]] or [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]],<ref name="Iranica">{{Cite web|url=https://iranicaonline.org/|title=Welcome to Encyclopaedia Iranica|first=Encyclopaedia Iranica|last=Foundation|website=iranicaonline.org|access-date=17 August 2021|archive-date=10 April 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100410171658/https://iranicaonline.org/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>B. A. Litvinsky, Ahmad Hasan Dani (1998). History of Civilizations of Central Asia: Age of Achievement, A.D. 750 to the end of the 15th-century. Excerpt: "...they were the basis for the emergence and gradual consolidation of what became an Eastern Persian-Tajik ethnic identity." pp. 101. UNESCO. {{ISBN|9789231032110}}.</ref> has become acceptable during the last several decades, particularly as a result of [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] administration in Central Asia.<ref name="EofI-Tadjik" /> Alternative names for the Tajiks are '''[[Farsiwan|Fārsīwān]]''' (Persian-speaker), and '''[[Dehqan|Dīhgān]]''' (cf. {{langx|tg|Деҳқон}}) which translates to "farmer or settled villager", in a wider sense "settled" in contrast to "nomadic" and was later used to describe a class of land-owning magnates as "[[Persians|Persian]] of noble blood" in contrast to [[Arabs]], [[Turkic peoples|Turks]] and [[Ancient Rome|Romans]] during the [[Sassanid]] and early [[Islam]]ic period.<ref name=EofI-Afghanistan>{{cite encyclopedia|author1=M. Longworth Dames|author2=G. Morgenstierne|author3=R. Ghirshman|name-list-style=amp|title=AF<u>GH</u>ĀNISTĀN|encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]|edition=CD-ROM Edition v. 1.0|publisher=Koninklijke Brill NV|location=Leiden, The Netherlands|year=1999}}</ref><ref name="Iranica"/>

The Tajiks have a mixed origin, and are primarily descended from [[Bactria]]ns, [[Sogdia]]ns, [[Scythians]], but also [[Persians]], [[Dayuan|Greeks]], and various [[Turkic peoples]] of Central Asia,<ref name="loc.gov">[https://www.loc.gov/item/97005110/ Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan : country studies] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210520055121/https://www.loc.gov/item/97005110/ |date=20 May 2021 }} Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, page 206</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Foltz |first=Richard |title=A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East |publisher=I.B.Tauris |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-7883-1652-1 |pages=36–39}}</ref> all of whom are known to have inhabited the region at various times. Tajiks are therefore mainly [[Eastern Iranian languages|Eastern Iranian]] in their ethnic makeup but speak a Persian dialect, which is a [[Western Iranian languages|Western Iranian language]], likely adopting the language in the 7th century AD following the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Islamic conquest of Persia]], when the prestigious Persian language consequently spread further east leading to the gradual extinction of the [[Bactrian language|Bactrian]] and [[Sogdian language|Sogdian]] languages.<ref name="Bergne2007">{{cite book|author=Paul Bergne|title=The Birth of Tajikistan: National Identity and the Origins of the Republic|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3coojMwTKU8C&pg=PA5|date=15 June 2007|publisher=I.B.Tauris|isbn=978-1-84511-283-7|pages=5–}}</ref><ref name="MeriBacharach2006">{{cite book|author1=Josef W. Meri|author2=Jere L. Bacharach|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: L-Z, index|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC&q=sogdian+islam&pg=PA829|year=2006|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-415-96692-4|pages=829–|access-date=8 August 2024|archive-date=6 October 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221006155344/https://books.google.com/books?id=LaV-IGZ8VKIC&q=sogdian+islam&pg=PA829|url-status=live}}</ref> The Tajiks and their ancestors have inhabited Northern Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and other parts of Central Asia continuously for many millennia.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Tajikistan/Cultural-life#ref214553] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021112841/https://www.britannica.com/place/Tajikistan/Cultural-life#ref214553|date=21 October 2020}} ''Britannica Online Encyclopedia''</ref> The culture of the Tajiks is predominantly [[Persianate society|Persianate]] but with strong elements from other cultures of Central Asia, such as Turkic and heavily infused with Islamic traditions.

== History ==
{{multiple image
| align             = right
| image1            = Tajik Wedding Rituals. A Groom WDL11015.png
| width1            = 150
| alt1              = 
| caption1          = 
| image2            = Types of Nationalities in the Turkestan Krai. Tajik Women. Makhsat Ai WDL11074.png
| width2            = 165
| alt2              = 
| caption2          = 
| footer            = Tajik man and woman in 19th century photos
}}
{{Further|Ghurid Empire|Kartids}}

{{See also|List of ancient Iranian peoples|label 1=Ancient Iranian peoples|Proto-Indo-Europeans}}

The Tajiks are an Iranian people, speaking a variety of Persian, concentrated in the [[Oxus]] basin, the [[Ferghana valley|Fergana valley]] (Tajikistan and parts of Uzbekistan) and on both banks of the upper Oxus, i.e., the [[Pamir Mountains]] in Tajikistan, and northeastern Afghanistan ([[Badakhshan Province|Badakhshan]]).<ref name="Iranica"/> Historically, the ancient Tajiks were chiefly agriculturalists before the [[Muslim conquest of Persia|Arab Conquest of Iran]].<ref>{{Cite journal|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|year=2002|last1=Zerjal|first1=Tatiana|last2=Wells|first2=R. Spencer|last3=Yuldasheva|first3=Nadira|last4=Ruzibakiev|first4=Ruslan|last5=Tyler-Smith|first5=Chris|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=71|issue=3|pages=466–482|doi=10.1086/342096|pmid=12145751|pmc=419996}}</ref> While agriculture remained a stronghold, the [[Islamization of Iran]] also resulted in the rapid urbanization of historical [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]] and [[Transoxiana]] that lasted until the devastating Mongolian invasion.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uQ7k2vQlYxEC&pg=PA50|title=Al-Hind: The Slavic Kings and the Islamic conquest, 11th–13th centuries|via=google.nl|isbn=0391041746|last1=Wink|first1=André|year=2002|publisher=BRILL |access-date=28 October 2018|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410122239/https://books.google.com/books?id=uQ7k2vQlYxEC&pg=PA50|url-status=live}}</ref> Several surviving ancient urban centers of the Tajik people include [[Samarkand]], [[Bukhara]], [[Khujand]], and [[Termez]].

Contemporary Tajiks are the descendants of ancient Eastern Iranian inhabitants of Central Asia, in particular, the [[Sogdia]]ns and the [[Bactria]]ns.<ref name="loc.gov"/> They are also possible descendants of other groups, with an admixture of Western Iranian Persians and non-Iranian peoples.<ref name="loc.gov"/>{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=33-60}} The latter group includes Greeks who are known to have settled in the Tajikistan and Uzbekistan region before and after the conquests of [[Alexander the Great]], and some of them were referred to as [[Dayuan]] by ancient Chinese chronicles.<ref name="Watson, Burton 1993 pp. 244-245">Watson, Burton(1993). ''Records of the Grand Historian by Sima Qian''. Translated by Burton Watson. Han Dynasty II (Revised Edition), pp. 244–245. Columbia University Press. {{ISBN|0-231-08166-9}}; {{ISBN|0-231-08167-7}} (pbk)</ref>  According to [[Richard Nelson Frye]], a leading historian of Iranian and Central Asian history, the Persian migration to Central Asia may be considered the beginning of the modern Tajik nation, and ethnic Persians, along with some elements of East-Iranian Bactrians and Sogdians, as the main ancestors of modern Tajiks.<ref>[[Richard Nelson Frye]], ''"Persien: bis zum Einbruch des Islam"'' (original English title: ''"The Heritage of Persia"''), German version, tr. by Paul Baudisch, Kindler Verlag AG, [[Zürich]] 1964, pp. 485–498</ref> In later works, Frye expands on the complexity of the historical origins of the Tajiks. In a 1996 publication, Frye explains that many "factors must be taken into account in explaining the evolution of the peoples whose remnants are the Tajiks in Central Asia" and that "the peoples of Central Asia, whether [[Iranian languages|Iranian]] or [[Turkic languages|Turkic]] speaking, have one culture, one religion, one set of social values and traditions with only language separating them."<ref name=frey96>{{cite book|title=The heritage of Central Asia from antiquity to the Turkish expansion|last=Frye|first=Richard Nelson|author-link=Richard Nelson Frye|year=1996|publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers|location=[[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]]|isbn=1-55876-110-1|page=4|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0RSXSu1x9hwC|access-date=13 October 2015|archive-date=24 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230124200452/https://books.google.com/books?id=0RSXSu1x9hwC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Regarding Tajiks, the ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica]]'' states:{{blockquote|The Tajiks are the direct descendants of the Iranian peoples whose continuous presence in Central Asia and northern Afghanistan is attested from the middle of the 1st millennium BC. The ancestors of the Tajiks constituted the core of the ancient population of Khwārezm (Khorezm) and Bactria, which formed part of Transoxania (Sogdiana).  Over the course of time, the eastern Iranian dialect that was used by the ancient Tajiks eventually gave way to [[Persian language|Farsi]], a western dialect spoken in Iran and Afghanistan.<ref>[https://www.britannica.com/place/Tajikistan/Cultural-life#ref214553] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201021112841/https://www.britannica.com/place/Tajikistan/Cultural-life#ref214553 |date=21 October 2020 }} ''Britannica Online Encyclopedia''</ref>}}

The geographical division between the eastern and western Iranians is often considered historically and currently to be the desert [[Dasht-e Kavir]], situated in the center of the Iranian plateau.<ref>{{cite book | last1=Soper | first1=J.D. | last2=Bodrogligeti | first2=A.J.E. | title=Loan Syntax in Turkic and Iranian | publisher=Eurolingua | series=Eurasian language archives | year=1996 | isbn=978-0-931922-58-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ZUbAQAAIAAJ | access-date=1 November 2023 | page=48}} "Western languages were located in the western portion of the Iranian plateau, separated by the Dasht - e Kavir and Dasht - e Lūt deserts from the Eastern Iranian dialects."</ref>

=== Modern history ===
During the [[Soviet–Afghan War]], the Tajik-dominated [[Jamiat-e Islami]] founded by [[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] resisted the [[Soviet Army]] and the communist [[Democratic Republic of Afghanistan|Afghan government]]. Tajik commander, [[Ahmad Shah Massoud]], successfully repelled nine Soviet campaigns from taking [[Panjshir Valley]] and earned the nickname "Lion of Panjshir" ({{lang|prs|شیر پنجشیر}}).

== Etymology ==
{{See also|Dehqan|Sart|Tayy#Fifth century}}
According to John Perry (''[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]]''):<ref name="Iranica" />
<blockquote>The most plausible and generally accepted origin of the word is Middle Persian tāzīk 'Arab' (cf. New Persian tāzi), or an Iranian (Sogdian or Parthian) cognate word. The Muslim armies that [[Muslim conquest of Transoxiana|invaded Transoxiana]] early in the eighth century, conquering the Sogdian principalities and clashing with the [[Qarluq Turks]] (see Bregel, Atlas, Maps 8–10) consisted not only of Arabs, but also of Persian converts from Fārs and the central [[Zagros]] region (Bartol'd [Barthold], "Tadžiki," pp. 455–57). Hence the Turks of Central Asia adopted a variant of the Iranian word, täžik, to designate their Muslim adversaries in general. For example, the rulers of the south Indian [[Chalukya dynasty]] and [[Rashtrakuta dynasty]] also referred to the Arabs as "Tajika" in the 8th and 9th century.<ref>Political History of the Chālukyas of Badami by Durga Prasad Dikshit p.192</ref><ref>The First Spring: The Golden Age of India by Abraham Eraly p.91</ref> By the eleventh century ([[Yūsuf Balasaguni|Yusof Ḵāṣṣ-ḥājeb]], [[Kutadgu Bilig|Qutadḡu bilig]], lines 280, 282, 3265), the [[Qarakhanid Turks]] applied this term more specifically to the Persian Muslims in the Oxus basin and Khorasan, who were variously the Turks' rivals, models, overlords (under the [[Samanid Dynasty]]), and subjects (from [[Ghaznavid]] times on). Persian writers of the Ghaznavid, [[Seljuq Empire|Seljuq]] and [[Atabeg|Atābak]] periods (ca. 1000–1260) adopted the term and extended its use to cover Persians in the rest of [[Greater Iran]], now under Turkish rule, as early as the poet ʿOnṣori, ca. 1025 (Dabirsiāqi, pp. 3377, 3408). Iranians soon accepted it as an ethnonym, as is shown by a Persian court official's referring to mā tāzikān "we Tajiks" (Bayhaqi, ed. Fayyāz, p. 594). The distinction between Turk and Tajik became stereotyped to express the symbiosis and rivalry of the (ideally) nomadic military executive and the urban civil bureaucracy (Niẓām al-Molk: tāzik, pp. 146, 178–79; Fragner, "Tādjīk. 2" in EI2 10, p. 63).</blockquote>[[File:Таджикские девушки.JPG|thumb|Young Tajik women in the 21st century.|250x250px]]The word also occurs in the 8th-century [[Tonyukuk inscriptions]] as ''tözik'', used for a local Arab tribe in the [[Tashkent]] area.<ref>{{cite book|title=Peoples of Central Asia|author=Lawrence Krader|publisher=Indiana University|page=54|year=1971}}</ref> These Arabs were said to be from the Taz tribe, which is still found in [[Yemen]]. In the 7th-century, the Taz began to Islamize the region of Transoxiana in Central Asia.<ref>{{cite book|title=L'Afghanistan et ses populations|language=fr|year=1976|author=Jean-Charles Blanc|page=80|publisher=Éditions Complexe}}</ref>

According to the ''[[Encyclopaedia of Islam]]'', however, the oldest known usage of the word ''Tajik'' as a reference to Persians in Persian literature can be found in the writings of the famous Persian poet and Islamic scholar [[Rumi|Jalal ad-Din Rumi]].<ref>[[Clifford Edmund Bosworth|C.E. Bosworth]]/B.G. Fragner, "Tā<u>dj</u>īk", in [[Encyclopaedia of Islam]], Online Edition: ''"...&nbsp;In Islamic usage, [Tā<u>dj</u>īk] eventually came to designate the Persians, as opposed to Turks [...] the oldest citation for it which Schraeder could find was in verses of <u>Dj</u>alāl al-Dīn Rūmī ..."''</ref> The 15th-century Turkic-speaking poet [[Ali Sher Nawa'i|Mīr Alī Šer Navā'ī]] who lived in the [[Timurid Empire|Timurid empire]] also used ''Tajik'' as a reference to Persians.<ref>Ali Shir Nava'i ''Muhakamat al-lughatain'' tr. & ed. Robert Devereaux (Leiden: Brill) 1966 p6</ref>

== Location ==
The Tajiks are the principal ethnic group in most of [[Tajikistan]], as well as in northern and western [[Afghanistan]], though there are more Tajiks in Afghanistan than in Tajikistan. Tajiks are a substantial minority in [[Uzbekistan]], as well as in overseas communities. Historically, the ancestors of the Tajiks lived in a larger territory in Central Asia than now.
[[File:Tajik family. Tajikistan.jpg|thumb|Tajik family in Tajikistan.|250x250px]]
=== Tajikistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Tajikistan}}

Tajiks make up around 84.3% of the population of Tajikistan.<ref name="CIA-tj">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tajikistan/|title=Tajikistan|access-date=26 May 2010|date=5 May 2010|work=[[The World Factbook]]|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|archive-date=20 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820040637/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/tajikistan/|url-status=live}}</ref> This number includes speakers of the [[Pamiri languages]], including [[Wakhi language|Wakhi]] and [[Shughni language|Shughni]], and the [[Yaghnobi people]] who in the past were considered by the government of the Soviet Union nationalities separate from the Tajiks. In the 1926 and 1937 Soviet censuses, the Yaghnobis and Pamiri language speakers were counted as separate nationalities. After 1937, these groups were required to register as Tajiks.<ref name=suny>{{cite book|last=Suny|first=Ronald Grigor|editor-first=Brenda|editor-last=Shaffer|title=The Limits of Culture: Islam and Foreign Policy|publisher=MIT Press|year=2006|pages=[https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/100 100–110]|chapter=History and Foreign Policy: From Constructed Identities to "Ancient Hatreds" East of the Caspian|isbn=0-262-69321-6|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/limitsofculturei0000unse/page/100}}</ref>

=== Afghanistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Afghanistan}}
[[File:Burhanuddin Rabbani Cropped DVIDS.jpg|thumb|left|[[Burhanuddin Rabbani]] served as [[List of Presidents of Afghanistan|President of Afghanistan]] from 1992 to 1996, and again in 2001.|260x260px]]
[[File:Shir 5 Shir.jpg|thumb|260x260px|[[Ahmad Shah Massoud]] was a powerful military leader in Afghanistan. He is shown here wearing a [[pakol]] hat, during his time as a [[Afghan mujahideen|mujahid]].]]
Despite sharing the same name, Tajiks do not refer to the same group of people in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.<ref name="brasher">Brasher, Ryan. “Ethnic Brother or Artificial Namesake? The Construction of Tajik Identity in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.” Berkeley Journal of Sociology, vol. 55, 2011, pp. 97–120. JSTOR, Link: [http://www.jstor.org/stable/23345249]. Accessed 15 January 2025.</ref><ref name="nourzhanov" /> In Afghanistan, a "Tajik" is typically defined as any primarily [[Dari]]-speaking [[Sunni Islam|Sunni Muslim]] who refer to themselves by the region, province, city, town, or village that they are from,<ref>[https://info.publicintelligence.net/MCIA-AfghanCultures/Tajik.pdfCentral Asian Cultural Intelligence for Military Operations. Tajiks in Afghanistan.]</ref><ref name="barfield">[https://books.google.com/books?id=4VR0EAAAQBAJ], p. 26</ref> such as ''Badakhshi'', ''Baghlani'', ''Mazari'', ''Panjsheri'', ''Kabuli'', ''Herati'', ''Kohistani'', etc.<ref name="barfield" /><ref>{{cite web | url=https://nps.edu/web/ccs/ethnic-genealogies | title=Ethnic Identity and Genealogies - Program for Culture and Conflict Studies - Naval Postgraduate School }}</ref><ref name="LOC">{{cite web|url=http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-39.html|title=Afghanistan: Tajik|access-date=19 December 2007|author=Federal Research Division of the Library of Congress|year=1997|work=Country Studies Series|publisher=Library of Congress|archive-date=27 September 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927194423/http://www.country-data.com/cgi-bin/query/r-39.html|url-status=live}}</ref> Although in the past, some non-[[Pashto]] speaking tribes were identified as Tajik, for example, the Furmuli.<ref>Bellew, Henry Walter (1891) ''An inquiry into the ethnography of Afghanistan'' The Oriental Institute, Woking, Butler & Tanner, Frome, United Kingdom, [https://archive.org/details/aninquiryintoet00goog/page/n130 page 126], {{OCLC|182913077}}</ref><ref>Markham, C. R. (January 1879) "The Mountain Passes on the Afghan Frontier of British India" ''Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography'' (New Monthly Series) 1(1): pp. 38–62, p.48</ref> By this definition, according to the [[The World Factbook|World Factbook]], Tajiks make up about 25–27% of [[Afghanistan]]'s population,<ref name="CIA-af">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|title=Population of Afghanistan|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA)|work=[[The World Factbook]]|access-date=9 August 2012|archive-date=4 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210104184342/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/afghanistan/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="atlas-afghanistan-153">Country Factfiles.&nbsp;— Afghanistan, page 153. // Atlas. Fourth Edition. Editors: Ben Hoare, Margaret Parrish. Publisher: Jonathan Metcalf. First published in Great Britain in 2001 by Dorling Kindersley Limited. London: [[Dorling Kindersley]], 2010, 432 pages. {{ISBN|9781405350396}} "Population: 28.1 million<br />Religions: Sunni Muslim 84%, Shi'a Muslim 15%, other 1%<br />Ethnic Mix: Pashtun 38%, Tajik '''25%''', Hazara 19%, Uzbek, Turkmen, other 18%"</ref> but according to other sources, they form 37–39% of the population.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://abcnews.go.com/images/PollingUnit/1083a1Afghanistan2009.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|title=ABC NEWS/BBC/ARD poll&nbsp;– Afghanistan: Where Things Stand|pages=38–40|publisher=ABC News|location=Kabul, Afghanistan|access-date=29 October 2010}}</ref> Other sources however, for example the [[Encyclopædia Britannica]], state that they constitute about 12–20% of the population,<ref>Maley, William, ed. ''Fundamentalism reborn?: Afghanistan and the Taliban'', p. 170. NYU Press, 1998.</ref><ref name="Brit-Tajik">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581024/Tajik|title=Tajik|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|quote=There were about 5,000,000 in Afghanistan, where they constituted about one-fifth of the population.|access-date=6 November 2011|archive-date=25 November 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125205057/http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/581024/Tajik|url-status=live}}</ref> which is mostly excluding [[Persianization|Persianized ethnic groups]] like some [[Pashtuns]], [[Uzbeks]], [[Qizilbash]], [[Aimaq people|Aimaqs]] etc. who, especially in large urban areas like [[Kabul]] or [[Herat]], assimiliated into the respective local culture.<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xx3_CwAAQBAJ&pg=PT501 |title=Afghanistan's Experiences: The History of the Most Horrifying Events Involving Politics, Religion, and Terrorism |isbn=978-1-5049-8614-4 |last1=D |first1=Hamid Hadi M. |date=24 March 2016|publisher=AuthorHouse }}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://countrystudies.us/afghanistan/50.htm | title=Afghanistan - Qizilbash }}</ref><ref>Fazel, S. M. (2017). ''Ethnohistory of the Qizilbash in Kabul: Migration, State, and a Shi'a Minority'' (Doctoral dissertation, Indiana University), p. 153.</ref> Tajiks (or Farsiwans respectively) are predominant in four of the largest cities in Afghanistan ([[Kabul]], [[Mazar-e Sharif]], [[Herat]], and [[Ghazni]]) and make up the [[qualified majority]] in the northern and western provinces of [[Badakhshan Province|Badakhshan]], [[Panjshir Province|Panjshir]] and [[Balkh Province|Balkh]], while making up significant portions of the population in [[Takhar Province|Takhar]], [[Kabul Province|Kabul]], [[Parwan Province|Parwan]], [[Kapisa Province|Kapisa]], [[Baghlan Province|Baghlan]], [[Badghis Province|Badghis]] and [[Herat province|Herat]]. Despite not being Tajik, the westernmost [[Indo-Aryan peoples|Indo-Aryan]] [[Pashayi people]] of northeastern Afghanistan have deliberately been listed as Tajik by census takers and government agents. However, this is probably because Pashayi-speaking [[Nizari Isma'ilism|Nizari Isma’ilis]] refer to themselves as Tajik.<ref name="sil.org">{{Cite book |last=Lehr |first=Rachel |url=https://theswissbay.ch/pdf/Books/Linguistics/Mega%20linguistics%20pack/Indo-European/Indo-Aryan/Pashai%2C%20A%20Descriptive%20Grammar%20of%20%28Lehr%29.pdf |title=A Descriptive Grammar of Pashai: The Language and Speech Community of Darrai Nur |date=2014 |publisher=University of Chicago, Division of the Humanities, Department of Linguistics |isbn=978-1-321-22417-7 |language=en}}</ref>

=== Uzbekistan ===
{{Main|Tajiks of Uzbekistan}}
{{See also|Demographics of Uzbekistan}}In [[Uzbekistan]], the Tajiks are the largest part of the population of the ancient cities of [[Bukhara]] and [[Samarkand]], and are found in large numbers in the [[Surxondaryo Region]] in the south and along Uzbekistan's eastern border with Tajikistan. According to official statistics (2000), Surxondaryo Region accounts for 20.4% of all Tajiks in Uzbekistan, with another 34.3% in [[Samarqand Region|Samarqand]] and [[Bukhara Region|Bukhara]] regions.<ref>[http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm ''Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006133509/http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm |date=6 October 2008 }}, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, table with number of Tajiks by province {{in lang|ru}}.</ref>

Official statistics in Uzbekistan state that the Tajik community accounts for 5% of the nation's population.<ref name="CIA-uz">{{cite web|url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uzbekistan/|title=Uzbekistan|access-date=26 May 2010|date=6 May 2010|work=[[The World Factbook]]|publisher=[[Central Intelligence Agency]]|archive-date=3 February 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210203042919/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/uzbekistan/|url-status=live}}</ref> However, these numbers do not include ethnic Tajiks who, for a variety of reasons, choose to identify themselves as Uzbeks in population census forms.<ref name="USStateDept">{{cite web|url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/369.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210212014439/https://2001-2009.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/1999/369.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=12 February 2021|title=Uzbekistan|access-date=19 December 2007|author=Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor|date=23 February 2000|work=Country Reports on Human Rights Practices&nbsp;– 1999|publisher=U.S. Department of State}}</ref> During the Soviet "[[Uzbekization]]" supervised by [[Sharof Rashidov]], the head of the Uzbek Communist Party, Tajiks had to choose either stay in Uzbekistan and get registered as Uzbek in their passports or leave the republic for Tajikistan, which is mountainous and less agricultural.<ref>Rahim Masov, ''The History of the Clumsy Delimitation'', Irfon Publ. House, Dushanbe, 1991 {{in lang|ru}}. English translation: [https://www.angelfire.com/rnb/bashiri/Masov/frame.html ''The History of a National Catastrophe''], transl. [[Iraj Bashiri]], 1996.</ref> It is only in the last population census (1989) that the nationality could be reported not according to the passport, but freely declared based on the respondent's ethnic self-identification.<ref>[http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm ''Ethnic Atlas of Uzbekistan''] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081006133509/http://ula.uzsci.net/publishing/ru/etnic.htm |date=6 October 2008 }}, Part 1: Ethnic minorities, Open Society Institute, p. 195 {{in lang|ru}}.</ref> This had the effect of increasing the Tajik population in Uzbekistan from 3.9% in 1979 to 4.7% in 1989. Some scholars estimate that Tajiks may make up 35% of Uzbekistan's population, and believe that just like Afghanistan, there are more Tajiks in Uzbekistan than in Tajikistan.<ref name="Cornell">[http://www.cornellcaspian.com/pub/0010uzbekistan.htm Svante E. Cornell, "Uzbekistan: A Regional Player in Eurasian Geopolitics?"] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090505153156/http://www.cornellcaspian.com/pub/0010uzbekistan.htm |date=5 May 2009 }}, ''European Security'', vol. 20, no. 2, Summer 2000.</ref>[[File:Registan square 2014.JPG|thumb|View of the Registan in [[Samarkand]]&nbsp;– although the second largest city of [[Uzbekistan]], it is predominantly a Tajik populated city, along with [[Bukhara]].|250x250px]]

=== China ===
{{Main|Tajiks of Xinjiang}}
'''Chinese Tajiks''' or '''Mountain Tajiks in China''' ([[Sarikoli language|Sarikoli]]: {{IPA|fo|tudʒik|}}, ''Tujik''; {{zh|c=塔吉克族|p=Tǎjíkè Zú}}), including Sarikolis (majority) and [[Wakhi people|Wakhis]] (minority) in China, are the [[Pamiri people|Pamiri]] ethnic group that lives in the [[Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region]] in [[Northwestern China]]. They are one of the [[Nationalities of China|56 nationalities]] officially recognized by the government of the [[People's Republic of China]].

=== Kazakhstan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Kazakhstan}}
According to the [[Demographics of Kazakhstan#Ethnic groups|1999 population census]], there were 26,000 Tajiks in Kazakhstan (0.17% of the total population), about the same number as in the 1989 census.

=== Kyrgyzstan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Kyrgyzstan}}
According to [[Demographics of Kyrgyzstan#Ethnic groups|official statistics]], there were about 47,500 Tajiks in Kyrgyzstan in 2007 (0.9% of the total population), up from 42,600 in the 1999 census and 33,500 in the 1989 census.

=== Turkmenistan ===
{{Main|Demographics of Turkmenistan}}
According to the last Soviet census in 1989,<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|title=Демоскоп Weekly – Приложение. Справочник статистических показателей|access-date=22 December 2008|archive-date=14 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314043707/http://demoscope.ru/weekly/ssp/sng_nac_89.php?reg=14|url-status=live}}</ref> there were 3,149 Tajiks in Turkmenistan, or less than 0.1% of the total population of 3.5 million at that time. The first population census of independent Turkmenistan conducted in 1995 showed 3,103 Tajiks in a population of 4.4 million (0.07%), most of them (1,922) concentrated in the eastern provinces of [[Lebap Province|Lebap]] and [[Mary Province|Mary]] adjoining the borders with Afghanistan and Uzbekistan.<ref>''Population census of Turkmenistan 1995'', Vol. 1, State Statistical Committee of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat, 1996, pp. 75–100.</ref>

=== Russia ===
The population of Tajiks in Russia was about 350,236 according to the 2021 census,<ref name="census2021">{{cite web |title=Национальный состав населения |url=https://rosstat.gov.ru/storage/mediabank/Tom5_tab1_VPN-2020.xlsx |access-date=30 December 2022 |publisher=[[Federal State Statistics Service (Russia)|Federal State Statistics Service]]}}</ref> up from 38,000 in the last [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] census of 1989.<ref name=census2002>{{cite web|url=http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_14_24.htm|title=2002 Russian census|publisher=Perepis2002.ru|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=9 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120309143210/http://www.perepis2002.ru/ct/html/TOM_14_24.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> Most Tajiks came to Russia after the [[dissolution of the Soviet Union]], often as [[Gastarbeiter|guest workers]] in places like [[Moscow]] and [[Saint Petersburg]] or federal subjects near the Kazakhstan border.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/perepis2010/croc/Documents/Vol4/pub-04-04.pdf|title=4. НАСЕЛЕНИЕ ПО НАЦИОНАЛЬНОСТИ И ВЛАДЕНИЮ РУССКИМ ЯЗЫКОМ ПО СУБЪЕКТАМ РОССИЙСКОЙ ФЕДЕРАЦИИ|website=gks.ru|access-date=23 August 2021|archive-date=6 September 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180906073144/http://www.perepis2002.ru/content.html?id=11|url-status=dead}}</ref> There are currently estimated to be over one million Tajik guest workers living in Russia, with their remittances accounting for as much as half of Tajikistan's economy.{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=208}}

=== Pakistan ===
{{Main|Tajiks in Pakistan}}
There are an estimated 220,000 [[Tajiks in Pakistan]] as of 2012, mainly refugees from Afghanistan.<ref name="Pakistan">The ethnic composition of the 1.7 million registered Afghan refugees living in Pakistan are believed to be 85% Pashtun and 15% Tajik, Uzbek and others.{{cite web|url=http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016|title=2012 UNHCR country operations profile&nbsp;– Pakistan|access-date=8 August 2012|archive-date=24 July 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200724052251/https://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e487016|url-status=live}}</ref> During the 1990s, as a result of the [[Tajikistan Civil War]], between 700 and 1,200 Tajiks arrived in Pakistan, mainly as students, the children of Tajik refugees in Afghanistan. In 2002, around 300 requested to return home and were repatriated back to Tajikistan with the help of the [[International Organization for Migration|IOM]], [[UNHCR]] and the two countries' authorities.<ref name="Tajiks in Pakistan">{{cite web|author=United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees|url=http://www.unhcr.org/3d99d4654.html|title=Long-time Tajik refugees return home from Pakistan|publisher=UNHCR|date=1 October 2002|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=19 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200419113350/https://www.unhcr.org/3d99d4654.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== United States ===
{{Main|Tajik Americans}}
80,414 Tajiks live in the United States.<ref>{{cite web | url=https://archive.today/20200212040323/http://factfinder.census.gov/servlet/IPTable?_bm=y&-reg=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T:501;ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR:501&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201PR&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201T&-qr_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_S0201TPR&-ds_name=ACS_2005_EST_G00_&-TABLE_NAMEX=&-ci_type=A&-redoLog=true&-charIterations=045&-geo_id=01000US&-format=&-_lang=en | title=American FactFinder - Results }}</ref>

== Genetics ==
[[File:Young girls from northern Afghanistan-2012.jpg|thumb|Tajik girls in [[Khwahan, Afghanistan]]|250x250px]]
A 2014 study of the [[mtDNA haplogroup|maternal haplogroups]] of Tajiks from Tajikistan revealed substantial admixture of West Eurasian and East Eurasian lineages, and also the presence of minor South Asian and North African lineages, as well.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Ovchinnikov|first1=Igor V.|last2=Malek|first2=Mathew J.|last3=Drees|first3=Kenneth|last4=Kholina|first4=Olga I.|title=Mitochondrial DNA variation in Tajiks living in Tajikistan|journal=Legal Medicine|date=2014|volume=16|issue=6|pages=390–395|doi=10.1016/j.legalmed.2014.07.009|pmid=25155918 |url=https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1344622314001278|language=en|issn=1344-6223|access-date=17 January 2023|archive-date=17 January 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230117234343/https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1344622314001278|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}} "The Tajik mtDNA pool was characterized by substantial admixture of western and eastern Eurasian haplogroups, 62.6% and 26.4% sequences, respectively. It also contained 9.9% of South Asian and 1.1% of African haplotypes."</ref> Another study reports that "the Tajik [[mtDNA]] pool gene pool harbors nearly equal proportions of [[eastern Eurasia]]n and [[western Eurasia]]n haplotypes."<ref>{{cite journal | last=Irwin | first=Jodi A. | title=The mtDNA composition of Uzbekistan: a microcosm of Central Asian patterns | journal=International Journal of Legal Medicine | publisher=Springer Science and Business Media LLC | volume=124 | issue=3 | date=6 February 2010 | issn=0937-9827 | doi=10.1007/s00414-009-0406-z | pages=195–204| pmid=20140442 | s2cid=2759130 }} "The Tajik mtDNA gene pool harbors nearly equal proportions of eastern Eurasian and western Eurasian haplotypes"...."The genetic features of other ethnic populations likely also reflect their documented demographic histories. For instance, the small mtDNA distance between the Tajik and Uzbek populations suggests a recent shared history. Tajiks and Uzbeks were only formally differentiated in 1929 when the Tajik Soviet Socialist Republic was established, and up to 40% of the current Uzbek population is of Tajik ancestry (Library of Congress Federal Research Division Country Profile: Uzbekistan Feb 2007)."</ref>

West Eurasian maternal lineages included haplogroups H, J, K, T, I, W and U.<ref>{{harvnb|Ovchinnikov|Malek|Drees|Kholina|2014|p=392|ps=: "The western Eurasian component is represented by haplo-
groups HV/, HV0, H, J, K, T, and U of the macrohaplogroup R, and haplogroups I and W of the macrohaplogroup N [22]."}}</ref> East Eurasian lineages included haplogroups M, C, Z, D, G, A, Y and B.<ref>{{harvnb|Ovchinnikov|Malek|Drees|Kholina|2014|p=392|ps=: "The eastern Eurasian component is represented by haplogroups M8, M10, C, Z, D, G of the macrohaplogroup M, haplogroups A and Y1 of the macrohaplogroup N, and haplogroup B of the macrohaplogroup R [22]."}}</ref> South Asian lineages detected in this study included haplogroups M and R.<ref>{{harvnb|Ovchinnikov|Malek|Drees|Kholina|2014|p=392|ps=: "The south Asian component is {{sic|comprised|hide=y| of}} nine mtDNA sequences (9.9%) belonging to the macrohaplogroups M and R [22]. Two sequences were assigned to main branches of M including M3a1 (1.1%) and M30 (1.1%). Macrohaplogroup R was represented by six mtDNA sequences (6.6%) belonging to R0a (1 sample), R1 (2 samples), R2 (1 sample), and R5a (2 samples). One Tajik mtDNA sequence (1.1%) belonged to aforementioned U2b2,
a south Asian autochthonous subhaplogroup of the macrohaplogroup R [25]."}}</ref> One lineage in the Tajik sample was assigned to the North African maternal haplogroup X2j.<ref>{{harvnb|Ovchinnikov|Malek|Drees|Kholina|2014|p=392|ps=: "One Tajik mtDNA sequence (1.1%) was assigned to subhaplogroup X2j. X2j is considered to be of North African origin [23]."}}</ref>

The dominant [[Y-DNA haplogroup|paternal haplogroup]] among modern Tajiks is the Haplogroup [[R1a]] Y-DNA. ~45% of Tajik men share R1a (M17), ~18% J (M172), ~8% R2 (M124), and ~8% C (M130 & M48). Tajiks of Panjikent score 68% R1a, Tajiks of Khojant score 64% R1a.<ref>{{cite journal|pmc=56946|pmid=11526236|doi=10.1073/pnas.171305098|volume=98|issue=18|title=The Eurasian heartland: a continental perspective on Y-chromosome diversity|date=August 2001|journal=Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.|pages=10244–9|last1=Wells|first1=RS|last2=Yuldasheva|first2=N|last3=Ruzibakiev|first3=R|bibcode=2001PNAS...9810244W|display-authors=etal|doi-access=free}}</ref>  According to another genetic test, 63% of Tajik male samples from Tajikistan carry R1a.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Zerjal|first1=Tatiana|last2=Wells|first2=R. Spencer|last3=Yuldasheva|first3=Nadira|last4=Ruzibakiev|first4=Ruslan|last5=Tyler-Smith|first5=Chris|date=September 2002|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|journal=American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=71|issue=3|pages=466–482|doi=10.1086/342096|issn=0002-9297|pmid=12145751|pmc=419996}}</ref> This high frequency combined with low diversity of Tajik R1a reflects a strong [[founder effect]].<ref>{{cite journal|title=A Genetic Landscape Reshaped by Recent Events: Y-Chromosomal Insights into Central Asia|pmc=419996|pmid=12145751|doi=10.1086/342096|volume=71|issue=3|date=September 2002|pages=466–82|last1=Zerjal|first1=T|last2=Wells|first2=RS|last3=Yuldasheva|first3=N|last4=Ruzibakiev|first4=R|last5=Tyler-Smith|first5=C|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics}}</ref>
[[File:Genetic formation of modern Tajik people.jpg|thumb|Schematic map showing the possible admixture model for Tajik populations. The time in parentheses represent a range. Arrows in different colors indicate ancestral sources and directions of the gene flows.|250x250px]]
An autosomal DNA study by Guarino-Vignon et al. (2022), suggested that modern Tajiks show genetic continuity with ancient samples from [[Tajikistan]] and [[Turkmenistan]]. The genetic ancestry of Tajiks consists largely of a West-Eurasian component (~74%), an East Asian-related component (~18%), and a South Asian component (~8%). According to the authors, the South Asian affinity of Tajiks was previously unreported, although evidence for the presence of a deep South Asian ancestry was already found previously in other Central Asian samples (e.g. among modern Turkmens and historical [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex]] samples). Both historical and more recent geneflow (~1500 years ago) shaped the genetic makeup of Southern Central Asian populations, such as the Tajiks.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Guarino-Vignon|first1=Perle|last2=Marchi|first2=Nina|last3=Bendezu-Sarmiento|first3=Julio|last4=Heyer|first4=Evelyne|last5=Bon|first5=Céline|title=Genetic continuity of Indo-Iranian speakers since the Iron Age in southern Central Asia|journal=Scientific Reports|date=14 January 2022|volume=12|issue=1|page=733 |doi=10.1038/s41598-021-04144-4|pmid=35031610 |pmc=8760286 |language=en|issn=2045-2322|doi-access=free|bibcode=2022NatSR..12..733G }}</ref> A follow-up study by Dai et al. (2022) estimated that the Tajiks derive between 11.6 and 18.6% ancestry from admixture with from an East-Eurasian steppe source represented by the [[Xiongnu]], with the remainder of their ancestry being derived from [[Western Steppe Herders]] and [[Bactria–Margiana Archaeological Complex|BMAC]] components, as well as a small contribution from the early population associated with the [[Tarim mummies]]. The authors concluded that Tajiks "present patterns of genetic continuity of Central Asians since the Bronze Age".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dai et al. 2022|date=25 August 2022|title=The Genetic Echo of the Tarim Mummies in Modern Central Asians|url=https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590?login=false|access-date=18 March 2023|journal=Molecular Biology and Evolution|volume=39 |issue=9 |doi=10.1093/molbev/msac179 |pmid=36006373 |pmc=9469894 |archive-date=17 March 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230317192632/https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/39/9/msac179/6675590?login=false|url-status=live}} "The Historical Era gene flow derived from the Eastern Steppe with the representative of Mongolia_Xiongnu_o1 made a more substantial contribution to Kyrgyz and other Turkic-speaking populations (i.e., Kazakh, Uyghur, Turkmen, and Uzbek; 34.9–55.2%) higher than that to the Tajik populations (11.6–18.6%; fig. 4A), suggesting Tajiks suffer fewer impacts of the recent admixtures (Martínez-Cruz et al. 2011). Consequently, the Tajik populations generally present patterns of genetic continuity of Central Asians since the Bronze Age. Our results are consistent with linguistic and genetic evidence that the spreading of Indo-European speakers into Central Asia was earlier than the expansion of Turkic speakers (Kuz′mina and Mallory 2007; Yunusbayev et al. 2015)."</ref>

== Culture ==
{{Tajiks}}
[[File:White house haft seen.jpg|thumbnail|[[Haft-Seen]], [[White House]] ceremony for new Persian Year, prepared by [[Laura Bush]].]]

=== Language ===
{{Main|Tajik language|Dari (Persian) |Persian language}}
[[File:Coat of Arms of Tajik ASSR.gif|thumb|left|upright|[[Tajik ASSR|Tajik autonomous republic]] coat of arms with [[Persian language]]: {{lang|fa|جمهوری اجتماعی شوروى مختار تاجيكستان}}]]
The language of the Tajiks is an eastern dialect of [[Persian language|Persian]], called [[Dari (Eastern Persian)|Dari]] (derived from ''Darbārī'', "[of/from the] royal courts", in the sense of "courtly language"), or also Parsi-e Darbari. In Tajikistan, where [[Cyrillic]] script is used, it is called the [[Tajik language|Tajiki language]]. In [[Afghanistan]], unlike in [[Tajikistan]], Tajiks continue to use the [[Perso-Arabic script]], as well as in Iran. When the [[Soviet Union]] introduced the Latin script in 1928, and later the Cyrillic script, the Persian dialect of Tajikistan came to be disassociated from the Tajik language. Many Tajik authors have lamented this artificial separation of the Tajik language from its Iranian heritage.{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=103}} One Tajik poem relates:

<blockquote>''Once you said 'you are Iranian',  then you said, 'you are Tajik'''

''May he die separated from his roots, he who separated us''.<ref>Moḥammad Reẓa Shafi‘ī-Kadkanī, ‘Borbad’s Khusravanis – First Iranian Songs’, 
in Iraj Bashiri (tr and ed), From the Hymns of Zarathustra to the Songs of Borbad, 
Dushanbe, 2003, p. 135.</ref>{{sfn|Foltz|2023|p=103}}</blockquote>

Since the 19th century, Tajiki has been strongly influenced by the Russian language and has incorporated many Russian language [[loan words]].<ref name=eiturkloan>Michael Knüppel. [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-loanwords Turkic Loanwords in Persian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170727084228/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/turkic-loanwords |date=27 July 2017 }}. [[Encyclopædia Iranica]].</ref> It has also adopted fewer [[Arabic language|Arabic]] loan words than Iranian Persian while retaining vocabulary that has fallen out of use in the latter language.

Many Tajiks can read, speak or write in Russian, while the prestige and importance of Russian has declined since the fall of the [[Soviet Union]] and the exodus of Russians from Central Asia. Nevertheless, Russian fluency is still considered a vital skill for business and education.<ref name="Abdullaev 2018 p. 257">{{cite book | last=Abdullaev | first=K. | title=Historical Dictionary of Tajikistan | publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers | series=Historical Dictionaries of Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East | year=2018 | isbn=978-1-5381-0252-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OsllDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA257 | access-date=1 November 2023 | page=257}}</ref>

The dialects of modern [[Persian language|Persian]] spoken throughout [[Greater Iran]] have a common origin. This is due to the fact that one of [[Greater Iran]]'s historical cultural capitals, called [[Greater Khorasan]], which included parts of modern Central Asia and much of Afghanistan and constitutes as the Tajik's ancestral homeland, played a key role in the development and propagation of Persian language and culture throughout much of [[Greater Iran]] after the Muslim conquest. Furthermore, early manuscripts of the historical Persian spoken in [[Mashhad]] during the development of Middle to New Persian show that their origins came from [[Sistan]], in present-day Afghanistan.<ref name="Iranica"/>

=== Religion ===
{{Main|Islam in Afghanistan|Islam in Tajikistan | Islam in Uzbekistan}}Various scholars have recorded the [[Zoroastrian]], and [[Buddhist]] pre-Islamic heritage of the Tajik people. Early temples for fire worship have been found in [[Balkh]] and [[Bactria]] and excavations in present-day Tajikistan and Uzbekistan show remnants of Zoroastrian fire temples.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&dq=tajikistan+zorastrian&pg=PA21 Lena Jonson, ''Tajikistan in the New Central Asia: Geopolitics, Great Power Rivalry and Radical Islam''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410122329/https://books.google.com/books?id=hLi9oJMT5B8C&pg=PA21&dq=tajikistan+zorastrian |date=10 April 2023 }} (International Library of Central Asia Studies), page 21</ref>

Today, the great majority of Tajiks follow [[Sunni Islam]], although small [[Twelver]] and [[Ismaili]] [[Shia]] minorities also exist in scattered pockets. Areas with large numbers of Shias include [[Herat Province|Herat]], [[Badakhshan Province|Badakhshan]] provinces in Afghanistan, the [[Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Province]] in Tajikistan, and [[Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County]] in China. Some of the famous Islamic scholars were from either modern or historical East-Iranian regions lying in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan and therefore can arguably be viewed as Tajiks. They include [[Abu Hanifa]],<ref name="Iranica"/> [[Muhammad al-Bukhari|Imam Bukhari]], [[Al-Tirmidhi|Tirmidhi]], [[Abu Dawud al-Sijistani|Abu Dawood]], [[Nasir Khusraw]] and many others.

According to a 2009 [[U.S. State Department]] release, the population of Tajikistan is 98% Muslim, (approximately 85% [[Sunni Islam|Sunni]] and 5% [[Shia]]).<ref>{{cite web|url=https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|title=Background Note: Tajikistan|publisher=State.gov|date=24 January 2012|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=13 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210513180616/https://2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5775.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[Afghanistan]], the great number of Tajiks adhere to [[Sunni Islam]]. A small number of Tajiks may follow [[Twelver]] [[Shia Islam]]; the [[Farsiwan]] are one such group.<ref name="Shaikh 1992">{{cite book | last=Shaikh | first=F. | title=Islam and Islamic Groups: A Worldwide Reference Guide | publisher=Longman Group UK | series=Longman Law Series | year=1992 | isbn=978-0-582-09146-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xlYUAQAAIAAJ | access-date=1 November 2023 | page=1}}</ref> The community of [[Bukharian Jews]] in Central Asia speak a dialect of Persian. The [[Uzbek Jews|Bukharian Jewish community in Uzbekistan]] is the largest remaining community of Central Asian Jews and resides primarily in Bukhara and Samarkand, while the [[History of the Jews in Tajikistan|Bukharaian Jews of Tajikistan]] live in Dushanbe and number only a few hundred.<ref>J. Sloame, ''"Bukharan Jews"'', Jewish Virtual Library, ([https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html LINK] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170113035036/https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/Bukharan_Jews.html |date=13 January 2017 }})</ref> From the 1970s to the 1990s the majority of these Tajik-speaking Jews emigrated to the United States and to [[Israel]] in accordance with [[Aliyah]]. Recently, the Protestant community of Tajiks descent has experienced significant growth, a 2015 study estimates some 2,600 Muslim Tajik converted to Christianity.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Johnstone|first1=Patrick|last2=Miller|first2=Duane Alexander|title=Believers in Christ from a Muslim Background: A Global Census|journal=IJRR|date=2015|volume=11|issue=10|pages=1–19|url=https://www.academia.edu/16338087|access-date=30 October 2015|archive-date=13 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210313222442/https://www.academia.edu/16338087/Believers_in_Christ_from_a_Muslim_Background_A_Global_Census|url-status=live}}</ref>

Tajikistan marked 2009 as the year to commemorate the Tajik Sunni Muslim jurist [[Abu Hanifa]], whose ancestry hailed from [[Parwan Province]] of Afghanistan, as the nation hosted an international symposium that drew scientific and religious leaders.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-186549-109-today-marks-18th-year-of-tajik-independence-and-success.html|title=Today marks 18th year of Tajik independence and success|publisher=Todayszaman.com|date=9 September 2009|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=11 October 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011014305/http://www.todayszaman.com/tz-web/news-186549-109-today-marks-18th-year-of-tajik-independence-and-success.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The construction of one of the largest mosques in the world, funded by [[Qatar]], was announced in October 2009. The mosque is planned to be built in Dushanbe and construction is said to be completed by 2014.<ref>{{cite web|author=Daniel Bardsley|url=http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091009%2FFOREIGN%2F710089882%2F1002|title=Qatar paying for giant mosque in Tajikistan|publisher=Thenational.ae|date=25 May 2010|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-date=21 September 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921062022/http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091009%2FFOREIGN%2F710089882%2F1002|url-status=live}}</ref>

== Recent developments ==

=== Cultural revival ===
[[File:Праздник "Мехргон" в парке г. Душанбе, 01.jpg|thumb|Tajiks celebrating [[Mehregan]] in Dushanbe park.|250x250px]]
The collapse of the [[Soviet Union]] and the [[War in Afghanistan (1978–present)|Civil War in Afghanistan]] both gave rise to a resurgence in Tajik nationalism across the region, including a trial to revert to the [[Persian alphabet|Perso-Arabic]] script in Tajikistan.<ref name="EoIranic Tajik Persian">{{cite web|last1=Perry|first1=John|title=TAJIK ii. TAJIK PERSIAN|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-ii-tajiki-persian|website=TAJIK II. TAJIK PERSIAN|publisher=Encyclopaedia Iranica|access-date=20 July 2009|archive-date=1 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200201053157/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-ii-tajiki-persian|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="Iranica" /><ref>{{cite book |last1=Rubin |first1=Barnett |last2=Snyder |first2=Jack |title=Post-Soviet Political Order |date=1 November 2002 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-134-69758-8 |page=142 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hnWFAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA142 |language=en}}</ref> Furthermore, Tajikistan in particular has been a focal point for this movement, and the government there has made a conscious effort to revive the legacy of the [[Samanid]] empire, the first Tajik-dominated state in the region after the [[Arab]] advance. For instance, the [[President of Tajikistan]], [[Emomalii Rahmon]], dropped the Russian suffix "-ov" from his surname and directed others to adopt Tajik names when registering births.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2372123|title=Tajikistan restates its strategic partnership with Russia, while sending mixed signals|access-date=19 December 2007|last=McDermott|first=Roger|date=25 April 2007|publisher=The Jamestown Foundation|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071014232737/http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2372123 <!-- Bot retrieved archive -->|archive-date=14 October 2007}}</ref> According to a government announcement in October 2009, approximately 4,000 Tajik nationals have dropped "ov" and "ev" from their surnames since the start of the year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.asiaplus.tj/en/news/198/58219.html|title=Some 4,000 Tajiks opt to use the traditional version of their names this year|publisher=Asiaplus.tj|date=17 October 1962|access-date=11 June 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923175342/http://www.asiaplus.tj/en/news/198/58219.html|archive-date=23 September 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In September 2009, the [[Islamic Renaissance Party of Tajikistan]] proposed a draft law to have the nation's language referred to as "Tajiki-Farsi" rather than "Tajik." The proposal drew criticism from Russian media since the bill sought to remove the [[Russian language]] as Tajikistan's inter-ethnic ''[[lingua franca]]''.<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=9 September 2009|title=Tajik Islamic Party Seeks Tajiki-Farsi Designation|work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Tajikistans_Islamic_Party_Wants_Language_Called_Tajiki_Farsi/1818766.html|access-date=25 June 2021|archive-date=25 June 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210625060657/https://www.rferl.org/a/Tajikistans_Islamic_Party_Wants_Language_Called_Tajiki_Farsi/1818766.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 1989, the original name of the language (Farsi) had been added to its official name in brackets, though Rahmon's government renamed the language to simply "Tajiki" in 1994.<ref name=":0" /> On 6 October 2009, Tajikistan adopted the law that removes Russian as the ''lingua franca'' and mandated Tajik as the language to be used in official documents and education, with an exception for members Tajikistan's ethnic minority groups, who would be permitted to receive an education in the language of their choosing.<ref>{{Cite news|date=7 October 2009|title=Tajikistan Drops Russian As Official Language|work=[[Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty]]|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/Tajikistan_Drops_Russian_As_Official_Language/1846118.html|access-date=25 June 2021|archive-date=4 March 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304055202/http://www.rferl.org/content/Tajikistan_Drops_Russian_As_Official_Language/1846118.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

== See also ==
{{Portal|Tajikistan}}
* [[List of Tajik people]]
* [[Bukharan Jews]]
* [[Chagatai people]]
* [[Kharduri people]]
* [[Tor Tajiks]]
* [[Yaghnobis]]

==Notes==
{{Notelist}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== Further reading ==
*{{cite book | last=Foltz | first=R. | title=A History of the Tajiks: Iranians of the East | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | year=2023 | isbn=978-0-7556-4967-9 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ca6EAAAQBAJ&pg=PT103 | access-date=1 November 2023}}
* {{cite book|last=Ghafurov|first=Bobojon|title=Tajiks: Pre-ancient, ancient and medieval history|year=1991|publisher=Irfon|location=Dushanbe}}
* {{cite book|last=Dupree|first=Louis|title=Afghanistan|year=1980|publisher=Princeton University Press|location=Princeton, New Jersey}}
* {{cite book|last=Jawad|first=Nassim|title=Afghanistan: A Nation of Minorities|year=1992|publisher=Minority Rights Group International|location=London|isbn=0-946690-76-6}}
*{{cite web|url=https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO202019854292764.pdf|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221009/https://www.koreascience.or.kr/article/JAKO202019854292764.pdf|archive-date=9 October 2022|url-status=live|title=The Sogdian Descendants in Mongol and post-Mongol Central Asia: The Tajiks and Sarts|work=Joo Yup Lee|publisher=ACTA VIA SERICA Vol. 5, No. 1, June 2020: 187–198doi: 10.22679/avs.2020.5.1.007}}

== External links ==
* {{commons category-inline}}
* [https://www.britannica.com/topic/Tajik-people Tajiks] at ''[[Encyclopædia Britannica Online]]''
* [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/tajik-i-the-ethnonym-origins-and-application Tajik&nbsp;– The Ethnonym: Origins and Application] at ''[[Encyclopædia Iranica]]''

{{Iranian peoples}}
{{Ethnic groups in Afghanistan}}
{{Ethnic groups in Tajikistan}}
{{Ethnic groups in Uzbekistan}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tajik People}}
[[Category:Ethnic Tajik people| ]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Afghanistan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Tajikistan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Uzbekistan]]
[[Category:Iranian ethnic groups]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups divided by international borders]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Central Asia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Russia]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Malakand]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Kabul Province]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in Parwan Province]]