Kurds or Kurdish people are an Iranic ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Iran, northern Iraq, and northern Syria. There are exclaves of Kurds in Central Anatolia, Khorasan, and the Caucasus, as well as significant Kurdish diaspora communities in the cities of western Turkey and Western Europe. The Kurdish population is estimated to be between 30 and 45 million.
Kurdistan, or Greater Kurdistan, is a roughly defined geo-cultural region in West Asia wherein the Kurds form a prominent majority population and the Kurdish culture, languages, and national identity have historically been based. Geographically, Kurdistan roughly encompasses the northwestern Zagros and the eastern Taurus mountain ranges.
The Safavid dynasty was one of Iran's most significant ruling dynasties reigning from 1501 to 1736. Their rule is often considered the beginning of modern Iranian history, as well as one of the gunpowder empires. The Safavid Shāh Ismā'īl I established the Twelver denomination of Shīʿa Islam as the official religion of the Persian Empire, marking one of the most important turning points in the history of Islam. The Safavid dynasty had its origin in the Safavid order of Sufism, which was established in the city of Ardabil in the Iranian Azerbaijan region. It was an Iranian dynasty of Kurdish origin, but during their rule they intermarried with Turkoman, Georgian, Circassian, and Pontic Greek dignitaries, nevertheless, for practical purposes, they were Turkish-speaking and Turkified. From their base in Ardabil, the Safavids established control over parts of Greater Iran and reasserted the Iranian identity of the region, thus becoming the first native dynasty since the Sasanian Empire to establish a national state officially known as Iran.
The Kurds are an Iranian ethnic group in the Middle East. They have historically inhabited the mountainous areas to the south of Lake Van and Lake Urmia, a geographical area collectively referred to as Kurdistan. Most Kurds speak Northern Kurdish Kurmanji Kurdish (Kurmanji) and Central Kurdish (Sorani).
The Zand tribe is a Laki-speaking Kurdish tribe mainly populating the countryside of Khanaqin in Iraq and in the provinces of Kurdistan and Hamadan of Iran.
Ardalan was a hereditary Kurdish vassaldom in western Iran from around the 14th century until 1865 or 1868 with Sanandaj as capital. The territory corresponded roughly to present-day Kurdistan Province of Iran and the rulers were loyal to the Qajar Empire. Baban was its main rival. Gorani was the literary language and lingua franca. When the vassaldom fell, literary work in Gorani ceased.
Sharaf al-Din Khan b. Shams al-Din b. Sharaf Beg Bedlisi was a Kurdish Emir of Bitlis. He was also a historian, writer and poet. He wrote exclusively in Persian. Born in the Qara Rud village, in central Iran, between Arak and Qom, at a young age he was sent to the Safavids' court and obtained his education there.
Turkish Kurdistan or Northern Kurdistan is the southeastern part of Turkey where Kurds form the predominant ethnic group. The Kurdish Institute of Paris estimates that there are 20 million Kurds living in Turkey, the majority of them in the southeast.
This is an incomplete list of Kurdish uprisings. You can help by expanding it.
Bahdinan (Bahdīnān) or Badinan (Bādīnān) was one of the most powerful and enduring Kurdish principalities. It was founded by Baha-al-Din originally from Şemzînan area in Hakkari in sometime between 13th or 14th century CE. The capital of this emirate was Amedi for a long time. The rulers of the Bahdinan Emirate governed over the Emirate since the Abbasid Empire, an early dynasty in Islamic history.
Baban was a Kurdish principality existing from the 16th century to 1850, centered on Sulaymaniyah. The Baban Principality played an active role in the Ottoman-Safavid conflict and gave significant military support to the Ottomans. They were in constant rivalry with Ardalan, Bohtan and Soran and its territory would therefore oscillate. Before the removal of the last Baban leader in 1850, their rule had become limited to their capital Sulaymaniyah and few surrounding villages.
The Principality of Bitlis, also known as the Bitlis Khanate, and the Bitlis Emirate (1182–1847), was a Persianate Kurdish principality centered at Bitlis. It originated from the Rojaki tribal confederation.
Mukriyan or 'Deryaz' was a Kurdish principality from the late 14th century to the 19th century centered around Mahabad. Mukriyan was a neighbor to the Emirate of Bradost.
Rawwadid, Ravvadid, or Banū Rawwād (900–1071) was a Sunni Muslim Kurdish dynasty, centered in the northwestern region of Adharbayjan (Azerbaijan) between the late 8th and early 13th centuries.
The Khorshidi dynasty (خورشیدیان), Abbasi dynasty or Shahs of Little Lorestan (1184–1597) was a Lur dynasty that ruled Little Lorestan in the later Middle Ages from their capital Khorramabad.
Iranian Intermezzo, or Persian Renaissance, was a period in Iranian history which saw the rise of various native Iranian Muslim dynasties in the Iranian Plateau, after the 7th-century Arab Muslim conquest and the fall of the Sasanian Empire. The period is noteworthy since it was an interlude between the decline of Abbāsid rule and power by Arabs and the "Sunni Revival" with the 11th-century emergence of the Seljuq Turks. The Iranian revival consisted of Iranian support based on Iranian territory and most significantly a revived Iranian national spirit and culture in an Islamic form, although there were some Iranian Zoroastrian movements rejecting Islam altogether as a religion. It also focused on reviving the Persian language, the most significant Persian-language literature from this period being the Shahnameh by Ferdowsi. The Iranian dynasties and entities which comprised the Iranian Intermezzo were the Tahirids, Saffarids, Banu Ilyas, Ghaznavids, Sajids, Samanids, Ziyarids, Buyids, Sallarids, Rawadids, Marwanids, Shaddadids, Kakuyids, Annazids and Hasanwayhids.
The Kurdish chiefdoms or principalities were several semi-independent entities which existed during the 16th to 19th centuries during the state of continuous warfare between the Ottoman Empire and Safavid Iran. The Kurdish principalities were almost always divided and entered into rivalries against each other. The demarcation of borders between the Safavid Shah Safi and the Ottoman caliph Sultan Murad IV in 1639 effectively divided Kurdistan between the two empires.
Literature in Iran encompasses a variety of literary traditions in the various languages used in Iran. Modern literatures of Iran include Persian literature, Azerbaijani literature, and Kurdish literature, among others.
Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it includes the West Azerbaijan Province, Kurdistan Province, Kermanshah Province, Ilam Province and parts of Hamadan Province and Lorestan Province.
The Emirate of Pazuki, was a Kurdish emirate that ruled around Hınıs, Erciş, Malazgirt, Doğubayazıt, and Nakhchivan, with its capital in Eleskirt between 1499 and 1587.
