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Hazaras
A Hazara boy in Mazar-e Sharif
Total population
ca. 4 to 5 million
Regions with significant populations
Afghanistan 2,870,000 (est. 9% of total) [1]  Iran 283,000 (as natives to Iran) [2]  Pakistan 156,794 (as natives to Pakistan) [2]  Australia 10,000 - 20,000[citation needed]
Language(s)
Persian (Dari and Hazaragi dialects)
Religion(s)
Islam (predominantly Shi'a)

The Hazāra are a Persianized Asiatic people who reside mainly in the central region of Afghanistan, known as Hazarajat. They speak the Hazaragi dialect of the Persian language and are predominantly Shia Muslims.^[3] They are the third largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and can also be found in large numbers in neighboring Iran and Pakistan and as diaspora around the world.

The name of the Hazara people derives from the Persian word hazār, which means "thousand".^[4]

The factual accuracy of this article is disputed. Please see the relevant discussion on the talk page.

The main theory states that the Hazara have 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 armies and settlers of Genghis Khan's Mongolians, who marched into the area in the 13th century.^[3] Oral traditions among Hazaras claim direct descent from Genghis Khan himself. Studies in genetic genealogy have identified a particular lineage of the Y-chromosome characteristic of people of Mongolian descent ("the Y-chromosome of Genghis Khan"). This chromosome is virtually absent outside the limits of the Mongol Empire except among the Hazara people, where it reaches its highest frequency anywhere. About two thirds of their sample Hazara males carry a Y chromosome from this lineage.^[5] The main theory is further strengthened given that the Il-Khanate Mongols rulers, beginning with Oljeitu, embraced Shia Islam. Today, almost all Hazaras adhere to Shiism, whereas Afghanistan's other ethnic groups, excluding the Qizilbash, are predominately Sunni.

However, the main Mongolian mixing theory is somewhat 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 Bamyan, who may have had physical features like the invading Mongols.^{[citation needed]} If true, 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.^{[citation needed]} However, this belief is vitiated by historical records which mention that in a particularly bloody battle around Bamyan, Genghis Khan's grandson Motochin was killed, and he ordered Bamyan burnt to the ground in retribution, renaming it Ma-Obaliq ("Uninhabitable Abode") while replacing the local population with his armies and settlers.

There are other beliefs holding Hazaras as descendants of the Kushans^[6], the ancient dwellers of Afghanistan famous for constructing the Buddhas of Bamyan^[7]; proponents of this view hold the geography of Hazara homeland and the similarity in the facial features of the Hazaras and those on the frescoes and Buddha's statues in Bamiyan. However there are some who claim that Hazaras are of Turkic origin.^[8]

After the fall of the Il-Khan empire in Persia, the Safavid Shah Abbas drove out the Mongols from Persia to their eastern province of Khorasan (present-day Afghanistan). 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 Turks. This is when the national identity of Hazaras apparently began.

The Hazaragi language is a distinctive dialect of the Persian language, with some Mongolian and Turkic vocabulary. Many of the urban Hazaras in the larger cities of Kabul and Mazari Sharif speak in the Dari variety, while Hazaras from the Dai Kundi and Dai Zangi regions have a significant admixture of the Mongolian influence in their language. Hazaras in Quetta, Pakistan date back to around 1890 many of whom served in the British Indian Army,^[3] and use more Urdu and English words.

Hazaras are predominantly Shia Muslims, mostly of the Twelver denomination but also of the Ismaili denomination. Although most Hazaras are Shia, there are also Sunni Hazaras most of which are in northern and northwestern Afghanistan.

Main article: List of Hazara tribes

The Hazara people of Afghanistan and Pakistan are split into various tribes.

Besides the major populations of Hazaras in Quetta, Pakistan and Iran, there are significant communities in Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, the UK and particularly the Northern European countries such as Sweden and Denmark. Many young Hazara are studying in developed countries such as Australia, legally through education or work visas. There are many Afghan Hazara who have migrated to developed countries specially in Australia as refugees. The famous case was the MV Tampa incident^[9] in which a shipload of refugees, mostly Hazaras, was rescued by the Norwegian freighter MV Tampa and subsequently sent to Nauru. Many refugee claims were rejected by Australia and forwarded to New Zealand, where all claims but one were approved.

Afghan Hazara refugees in Quetta, Pakistan along with their Pakistani Hazara brethren have set up a remittance economy which has led to the opening of foreign money exchange places to handle the currency coming in. Pakistan provided safe haven for the Hazara and other Afghan refugees of the Afghan wars. In Pakistan most of the Hazaras live in and around the city of Quetta and hold high positions in the government of Balochistan. In Pakistan, Hazaras are mostly in business and have high education levels. A famous Commander-in-Chief of Pakistan, General Mohammad Musa, was a Hazara.

A recent anthropological book, War and migration : social networks and economic strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan 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.

Dr. Sima Samar, an ethnic Hazara, Chairperson of Independent Human Rights Commission of Afghanistan and United Nations' special envoy to Darfur

In Afghanistan since the early 1990s, the Hezb-e Wahdat political party is the most prominent Hazara movement. The most influential member, prior to his capture and execution by the Taliban, was Abdul Ali Mazari. This execution at the hands of the Taliban made Abdul Ali Mazari a martyr and a hero to the Hazara people.

Haji Muhammad Mohaqiq, a Hazara is a prominent figure in current government and politics of Afghanistan. He belongs to Hezb-e Wahdat party and ran for president in the 2004 presidential election in Afghanistan.

Hazaras are also politically active in Quetta, western Pakistan, and have a political party known as the Hazara Democratic Party.^[10] The current Minister for Sports in Balochistan is a Hazara. The most famous Hazara in Pakistan was General Musa Khan, who served as Commander in Chief of the Pakistani Army between 1958 to 1966.

• Khaleej Times article on 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.
• Monsutti, Alessandro (2005) War and migration: Social networks and economic strategies of the Hazaras of Afghanistan (translated by Patrick Camiller) Routledge, New York, ISBN 0-415-97508-5
• Mousavi, Sayed Askar (1997) The Hazaras of Afghanistan: An Historical, Cultural, Economic and Political Study St. Martin's Press, New York, ISBN 0-312-17386-5
• Frederiksen, Birthe and Nicolaisen, Ida (1996) Caravans and trade in Afghanistan: The changing life of the nomadic Hazarbuz Carlsberg Foundation's Nomad Research Project, Thames and Hudson, London, ISBN 0-500-01687-9
• Poladi, Hassan (1989) The Hazāras Mughal Publishing Company, Stockton, California, ISBN 0-929824-00-8
• Kakar, M. Hasan (1973) The pacification of the Hazaras of Afghanistan Afghanistan Council, Asia Society, New York, OCLC 1111643

• Demographics of Afghanistan
• Hazarajat
• Xionites
• Nikudari

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Hazaras

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Hazara (Race).

• Hazara.net
• Hazara.org
• HazaraNet.com
• World of Hazaras - a blog that focuses on the Hazara people
• Ethnologue.com - About The Hazaragi Language