Talish (region)

Talish
Talish
	Region
Country	Iran; Azerbaijan
Demonym(s)	Talishi
Time zones
Iran	UTC+03:30 (IRST)
• Summer (DST)	UTC+04:30 (IRDT)
Azerbaijan	UTC+04:00 (AZT)

Tālīsh[lower-alpha 1] (Persian: تالش‎, romanized: Tālesh, Azerbaijani: Talış, Talysh: Tolış) is a region that stretches north from the Sefīd-Rūd river, which cuts through the Alborz mountains in Iran's Gilan Province, to the Aras river in the south of Azerbaijan. The region is inhabited by the Talish people[1] who speak the Talish language. The territory and the language set apart Talish from its neighbors.[2]

Etymology

The name is first found in the Armenian translation of the Alexander Romance as "Tālis̲h̲". The Persian pronunciation of the name in plural form was "Talishan" (Persian: تالشان‎, romanized: Tāleshān).[3]

History

In the Ilkhanate times, the Ispahbads of Gilan have had a principality on the borders of Gilan and Mughan, with a fortress and villages. In later times, a local Khan had his seat at Lankaran and was subject to the Persian monarchs. Peter the Great (r. 1682–1725), Emperor of Russia, first occupied the region during 1722–1732 and then it was returned to Safavid Persia. It was again occupied by Russia in 1796 and during the Russo-Persian War (1804–1813). In 1813 after the Storming of Lankaran most parts of the region were annexed by Russia and a smaller part remained within Persia. The Treaty of Gulistan of 24 October 1813, awarded to Russia the greater part of Talish, the part north of the Astara river.[lower-alpha 2][3]

Geography

Talish is located in the southwest of the Caspian Sea and stretches to the north for more than 150 kilometers. Talish consisted of the Talish Mountains and supplemented by a narrow coastal strip. High rainfall, dozens of narrow valleys, discharging into the Caspian Sea, or into the Anzali Lagoon, fertile soil and dense vegetation ( home of the extinct Caspian tiger) are some geographical features of this land. In the north, Talish merges into the Mugan plain.[3] This territory shapes the historical habitat of Talishi people who have lived a nomadic life, moving along the mountainous streams.[2] Northern part of the Talish includes the districts of Astara, Lankaran, Lerik, Yardymli, Masally, and Jalilabad, with the exception of the small sub-district of Anbaran located on the western side of the mountain chain in the Ardabil Province.[1]

Demography

Most of the Talishis are Shiite Muslims.[3]

Footnotes

Notes

also written as Talysh
on the basis of the Status quo ad presentem

Sources

Asatrian, Garnik; Arakelova, Victoria (June 2014). "On the South Caspian Contact Zone: Some Talishi Folk Beliefs". Iran and the Caucasus. 18 (2): 135–146. JSTOR 43899069.
Bazin, Marcel (1996). "Le Tâleš revisité". Studia Iranica (in French). 25 (1): 115–134. doi:10.2143/SI.25.1.2003968.
Bazin, Marcel (2000). "TĀLEŠ iv. PRESENT-DAY TĀLEŠ DISTRICT". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (online ed.).
Borjian, Habib; Asatrian, Garnik (January 2005). "Talish and the Talishis (The State of Research)". Iran and the Caucasus. 9 (1): 43–72. JSTOR 4030905.
Bosworth, C. E. & Yarshater, E. (2000). "Tālis̲h̲". In Bearman, P. J.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C. E.; van Donzel, E. & Heinrichs, W. P. (eds.). The Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, Volume X: T–U. Leiden: E. J. Brill. pp. 166–167. ISBN 978-90-04-11211-7.
Jafari, Shiva; Shayesteh, Fereydoun; Abdoli, Ali (2006). تالش [Tālesh]. In Mousavi-Bojnourdi, Kazem (ed.). The Great Islamic Encyclopaedia (in Persian). 14. Tehran: Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopedia. pp. 346–353. ISBN 964-7025-54-8.
Pourjafari, Mohammadreza; Amirahmadian, Bahram; Rezazadeh Shafaroudi, Masumeh; Poursafar Ghassabinejad, Ali; Shokri, Giti (2001). تالش (یا طالش) [Tālesh (or Ṭālesh)]. In Haddad-Adel, Gholam-Ali (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam (in Persian). 6. Tehran: Encyclopaedia Islamica Foundation. ISBN 964-447-007-7.CS1 maint: ignored ISBN errors (link)
Piller, Christian Konrad (January 2013). "The Cadusii in Archaeology? Remarks on the Achaemenid Period (Iron Age IV) in Gilan and Talesh". Iran and the Caucasus. 17 (2): 115–151. JSTOR 23597592.
Ter-Abrahamian, Hrant (January 2005). "On the Formation of the National Identity of the Talishis in Azerbaijan Republic". Iran and the Caucasus. 9 (1): 121–144. JSTOR 4030909.