| viii.
GEORGIAN
COMMUNITIES
IN
PERSIA
Many
thousands
of
Georgians,
Armenians,
and
Circassians
who
were
transplanted
to
Persia
by
Shah
¿Abba@s
I
(996-1038/1588-1629)
were
peasants,
and
they
were
settled
in
villages
in
the
Persian
hinterland.
A
large
group
of
Georgians
and
Armenians
were
moved
into
the
Far^dan
region,
west
of
Isfahan,
probably
in
1603-5,
when
the
shah
embarked
upon
a
systematic
depopulation
of
the
area
north
of
Azerbaijan
to
discourage
Ottoman
incursions
(Eskandar
Beg,
pp.
667-70).
Because
the
Isfahan-Boru@jerd
road,
which
passed
through
their
territory,
was
seldom
used
by
European
travelers,
we
have
very
little
information
about
them
before
the
19th
century.
When
J.
M.
Kinneir
visited
them
in
1810,
he
estimated
the
number
of
Georgians
in
the
region
at
one
thousand
families.
By
then,
they
had
already
converted
to
Islam,
but
they
were
not
yet
intermarrying
with
Persians
(p.
128).
In
1896,
Lado
Aghniashvili
wrote
that
the
Georgians
of
Far^dan
comprised
2,500
households,
or
15,000
individuals
(p.
192).
According
to
A.
F.
Stahl,
by
the
early
1900s
they
were
intermarrying
with
Persians
(p.
9).
However,
most
of
them
continued
to
speak
Georgian,
as
is
indicated
by
Basil
Nikitin.
According
to
Nikitin,
their
chief
center
was
AÚkòora
Ba@la@
(also
called
Far^dan
and
Martqopi),
which
contained
1,600
homesteads,
20
mosques,
and
7
public
baths
(pp.
284-85).
In
the
1950s,
H®osayn-¿Al^
Razma@ra@
described
eleven
villages
(AÚkòora
Pa@y^n,
Afu@s,
AÚq±a,
Ba@deja@n-e
AÚkòora,
Bu@÷^n,
Jaqjaq,
Ùoqyu@rt,
Da@‘ga@n,
S^bak,
ˆeæ
Java@n)
in
the
districts
(dehesta@n)
of
Gorj^
and
Mu@gu@÷^
in
which
Georgian-speaking
individuals
also
resided
(Farhang
X,
pp.
5,
24,
31,
41,
56,
63,
84,
116,
120).
At
least
two
groups
of
Georgians
were
settled
along
the
Isfahan-Shiraz
road,
perhaps
to
protect
that
thoroughfare
from
raids
by
predatory
nomads.
According
to
Thomas
Herbert,
Am^na@ba@d,
southeast
of
Qomæa,
had
a
part-Georgian
population
when
he
passed
through
the
village
in
1627.
By
then,
they
had
already
converted
to
Islam
(p.
153).
In
any
case,
they
must
have
been
quickly
absorbed
by
the
local
population,
for
no
subsequent
travelers
have
mentioned
them.
A
larger
group
of
Georgians,
along
with
a
group
of
Circassians,
was
settled
in
and
around
the
small
town
of
AÚspa@s,
west
of
Dehb^d,
on
the
old
Yazdkò¨úa@st-Zarqa@n
stretch
of
the
caravan
route.
During
the
17th
century,
they
were
visited
by
several
famous
travelers,
including
Pietro
Della
Valle
in
1621
(p.
50),
Herbert
in
1627
(p.
152),
Jean
Baptiste
Tavernier
in
1665
(p.
246),
Jean
de
The‚venot
in
1665
(II,
pp.
121-22),
and
John
Fryer
in
1677
(II,
pp.
231-32).
By
1677,
many
of
the
Georgians
of
AÚspa@s
had
already
embraced
the
Muslim
faith
(Fryer,
loc.
cit.).
When
the
new
road
through
AÚba@da
and
Dehb^d
was
built
in
the
18th
century,
most
of
the
caravans
bypassed
AÚspa@s
and
the
economy
of
the
region
steadily
declined.
When
Robert
Ker
Porter
visited
AÚspa@s
in
1818,
he
saw
"nothing
but
dilapidation,
poverty
and
wretchedness"
(II,
p.
16).
Oddly
enough,
some
of
the
Georgians
of
AÚspa@s
were
absorbed
by
the
Fa@rs^mada@n
tribe
of
the
Qaæqa@÷^
tribal
confederacy,
becoming
one
of
its
clans.
These
Georgians,
who
are
called
Gorja@÷^lu@,
are
Turcophone
and
constitute
the
only
tangible
vestige
of
the
Georgian
community
of
AÚspa@s
(Oberling,
p.
142).
A
large
group
of
Georgians
and
Armenians
was
transplanted
to
Ma@zandara@n
beginning
in
1024/1615
as
a
result
of
further
campaigns
in
the
Caucasus
by
Shah
¿Abba@s
I
(Eskandar
Beg,
II,
pp.
881,
913;
Perry,
p.
207).
Most
of
them
were
settled
around
Faraháa@ba@d
and
Aæraf
(Behæahr),
the
shah's
favorite
Caspian
resorts.
According
to
Della
Valle,
who
passed
through
the
area
in
February
1618,
the
forests
around
Sa@r^,
south
of
Faraháa@ba@d,
were
cut
to
make
room
for
the
newcomers
who,
by
the
time
of
his
visit,
had
already
started
cultivating
the
land
(p.
50).
Some
of
the
Georgian
immigrants
were
also
employed
as
sericulturists,
and
a
large
number
of
mulberry
trees
were
planted
in
the
vicinity
of
Faraháa@ba@d.
At
the
same
time,
more
Georgians
were
settled
in
the
towns
of
Faraháa@ba@d
and
Aæraf
(Della
Valle,
p.
51;
Rabino,
p.
63;
Napier,
p.
119).
But
these
Georgians
were
gradually
absorbed
by
the
surrounding
population
in
Ma@zandara@n,
so
that
today
no
trace
of
them
exists
except
in
the
form
of
suggestive
village
names,
such
as
Gorj^
Maháalla
and
Gorj^
Kala@
(Rabino,
p.
13;
Razma@ra@,
Farhang
III,
p.
253;
de
Morgan,
I,
pp.
162-63).
Yet
another
group
of
Georgians
was
forced
to
establish
itself
midway
between
ˆa@hru@d
and
Sabzava@r
for
the
purpose
of
protecting
a
barren
stretch
of
the
Tehran-Maæhad
route
from
attacks
by
Turkman
bandits.
A
village
by
the
name
of
¿Abba@sa@ba@d
was
built,
complete
with
a
fort
and
a
spacious
caravanserai,
and
the
settlers
were
provided
with
a
firman
which
guaranteed
them
an
annual
stipend,
as
well
as
a
yearly
ration
of
wheat
(Smith,
I,
p.
376;
Bassett,
p.
208).
These
Georgians,
like
those
of
Ma@zandara@n,
were
rapidly
converted
to
Islam
(Bassett,
p.
209),
and,
when
Vladmir
Minorsky
visited
them
in
1934,
he
was
told
that
only
one
very
old
woman
could
remember
some
Georgian
(Tadòkerat
al-molu@k,
tr.
Minorsky,
p.
18,
n
2).
The
most
detailed
descriptions
of
¿Abba@sa@ba@d
are
those
of
J.
B.
Fraser
(pp.
367-71),
J.-P.
Ferrier
(pp.
159-62),
and
Bassett
(pp.
208-10).
They
portrayed
a
dwindling
community
living
in
abject
misery.
According
to
Razma@ra@,
in
the
1940s
¿Abba@sa@ba@d
had
750
Persian-speaking,
Shi¿ite
inhabitants
(Farhang
III,
p.
194).
Finally,
according
to
de
Morgan,
in
1890-91
there
was
a
small
colony
of
Georgians
in
Dezfu@l,
K¨u@zesta@n.
"They
have
preserved
in
very
pure
form
the
traits
of
their
ancestors"
he
observed,
"and,
athough
thay
have
become
Muslims,
they
have
not
yet
given
up
their
language"
(p.
58).
But
no
trace
of
these
Georgians
exists
today.
In
conclusion,
it
can
be
said
that
the
Georgians
in
Persia
have
at
all
times
displayed
a
special
talent
for
adaptation
to
their
new
environment.
While
their
Armenian
neighbors
in
Far^dan
have
remained
Christians,
they
long
ago
espoused
Shi¿ism,
and,
while
their
Circassian
neighbors
at
Dez-e
Kord,
near
AÚspa@s,
have
survived
as
a
tight-knit
community,
they
have
become
thoroughly
assimilated
to
the
surrounding
population.
Bibliography:
L.
Aghniashvili,
Sparset'i
ik'auri
k'art'veloba
(The
Georgian
community
in
Persia),
Tbilisi,
1896,
p.
192.
J.
Bassett,
Persia,
the
Land
of
Imams:
A
Narrative
of
Travels
and
Residence
1871-1885,
New
York,
1886.
Pietro
Della
Valle,
Viaggi,
3
vols.
in
4
parts,
Rome,
1658-63;
tr.
J.
Pinkerton
as
Travels
in
Persia,
London,
1811.
J.-P.
Ferrier,
Voyages
en
Perse
etc.,
Paris,
1860.
J.
B.
Fraser,
Narrative
of
a
Journey
into
Khorasan
in
the
Years
1821
and
1822,
London,
1825.
John
Fryer,
A
New
Account
of
East
India
and
Persia,
Being
Nine
Years
Travels
1672-1681,
3
vols.,
London,
1909-15.
Thomas
Herbert,
Some
Years'
Travels
into
Divers
Parts
of
Africa
and
Asia
the
Great…,
London,
1677.
J.
M.
Kinneir,
A
Geographical
Memoir
of
the
Persian
Empire,
London,
1813.
J.
de
Morgan,
Mission
scientifique
en
Perse,
Paris,
1894.
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C.
Napier,
"Extracts
from
a
Diary
of
a
Tour
in
Khorassan
and
Notes
on
the
Eastern
Alburz
Tract,"
JRGS
46,
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pp.
62-171.
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of
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N.
Marr,
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autumn
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pp.
278-86.
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1963,
pp.
127-43
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R.
Perry,
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and
Eighteenth
Centuries,"
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1975,
pp.
199-215.
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Ker
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Travels
in
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Persia
…
during
the
Years
1817,
1818,
1819,
and
1820,
2
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1821-22.
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L.
Rabino,
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and
Astara‚ba‚d,
London,
1928.
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Smith,
"The
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1871-72"
in
F.
J.
Goldsmid,
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Persia,
London,
1976,
pp.
225-394.
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F.
Stahl,
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1905,
pp.
4-12.
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Baptiste
Tavernier,
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Jean
Baptiste
Tavernier,
3
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Paris,
1679;
tr.,
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de
The‚venot,
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(PIERRE
OBERLING)
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