Iranian peoples

Iranian peoples, or Iranic peoples, are the collective <a href="/facts/Ethnolinguistic_group/Cyfg2zVq">ethnolinguistic groups</a> who are identified chiefly by their native usage of any of the <a href="/facts/Iranian_languages/JaJyqM4t">Iranian languages</a>, which are a branch of the <a href="/facts/Indo-Iranian_languages/uIfMNTQV">Indo-Iranian languages</a> within the <a href="/facts/Indo-European_languages/L34TfgSr">Indo-European language family</a>.
The <a href="/facts/Proto-Iranian_language/dGG9Vj3v">Proto-Iranians</a> are believed to have emerged as a separate branch of the <a href="/facts/Indo-Iranians/gf5hW6No">Indo-Iranians</a> in <a href="/facts/Central_Asia/rB8k0CyT">Central Asia</a> around the mid-2nd millennium BC. At their peak of expansion in the mid-1st millennium BC, the territory of the Iranian peoples stretched across the entire <a href="/facts/Eurasian_Steppe/mJlxBbxJ">Eurasian Steppe</a>; from the <a href="/facts/Danube/8lMeM9xg">Danubian Plains</a> in the west to the <a href="/facts/Ordos_Plateau/XloQXljM">Ordos Plateau</a> in the east and the <a href="/facts/Iranian_Plateau/qIVWN4aH">Iranian Plateau</a> in the south.
The <a href="/facts/List_of_ancient_Iranian_peoples/2754eIxR">ancient Iranian peoples</a> who emerged after the 1st millennium BC include the <a href="/facts/Alans/HhlKMCMo">Alans</a>, the <a href="/facts/Bactria/JcTfl6bR">Bactrians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Dahae/ceqQsQH6">Dahae</a>, the <a href="/facts/Khwarazm/DIhw5ofr">Khwarazmians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Massagetae/XK7UGVHn">Massagetae</a>, the <a href="/facts/Medes/56a2Eynq">Medes</a>, the <a href="/facts/Parthia/XMqSC1GT">Parthians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Persians/4GhM3jl2">Persians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Sagartians/uLn30CVx">Sagartians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Saka/C6yebSAH">Saka</a>, the <a href="/facts/Sarmatians/peXYHqbc">Sarmatians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Scythians/gWMVEnJs">Scythians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Sogdia/I715sIoQ">Sogdians</a>, and likely the <a href="/facts/Cimmerians/IzCIlbPL">Cimmerians</a>, among other Iranian-speaking peoples of <a href="/facts/West_Asia/xXM15vIz">West Asia</a>, Central Asia, <a href="/facts/Eastern_Europe/f5CDGzNA">Eastern Europe</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Eurasian_Steppe/mJlxBbxJ">Eastern Steppe</a>.
In the 1st millennium AD, their area of settlement, which was mainly concentrated in the steppes and deserts of <a href="/facts/Eurasia/KlLI9GDM">Eurasia</a>, was significantly reduced due to the expansion of the <a href="/facts/Slavs/mphU6hzm">Slavic peoples</a>, the <a href="/facts/Germanic_peoples/N16QoPA7">Germanic peoples</a>, the <a href="/facts/Turkic_peoples/ocd7rpI3">Turkic peoples</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Mongolic_peoples/10695nIr">Mongolic peoples</a>; many were subjected to <a href="/facts/Slavicisation/tApvkRJc">Slavicization</a> and <a href="/facts/Turkification/Bd3K0zeJ">Turkification</a>. Modern Iranian peoples include the <a href="/facts/Baloch_people/qXoSXYnq">Baloch</a>, the <a href="/facts/Gilaks/znmJnxTU">Gilaks</a>, the <a href="/facts/Kurds/kV90PCdW">Kurds</a>, the <a href="/facts/Lurs/vxLHMqjh">Lurs</a>, the <a href="/facts/Mazanderani_people/wpPIYIve">Mazanderanis</a>, the <a href="/facts/Ossetians/3Eu0FFRq">Ossetians</a>, the <a href="/facts/Pamiris/axuvcSLI">Pamiris</a>, the <a href="/facts/Pashtuns/qqXpHAKN">Pashtuns</a>, the Persians, the <a href="/facts/Tat_people_(Caucasus)/AmKUJydd">Tats</a>, the <a href="/facts/Tajiks/78Xa8RKa">Tajiks</a>, the <a href="/facts/Talysh_people/nX3JeWIJ">Talysh</a>, the <a href="/facts/Wakhi_people/KUM236lK">Wakhis</a>, the <a href="/facts/Yaghnobis/pNSyuxNl">Yaghnobis</a>, and the <a href="/facts/Zazas/M40nLlFN">Zazas</a>. Their current distribution spreads across the Iranian Plateau – stretching from the <a href="/facts/Caucasus/sE8P8Ejg">Caucasus</a> in the north to the <a href="/facts/Persian_Gulf/W78AfnC1">Persian Gulf</a> in the south and from <a href="/facts/Eastern_Anatolia_Region/yTGF68uT">eastern Anatolia</a> in the west to <a href="/facts/Tashkurgan_Tajik_Autonomous_County/wjM9oQr4">western Xinjiang</a> in the east – covering a region that is sometimes called <a href="/facts/Greater_Iran/tWa3u3Uv">Greater Iran</a>, representing the extent of the Iranian-speaking peoples and the reach of their geopolitical and cultural influence.

Iranian peoples open-in-new

Iranian peoples