TheQarai,Karai orQara Tatars (lit.Black Tatars) are aTurkic tribe found inKhorasan,Azerbaijan,Kerman, andFars.
According toEncyclopedia Iranica, the Qara'i or Qara Tatars are "a Turkic-speaking tribe of Azerbaijan, Khorasan, Kermān, and Fārs." According toVladimir Minorsky, the nameKarāʾi may have been rooted in theKeraites, aMongol people, while according toGyula Németh, the tribe's name might have originated from other ethnic groups inCentral Asia.[1]
Sinceqara "black" is a designation for "north" inTurkic languages it was a frequently used tribal identifier among the earlyTurkic peoples, and there are numerousKipchak groups known by this adjective. The earliest mention of these, not necessarily related, are the "Black Tatars" (Chinese:黑韃靼), a subdivision of theRouran Khaganate inTang sources.[citation needed] Meanwhile, at the western end of the steppe, more "black Tatars" were troops serving theFirst Bulgarian Empire.[2]
The Qara Tatars were recorded as a Mongol tribe of 30–40,000 nomad families dwelling nearAmasya andKayseri inAnatolia at the time ofTimur'sconquests. Upon a suggestion by theOttoman SultanBayezid I[3] and to refill the depopulated extremities of his empire,[4] Timur deported these tribes back toCentral Asia, specificallyKhwarazm and an island inIssyk-Kul that later ceased to exist.[3] Many of the tribesmen tried to escape from the forced migration, and although many were captured, some tribesmen remained inAnatolia.[5] A portion of the tribe that was previously deported managed to escape to theGolden Horde, and some additionally returned to Anatolia following Timur's demise. In 1419, groups from the tribe were deported by the Ottomans to theBalkans, settling nearPazardzhik in modern-dayBulgaria.[3]
At the start of theQajar dynasty, Qarai Turks were also scattered beyond southern Khorasan through the desert zone ofSistan.[6] Malcolm (1829) thought the Qarai of Persia arrived from "Tartary" as a result ofTimur's campaigns.[7] Under AfsharidNader Shah (r. 1736–1747), they were settled inKhorasan. Before that time, the Karai seem also to have been found inAzerbaijan.Adam Olearius, who traveled in Azerbaijan in 1638, mentionsKarai as one of the tribes ofMogan.
They became influential there in the 18th century, after their leader, Amir Khan, was made governor ofMashhad underAhmad Shah Durrani in 1749. Their political power peaked in the early 19th century under the leadership ofEshaq Khan Qaraei-Torbati. Eshaq Khan had submitted toAgha Mohammad Khan Qajar in 1795, but underFath-Ali Shah Qajar he achieved de facto autonomy from the central Qajar government, seizing control of Mashad in 1813. But soon later, in 1816, Eshaq Khan's tribal alliance fell apart and he was killed in Mashad.
Esḥaq Khan was succeeded by his sonMohammad Khan Qaraei-Torbati, who managed to retain "a sort of semi-independent existence"[8] But in the second half of the 19th century, the Karai chiefs lost most of their wealth and influence. George N. Curzon, who visited the area in 1889, described the region as "terribly decimated both by Turkmen ravages and by the great famine".[9]
A small Qarai population is found inKerman province, comprising some 420 households as of 1957, centered on the village of Tangu.[10] and inFars province, where clans using the nameQarai are found within theQashqai, Khamsa and Mamasāni tribal confederacies.Oberling (1960:101) citesIranian Army Files of 1956 according to which the Qarai of Kerman and Fars were moved there from Khorasan during theSafavid dynasty.
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