A small percentage of Bakhtiari are still nomadic pastoralists, migrating between summer quarters (yaylāq, ييلاق) and winter quarters (qishlāq, قشلاق). Bakhtiaris speak Luri, they are closely related to the Luri people and also related to Persian people. Numerical estimates of their total population widely vary. In Khuzestan, Bakhtiari tribes are primarily concentrated in the eastern part of the province. Bakhtiaris trace a common lineage, being divided into Chahar Lang (Four "limbs") and Haft Lang (Seven "Limbs") groups. The Bakthtiaris are Shia Muslims.

There are two main tribal groups, the Chahar Lang (“Four Legs”) and the Haft Lang (“Seven Legs”), each controlled by a single powerful family. The overall Khan alternates every two years between the chiefs of the Chahar Lang and the Haft Lang.

Bakhtiaris primarily inhabit the provinces of Lorestan, Khuzestan, Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari, and Isfahan. In Iranian mythology, the Bakhtiari consider themselves to be descendants of Fereydun, a legendary hero from the Persian national epic, Shahnameh.

The Bakhtiari captured Teheran under the Haft Lang Shah Sardar Assad and played a significant role in constitutional reform and the abdication of Shah Mohammed Ali (r. 1907-1909) in 1909, after which he was exiled to Russia. Reza Shah Pahlevi (r. 1925-1941) attempted to destroy the Bakhtiari and they have never fully recovered since that time. They are noted in Iran for their remarkable music which inspired Borodin.

Bakhtiari women have more status and freedom than most Iranian women and many of the daughters of the wealthier families are encouraged to receive at least basic education. Many significant Iranian politicians, governors of provinces and other dignitaries are of Bakhtiari origin.

The famous documentary: "Grass: A Nation's Battle for Life" (1925) tells the story of the migration of Bakhtiari tribe between summer quarters Chahar-e-Bakhtiari to winter quarters in Khuzestan. This film also tells the story of how these people crossed the river Karun with 50,000 people and 500,000 animals. The documentary "People of the Wind" (1975) retraces this same journey, 50 years later. As of 2006, the migration still takes place, although the livestock are now transported in trucks, and the shepherds no longer walk barefoot in the snow between provinces.

Famous Bakhtiaris

• Sardar Assad, Bakhtiari Haft Lang Chieftain and Constitutionalist
• Sardar zafar
• Bahram Moshiri, Historian and scientist
• Ali mardan khan
• Emam gholi khan
• Bibi maryam
• Parvin Alipour, Singer of the epic Bakhtiari folk song, "Shir-e-Ali Merdoon"
• Soraya Esfandiary, Queen of Iran (1951-58)
• Pezhman Bakhtiari, poet (1900-1974)
• Shahpour Bakhtiar, Politician and Prime Minister of Iran (1979)
• Rudi Bakhtiar, Former CNN and FOX TV news-anchor and journalist
• Eman Mobali, football star.
• Amin Abraham Paul Nikfar, Son of Mohammad Nikfar (Born in Masjed Soleiman, IRI) Currently the Iranian Record Holder in the Shot Put and a member of the IRI Track and Field Team, Asian Indoor Champion 2004 (IRI). (http://asianathletics.org/results/ai-results.htm)
• Farshad Soheili, descendant of Malek Shah
• Oman Samani, poet
• Mirza Habib Dstan
• Zeba Bakhtiar, Pakistani actress and former spouse of musician Adnan Sami
• Teymur Bakhtiar, Iranian general and head of Savak
• Lailee Bakhtiar van Dillen, author and television producer
• Davar Ardalan, NPR producer and author, whose mother Mary Laleh Bakhtiar is a Bakhtiari
• Behnoosh Bakhtiari, Iranian actress
• Laleh Bakhtiar, author and former professor at the University of Chicago, who wrote a feminist re-interpretation of the Koran which is now making news.

Zargham Saltaneh , Ebrahim : Commander and instrumental figure in the Constitutional Revolution of 1909.

Books

• Fariba Amini. The first moderate: Shapour Bakhtiar January, 2003.
• Ali Quli Khan Sardar Assad and A. Sepehr. Tarikhe Bakhtiari: Khulasat al-asar fi tarikh al-Bakhtiyar (Intisharat-i Asatir) (The History of Bakhtiari). 766 pages. ISBN 964-5960-29-0. Asatir, Iran, 1997. In Persian.
• Bakhtiari language summary
• Shapour Bakhtiar. Memoirs of Shapour Bakhtiar. Habib Ladjevardi, ed. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1996. 140 Pages. In Persian. ISBN 978-0932885142.
• Soraya Esfandiary Bakhtiary. Le Palais des Solitudes. France Loisirs, Paris, 1991. ISBN 2-7242-6593-9.
• Ali Morteza Samsam Bakhtiari. The Last of the Khans: The life of Morteza Quli Khan Samsam Bakhtiari. iUniverse, New York, 2006. 215 pages. ISBN 978-0-595-38248-4.
• Mark Gasiorowski, "Just like that: How the Mossadegh Government was overthrown", in particular bullet point 2 on the role of Soraya Bakhtiari; compare with her account in Le Palais des Solitudes cited above.
• Arash Khazeni, The Bakhtiyari Tribes in the Iranian Constitutional Revolution, Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa, and the Middle East, 25, 2, Duke University Press, 2005.
• Merian C. Cooper and Ernest B. Schoedsack. Grass: A nation's battle for life. Film, B&W, 71 minutes, 1925. Available on DVD.
• Anthony Howarth. People of the wind. Film, Color, 110 minutes, 1976. Available on DVD.
• Pierre Loti. Vers Ispahan. Edition Calmann-Levy, Paris, 1925. 330 pages. Travelogue with Bakhtiari contact. See also Ross and Sackville-West from same period.
• Dr. Elizabeth N. Macbean Ross, M.B., Ch.B. A lady doctor in Bakhtiari Land. Leonard Parsons, London, 1921. Out of copyright and available online here. Travelogue, see also Loti and Sackville-West from same period.
• Vita Sackville-West. ''Twelve Days: An account of a journey across the Bakhtiari Mountains in South-western Persia. Doubleday, Doran & Co., New York, 1928. 143 pages. Travelogue, see also Loti and Ross from same period.

See also

• Lorestan
• Demographics of Iran
• Ethnic minorities in Iran
• Yaylag

External links

• Minorities At Risk: Assessment for Bakhtiari in Iran
• Travelogue of a 2004 trip in Bakhtiari
• A Bakhtiari folk-song sung by Shusha Guppy in the 1970s: The Lor Youth