Chahar Aimaks

Chahar Aimaks 

the common name for a group of small nationalities of mixed Iranian and Turko-Mongolian descent. The Chahar Aimaks, who comprise the Jamshidis, Taimannis, Taimuris, and Firuzkuhis, live in northwestern Afghanistan. According to a 1975 estimate, they number approximately 450,000. They speak Dari and profess Sunnism.

The Chahar Aimaks have retained vestiges of a clan tribal division. They are primarily engaged in land cultivation and the raising of livestock, especially sheep; the Jamshidis breed Karakul sheep. Handicrafts consist in the working of products obtained from livestock raising; the Chahar Aimaks produce coarse fabrics, blankets, horsecloths, carpets, koshmas (felt carpets), and leather goods. As a result of the development of a money economy, the penetration of commercial and usurer’s capital, a shortage of land, and the intensification of social stratification, the Chahar Aimaks have been leaving their land in increasing numbers, some in order to find work as farm hands.

REFERENCES

Narody Perednei Azii. Moscow-Leningrad, 1957.
Davydov, A. D. Afganskaia derevnia. Moscow, 1969.