The Charaymaks are one of the peoples of Central Asia, the last nomads of the region. In Afghanistan, their number is estimated at about one and a half million people. In Iran they are about 200 thousand, and 7-8 thousand representatives of this ethnic group are in Tajikistan. Almost equally they are descendants of Mongols, Turks, Pashtuns and even clans descended from ancient Aryans.
Let us tell the history of this tribe.
Afghanistan is a country with an ancient history where small in size but prosperous agricultural regions are surrounded by mountains, steppes and deserts. All this prevents the formation of a unified nation, which is well confirmed by the history of this state.
In the High Middle Ages there were several separate nomadic groups of quite different origins. The first were descendants of the Scythians and Indo-Aryans who stopped here on their way to Hindustan. They were distant relatives of the Bactrians, by whose name the whole country was often called. The second included the Pashtuns, an ethnos descended from certain Pathans, known from Indian chronicles. The third were conglomerates of one or another Turkic tribes, which at different times ruled the entire region. The Karluk, the Oguzes, the Kipchaks — they all visited here.
But in the 13th century the Mongol rulers of Central Asia settled here the tribes of their root in order to control trade and timely stop the invasions of the Delhi Sultanate, and they happened often. And as a result of assimilation, political alliances and mixed marriages, a completely new people emerged.
Sometime before the 18th and 19th centuries, its representatives spoke mostly Mongolian. But then they switched to the Dari language, which is the universal means of communication in Afghanistan. Usually it is called a dialect of Tajik, but in fact, it is the same Persian language. More precisely, one of its colloquial norms spread on Afghan soil.
The name of this people, Charaymaki, is formed from two languages. In Persian, chara (more precisely, chahar) means «four.» In Turkic-Mongolian languages, aimak means «tribe.» The attentive reader will notice that in various states, including Russia, aimaks are called administrative-territorial units, which correspond to the status of a district. The reason for this is that in nomadic states the administrative division coincided with the tribal division.
It is not surprising that the Charaymaks are divided into four tribes, the existence of which was mentioned by Babur, a descendant of the Timurid dynasty and founder of the Mughal Empire in India. The Jamshids and the Firuzkohis have a more Caucasoid appearance and are considered descendants of early Aryan groups. Some are named after an ancient Iranian king, leader of the Indo-Aryans, while others are named after the Afghan city in whose vicinity they live. Along with the predominant pastoralism, they have developed elements of agriculture. At least they sow wheat at the nodal points of their migrations.
The Taimani, the third tribe of the Charaimak, consists of two sub-tribes. The first, the Durzai, are descendants of the Pashtuns. The second, the Kypchaks, are those medieval Polovtsians. They are traditionally nomadic and on the arid highlands of Afghanistan they raise their own goats, cows and sheep.
Teymuri, in full accordance with their name, are considered to be the descendants of Turkic-Mongolian clans, which were brought here by Tamerlane. They are relatively small in number, but their historically high status has led to them being called a separate tribe.
There is an additional fifth tribe that is also included in this alliance. The Aimak-Khazar clan are descendants of the very thousands that Genghis Khan himself or his sons sent here. Perhaps, of all Charaymak tribes they are the most Mongolized.
Charaymaks should be distinguished from another Afghan people — the Hazaras. The latter are descended from Tajik women and warriors of the Mongol Empire. However, they are Shiites, while the Charaymaks traditionally profess Sunnism, and only in Iran they are followers of the Shiite current. Also, their ethnogenesis is much more complex. Türks of one or another clan, Pashtuns, ancient Aryans, and Mongols were equally their ancestors.