Иранские грузины: история и расселение

Iranian residents who are ethnically Georgian
infobox ethnic group|
| group = Iranian Georgiansირანის ქართველებიگرجی‌های ایران
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| population = 100,000+
| popplace = Fereydan, Gilan, Mazandaran, Golestan, Khuzestan, Isfahan, Azerbaijan, Khorasan, Tehran
| rels = Shi'a Islam A certain number of these, among them members of the nobility, also migrated voluntarily over the centuries, as well as some that moved as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The Georgian community of Fereydunshahr have retained their distinct Georgian identity to this day, despite adopting certain aspects of Iranian culture such as the Persian language.

Most likely, the first extant community of Georgians within Iran was formed following Shah Tahmasp I's invasions of Georgia and the rest of the Caucasus, in which he deported some 30,000 Georgians and other Caucasians back to mainland Safavid Iran. The first genuine compact Georgian settlements however appeared in Iran in the 1610s when Shah Abbas I relocated some two hundred thousand from their historical homeland, eastern Georgian provinces of Kakheti and Kartli, following a punitive campaign he conducted against his formerly most loyal Georgian servants, namely Teimuraz I of Kakheti and Luarsab II of Kartli. Most of modern day Iranian Georgians are the latter's descendants, Subsequent waves of large deportations after Abbas also occurred throughout the rest of the 17th, but also the 18th and 19th centuries, the last ones by the Qajar dynasty. A certain amount also migrated as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The Georgian deportees were settled by the Shah's government into the scarcely populated lands which were quickly made by their new inhabitants into the lively agricultural areas. Many of these new settlements were given Georgian names, reflecting the toponyms found in Georgia. During the Safavid era, Georgia became so politically and somewhat culturally intertwined with Iran that Georgians replaced the Qizilbash among the Safavid officials, alongside the Circassians and Armenians. During his travels the Italian adventurer Pietro Della Valle claimed that there was no household in Persia without its Georgian slaves, noticing the huge amounts of Georgians present everywhere in society. The later Safavid capital, Isfahan, was home to many Georgians. Many of the city's inhabitants were of Georgian, Circassian, and Daghistani descent. Engelbert Kaempfer, who was in Safavid Persia in 1684 85, estimated their number at 20,000.

Many Iranian military commanders and administrators were (Islamized) Georgians. Many members of the Safavid and Qajar dynasties and nobility had Georgian blood. In fact, the heavily mixed Safavid dynasty (1501 1736) was of partial Georgian origins from its very beginning.

The Georgian language is still used by a minority of people in Iran. The center of Georgians in Iran is Fereydunshahr, a small city, 150 km to the west of Isfahan in the area historically known as Fereydan. In this area there are 10 Georgian towns and villages around Fereydunshahr. In this region the old Georgian identity is retained the best compared to other places in Iran, and most people speak and understand the Georgian language there. There were other compact settlements in Khorasan at Abbas Abad (half way between Shahrud and Sabzevar where there remained only one old woman who remembered Georgian in 1934), Mazandaran at Behshahr and Farah Abad, Gilan, Isfahan Province at Najafabad, Badrud, Rahmatabad, Yazdanshahr and Amir Abad. These areas are frequently called Gorji Mahalleh ("Georgian neighborhood"). Many Georgians or Iranians of partial Georgian descent are also scattered in major Iranian cities, such as Tehran, Isfahan, Rasht, Dezful, Karaj and Shiraz. Most of these communities no longer speak the Georgian language, but retain aspects of Georgian culture and keep a Georgian conscious. Some argue that Iranian Georgians retain remnants of Christian traditions, but there is no evidence for this. Most Georgians in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan speak and understand Georgian. Iranian Georgians observe the Shia traditions and also non religious traditions similar to other people in Iran. They observe the traditions of Nowruz. The local self designation of Georgians in Iran, like the rest of the Georgians over the world is Kartveli (, from Kartvelebi, Georgian: ქართველები, namely Georgians), although occasionally the ethnonyms Gorj, Gorji, or even Gurj i (from Persian "Gorji" which means Georgian). They call their language Kartuli (Georgian: ქართული). As Rezvani states, this is not surprising given that all other Georgian dialects in Iran are extinct. The number of Georgians in Iran is estimated to be over 100,000. According to Encyclopaedia Georgiana (1986) some 12,000–14,000 lived in rural Fereydan c. 1896, and a more recent estimation cited by Rezvani (published 2009, written in 2008) states that there may be more than 61,000 Georgians in Fereydan. Modern day estimations regarding the number of Iranian Georgians are that they compose over 100,000. They are also the largest Caucasus derived group in the nation, ahead of the Circassians.