Kalhor (Kurdish tribe)

The Kalhor are a large Kurdish tribe from Iran.

The focus of their territory is the province of Kermanshah. There are also Kalhor in the province of Ilam, in Saqqiz, Sanandaj and the Iraqi Dschamdschamāl. The Kalhor speak the dialect südkurdischen Kelhuri, which is named after them. Most of the Kalhor are Shiites, while a small portion followers of Ahl -e Haqq are.

1849 was the root of 11,500 family and 1932 there were still about 10,000 families. Other information about the size of the tribe strongly deviate so figured George N. Curzon, the number of families in 1889 with 300

As a nomadic tribe had Kalhor their winter quarters at Qasr -e Shirin, Kerend, Dira, Gilan and Sumar. Their summer quarters were at Harunabad and Mahidašt.

History

The Kalhor appear in the history book Scherefname from the 16th century. There they form together with the Kurmandsch, Luri and Goran the people of the Kurds. The Kalhor playing at the time of the Safavids and the later Zand prince an important role in their region. So they support Karim Khan at the siege of Kermanshah in 1752. Karim Khan as the new ruler of Iran was that Kalhor did not go as opposed to other tribes with Karim Khan to Shiraz. They stayed in their field and served as an outpost against the Ottomans.

Under Dawood Khan Kalhor dominated the early 20th century the area between Kermanshah and the Persian- Ottoman border. After Dawood Khan's death in 1912 fell into the power of Kalhor steadily. Middle of the 20th century, most Kalhor settled by the policies of the Iranian Shah Reza Pahlavi and the internal cohesion of the strain was weaker. Since that time, they are also called in official use Bāvandpur.

Source

• Kalhor ( strain). In: Ehsan Yarshater (ed.): Encyclopædia Iranica (English, including literature references )

• Ethnic group in Iran
• Iranischsprachige ethnicity
• Kurdish culture