Mazanderani people
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (3 million to 4 million (2006)) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Province of Mazandaran and parts of the provinces of Alborz, Golestan, Tehran and Semnan in Iran | |
| Languages | |
| Mazanderani | |
| Religion | |
| Mostly Shi'a Muslim, Bahá'í, Atheists | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Iranian peoples, Caucasian peoples |
The Mazanderani people or Tabari people are an Iranian people whose homeland is the North of Iran (Tabaristan). Like the closely related Gilaks, the Mazanderanis are a Caspian people who inhabit the south coast of the Caspian Sea, part of the historical region that used to be called Tabaristan. The Alborz mountains mark the southern boundary of Mazanderani settlement.
The Mazanderani number between three million and four million (2006 estimate). Their dominant religion is Shiite Islam.
Most Mazanderani people live on the southeastern coast of the Caspian Sea. Many of them are farmers and fishermen. The Mazanderani are closely related to the neighbouring Gilaki people as well as Caucasian peoples (e.g., the Georgians, Armenians, and Azerbaijanis).
The Mazanderani language is a Northwestern Iranian language spoken by the Mazanderani people. Most Mazanderani are fluent in Persian. The Gilaki and Mazanderani languages (but not other Iranian languages) share certain typological features with Caucasian languages.
With the growth of education and the media, the distinction between Mazanderani and other Iranian languages is likely to disappear. Mazanderani is closely related to Gilaki and the two languages have similar vocabularies. They preserve more of the noun declension system characteristic of older Iranian languages than Persian does.
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