The Aimak (or Eimak, Aimaq) are Persian-speaking nomadic or semi-nomadic tribes of mixed Iranian and Mongolian stock inhabiting the north and north-west Afghan highlands immediately to the north of Herat. They are closely related to the Hazara. They live in western Hazarajat in the provinces of Ghor, Farah, Herat, Badghis, Faryab, Jozjan and Sar-i-Pul. The name is Mongolian for clan, or section of a tribe. Persian (فارسی / پارسی), (local name in Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan: ‘Fârsi’), ‘Pârsi’ (older local name, but still used by some speakers), Tajik (a Central Asian dialect) or Dari (another local name in Tajikistan and Afghanistan), is a language spoken in Iran, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, western Pakistan, Bahrain, and elsewhere. ... Kazakh nomads in the steppes of the Russian Empire, ca. ... Highland (a Ghaidhealtachd in Gaelic) is the name of the largest administrative region in Scotland. ... Herāt (Persian هرات) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the valley of the Hari Rud river in the province also known as Herat, and was traditionally known for wine. ... The Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region called Hazarajat. They make up anywhere between 9-20% of Afghanistans population, but an accurate census has not been taken in decades so there is little information to verify at present. ... Hazarajat is a mountainous region in central Afghanistan, home to the Hazara ethnic group. ... Ghowr province (sometimes spelled Ghor) is one of the thirty-four provinces of Afghanistan. ... Farah Pahlavi ... Herāt (Persian هرات) is a city in western Afghanistan, in the valley of the Hari Rud river in the province also known as Herat, and was traditionally known for wine. ... Badghis province is one of the thirty_four provinces of Afghanistan. ... A clan is a group of people united by kinship and descent, which is defined by perceived descent from a common ancestor. ...

They were originally known as chahar (the four) Eimaks, because there were four principal tribes: the Taimani (the predominating element in the population of Ghur), the Ferozkhoi, the Temuri, and the Jamshidi. Estimates of the Aimak population vary between a quarter of a million and 2 million. They are Sunni Muslims in distinction from the Hazara who are Shiites. They are predominantly of Iranian or quasi-Iranian blood, while the Hazara are Turanian. They are a bold, wild people and renowned fighters. Viewed historically or developmentally, a tribe consists of a social formation existing before the development of, or outside of, states. ... Sunni Islam (Arabic سنّة) is the largest denomination of Islam. ... A Muslim is a believer in or follower of Islam. ... Shi‘as (the adjective in Arabic is شيعى shi‘i; English has traditionally used Shiite) which mean follower in Arabic make up the second largest sect of believers in Islam, constituting about 30%-35% of all Muslim. ... The Ural-Altaic language family is a grouping of languages which was once widely accepted by linguists, but has since been largely rejected. ...

The Aimagh population in Afghanistan is estimated to be 1-2 million. The calculation is made difficult by the fact that due to centuries of oppression of the Hazara people, some Aimagh Hazaras are classified officially as Tajik, or Persian). The Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region called Hazarajat. They make up anywhere between 9-20% of Afghanistans population, but an accurate census has not been taken in decades so there is little information to verify at present. ... The Hazara ethnic group resides mainly in the central Afghanistan mountain region called Hazarajat. They make up anywhere between 9-20% of Afghanistans population, but an accurate census has not been taken in decades so there is little information to verify at present. ... An old Tajik man photographed by Prokudin-Gorskii in Samarkand, before 1915 The Tajiks are one of the principal ethnic groups of Central Asia, and are primarily found in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, and the Xinjiang province of China. ... The Persians of Iran (officially named Persia by West until 1935 while still referred to as Persia by some ) are an Iranian people who speak Persian (named Farsi by native speakers) and often refer to themselves as ethnic Iranians as well. ...

Playing on this sectarian divides, successive Afghan governments (usually dominated by the ethnic Pushtuns) divided the Aimaks and the Hazaras politically, listing them as separate nationalities in the list of the ethnic groups of Afghanistan, thereby reducing the Hazara population in the national percentage. Pashto (پښتو; also known as Afghan, Pushto, Pashto, Pashtoe, Pashtu, and Pukhto) is the language spoken by the ethnic Afghan otherwise known as the Pashtun people who inhabit Afghanistan and the Western provinces of Pakistan. ...

They are supposed to be descendants of Turkish-Tatar tribes which under Hulagu Khan overthrew the Persian Caliphate in the middle of the thirteenth century. Tatars (Tatar: Tatarlar/Татарлар) is a collective name applied to the Turkic people of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. ... Hulagu Khan (also known as Hülegü, and Hulegu) (1217 – 8 February 1265) was a Mongol ruler who conquered much of Southwest Asia. ... An Anglicized/Latinized version of the Arabic word خليفة or Khalīfah, Caliph (  listen?) is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ...

References

• Macgregor, Central Asia, (Calcutta, 1871)

Sources

• Aimaq Sample at Language Museum