Lak people (Iran)

Ethnic group|
group=Laks
poptime="c. " 1 million (est.)
popplace=Western Iran:
1,000,000 [http://www.ethnologue.com/show_language.asp?code=lki]
langs=Laki
rels= Shi'a Islam, Ahl-e-Haqq
related=Other Iranian peoplesThe Laks are an Iranian ethnic group in southwestern Iran. They speak "Laki" (or "Lekí"), a Western Iranian language.

Zayn al-‘Ābidīn Shīrvānī, the writer of the Persian geographic work Bustān al-siyāha (“The Garden of the travel”) in 19th century introduces the Laks as a Lur tribe. According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Laks are the most southern group of Kurd tribes in Persia and their language has the characteristics of Kurdish. In our own times Īzadpanāh, the writer of the Laki-Persian dictionary, emphasizes the Luri identity of the Laks and calls it a misunderstanding to consider the Laks as a part of the Kurds. [Īzadpanāh, H., Farhang-i Lakī, Tehran: Mu’assisa-yi Farhangī-yi Jahāngīrī, 1367 Hš, p. xl.]

Historians believe that Laks have moved to their present settlement from lands further north, and the "Bajilan" tribe of Zohab as well as Luristan say they came from Musil. [M. Th. Houtsma, E. van Donzel, "E. J. Brill's First Encyclopaedia of Islam, 1913-1936", p.10, Published by BRILL, 1993ISBN 9004097961, 9789004097964] The Laks are primarily concentrated in the provinces of Lorestan, Ilam and Khuzestan.

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