Affinity Bloc: Persian-Median

Overview: The Talysh are a small ethic group whose roots trace to the Talysh Mountains in the southeastern Caucasus, along the border between Iran and Azerbaijan. They are concentrated along the southeastern shores of the Caspian Sea. Ethnologue classifies sixteen northwestern Iranian languages as Talysh. The Talysh people cluster encompasses the people groups who speak one of the Talysh languages. Shia Islam is the primary religion of most Talysh peoples.

  -- James S. Olson, An Ethnohistorical Dictionary of the Russian and Soviet Empires. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press (1994), pp. 620-621.

Peoples within this cluster: Harzani; Talysh; Tati, Central

Countries where they are found: Azerbaijan; Iran