Hazara

The Hazaras are the Persian-speaking people of the central Afghan highlands known as Hazarajat, formed from Mongol and Turkic military settlers of the thirteenth-century invasions merging with the older Iranian population of the mountains. Their name is commonly derived from the Persian hazar, meaning thousand, a rendering of the Mongol mingghan, the regimental unit of Genghis Khan's army.

Between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries Turco-Mongol groups such as the Qara'unas, followed by Ilkhanid and Timurid rule, kept adding to the mix. The first clear description of them comes from Babur's memoirs in the early sixteenth century.

They adopted Shia Islam around 1600 under Safavid influence, and in the eighteenth century Hazara levies served in the armies of Ahmad Shah Durrani while the highland communities kept their own tribal organization and substantial autonomy.