Pamiri

The Pamiris, or Badakhshanis, are the Eastern Iranian peoples of the high Pamir valleys around Shughnan, Wakhan and the Sarikol plateau, speaking a cluster of Pamir languages led by Shughni and Wakhi. They grew from Saka tribes recorded in the mountains as early as the seventh century BC, joined by refugees from the Turkic migrations of the fifth and sixth centuries.

By the tenth century the valleys held the three principalities of Wakhan, Shughnan and Kerran, and local dynasties kept them effectively independent until the sixteenth century even after Badakhshan was absorbed by the Ghurids in the twelfth century.

Ismaili Shia Islam came through the missionary poet Nasir Khusraw, who died in Shughnan around 1088. Shughnan reached its widest power under Shah Wanji Khan between 1787 and 1799, after which its rulers paid tribute to the khans of Badakhshan.