Hazara

Member of any of a group of Persian-speaking peoples living in Afghanistan, Iran, and Pakistan. They grow crops and raise livestock which they trade with the Pathans for tea and sugar. In the west they are Sunni Muslims, in the east Shiite Muslims.

Although the Hazara claim descent from the Mongol leader Genghis Khan's Golden Horde, they arrived in the area throughout the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries, intermixing with the local population. Living in remote mountains, they maintained their independence until 1892, but were never politically united.