TAJIK

also spelled Tadzhik, the original Iranian population of Afghanistan and Turkistan. The Tajiks constitute almost two-thirds of the population of Tajikistan. In the late 20th century there were more than 3,600,000 Tajiks in Tajikistan and more than 1,000,000 in Uzbekistan. There were about 3,700,000 in Afghanistan, where they constituted about one-fourth of the population. Another 40,000 lived in the Uighur Autonomous Region of Sinkiang in China. The name Tajik refers to the traditionally sedentary Caucasoid people who speak a form of Persian called Tajik in Tajikistan and Uzbekistan and who speak the modern Persian language in Afghanistan. The Tajiks were the heirs and transmitters of the Central Asian sedentary culture that diffused in prehistoric times from the Iranian plateau into an area extending roughly from the Caspian Sea to the borders of China. They built villages of flat-roofed mud or stone houses and cultivated irrigated fields of wheat, barley, and millet. Their gardens were famous for melons and a variety of fruits. Their crafts were highly developed, and their towns along the caravan routes linking Persia, China, and India were centres of trade. Turks subsequently migrated westward into the area inhabited by the Tajiks. The latter became Turkicized in their culture, though many retained their Iranian language. Most of the Tajiks are Sunnite Muslims, but a few in remote mountain areas are Shi'ite Muslims.