Lorestan Province - History

History

In the 3rd and 4th millennium BC, migrant tribes settled down in the mountainous area of the Zagros Mountains. The Kassites, an ancient people who spoke neither an Indo-European nor a Semitic language, originated in Lorestān.

Lorestan was invaded and settled by the Iranian Medes in the 2nd millennium BC The Medes absorbed the indigenous inhabitants of the region, primarily the Elamites and Kassites, by the time the area was conquered by the Persians in the 1st millennium BC.

Lorestan was successfully integrated into the Achamenid, Parthian and Sassanian empires. Parts of the region managed to stay independent during the Arab, Seljuk and Mongol invasions.

According to the Encyclopaedia of Islam, the Lurs, previously open adherents of the Ahl-e-Haqq faith, revere bread and fire like the Zoroastrians. "Being split up into numerous tribes and sections, they migrate to their summer pastures as separate bands without overall command. In 1936, Reza Shah's army conquered them, with much bloodshed and starvation, forcing many of the survivors to settle in villages under landlords."

In the early 1930s, when British explorer Freya Stark visited Luristan, she reported that few Europeans had visited the area before her, partly due to its remoteness, but also because of the dangers one could expect to encounter amongst lawless tribespeople.