دانشگاه شهید بهشتی مجله تاریخ ایران 2008-7357 18 2 2025 09 23 The Settlement Process and Formation of Shahsevan Villages in the Moghan Plain (1327-1357) فرایند اسکان و شکل گیری روستاهای شاهسون نشین در دشت مغان (1357-1327 ش) 158 183 106059 10.48308/irhj.2025.239437.1412 FA محمد کشاورز استادیار گروه ایران‌شناسی، دانشگاه ولیعصر (عج) رفسنجان. رفسنجان، ایران. Journal Article 2025 04 10 The Shahsevan tribe, a major tribal union in northwest Iran, underwent significant changes during the Pahlavi era due to forced settlement policies in the 1310s, leading many to settle in the Mughan Plain and adjacent areas. After Reza Shah's fall in 1320 SH, the Shahsevans resumed limited migrations. From the late 1320s to the end of the Pahlavi era in 1357 SH, extensive developments in the Mughan Plain prompted widespread settlement, resulting in the establishment of Shahsevan-based villages. This data-driven study, utilizing archival and library sources and a descriptive-analytical approach, investigates the settlement process of the Shahsevan tribes in the Mughan Plain during this period. Findings reveal that internal factors, such as employment as daily wage workers and livestock losses, combined with government-driven incentives and coercive measures, drove the settlement. Key government initiatives included transferring state lands in Azerbaijan, permitting aqueduct construction, building canals and irrigation networks, and establishing agricultural and agro-industrial companies, such as the Azerbaijan Shiyar Company. These efforts facilitated the Shahsevans' transition to a sedentary life, encouraging agriculture and participation in emerging industries. The Shahsevans settled in areas with access to land suitable for farming. Ultimately, government policies and actions during this period transformed the Mughan Plain, fostering development and enabling the Shahsevans to embrace agriculture and new economic opportunities, leading to permanent settlement and village formation. Introduction The settlement and village formation process for Iran's tribes, particularly the Shahsevan, involved two approaches: "forced settlement" and "facilitating voluntary settlement." Originating in the early Safavid period, the Shahsevan were influenced by tribal displacement policies. During Reza Shah's reign, constructing a dam on the Aras River for the Mughan Plain irrigation was crucial for their survival. The government introduced the Shahsevan to sedentary life and agriculture. Despite mixed outcomes of forced resettlement, many Shahsevan were settled, while others adopted livestock farming. After Reza Shah's fall in 1320 SH, some resumed nomadic life, but by the late 1320s, events in the Mughan Plain encouraged village settlement. Local histories like Mughan in the Scope of History and studies by Khalaj and colleagues, Yousefifar and colleagues, Rakhsh Khorshid, and Hoquqi Isfahani provide insights into the Shahsevan’s settlement, irrigation projects, and socio-economic structures. These works detail the Reza Shah government’s planning, the Mughan Plain development company’s efforts, and the settled Shahsevan’s housing, education, and administrative organization. Some Iranologists have also conducted valuable research on the subject under investigation: Richard Tupper in "The Political and Social History of the Shahsevans of Mughan" has examined issues related to the settlement of the Shahsevans in the first and second Pahlavi periods. He has published other materials on the settlement of the Shahsevans in other works, such as the entries in the encyclopedias "Iranica", "The Great Islamic Encyclopedia", "The Encyclopedia of World Cultures", as well as his numerous other books and articles, which have been used in this article as needed for discussion. Also, several European anthropologists such as Pierr Bessaignet, Cornelius Optland, and Gunther Schweizer have conducted research and studies on the nomadic society of the Shahsevans of the Mughan Plain. Given that documentary research plays a very important role in presenting new and less-attentioned materials, this research seeks to present new materials from the content of documents about the settlement of the Shahsevans of the Mughan Plain and the formation of Shahsevans-dwelling villages in a specified time period. Materials And Methods This data-based research, based on the method of collecting information from archival centers and libraries and using a descriptive-analytical method, aims to examine the process of settling the Shahsevan tribes in the Mughan Plain and the formation of Shahsevan-based villages in the period from 1327 to 1357 SH. In this research, we aim to answer the question of what factors led to the settlement of the Shahsevans and the formation of Shahsevan-based villages in the Mughan Plain and its adjacent areas during the reign of Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi? The research hypothesis is that during this period, the Shahsevans of the Mughan Plain of Azerbaijan, on the one hand, under the influence of the activities of the Azerbaijan Shiyar Company and joint-stock agricultural companies and agro-industrial companies, and on the other hand, the acquisition of lands that were irrigated by constructed canals, gradually settled, and Shahsevan-based villages emerged. The present study attempts to provide a detailed description of the settlement process of the Shahsevans in the Mughan Plain region, to explain the process of their settlement and the formation of Shahsevan villages in the period in question. Initially, library resources such as relevant articles and books were studied, and notes were taken. Then, the required documents were obtained from the National Archives and Library of Iran. Each of the files included different and diverse topics of the settlement of the Shahsevans in the Mughan Plain, and the pages related to the research topic were used. One of the most important problems I faced during the compilation was the abundance of data volume and the difficulty of summarizing it in an article. To solve this problem, the most important data were selected, and another part of the data was postponed to other research in this period. Result and Discussion In 1327 SH, with the re-establishment of the “Tribe Settlement Department” under the supervision of the Ministry of Interior, the nomadic settlement program was resumed. The Shahsevan nomads were also included in this plan as part of the nomads of the country. In the late 1320s, northeastern Azerbaijan experienced harsh winters and low-yield summers. More than seventy percent of the livestock and quadrupeds, including almost all the pack animals, perished. Hundreds of nomads died of starvation. Those who had returned to their huts after the fall of Reza Shah’s reign were once again forced to leave their huts. Some went to the cities to earn a living. Others settled in villages they had built themselves in Mughan and other parts of the region. Following these disasters, in 1327-8 SH, the government transferred part of the state lands of Mughan to the Planning Organization for the implementation of the development and settlement project of the nomads in the framework of the first seven-year plan (Taper, 2005: 346). As a result of the development measures of the Planning Organization in the Mughan plain, some of them have abandoned their nomadic life and have settled down. In the late 1330s, simultaneously with the development measures of the Mughan Plain and the demand of the Shahsevans for the transfer of land, the government decided to transfer the lands to those who had received the transfer papers of the 1310s. Another factor that contributed to the settlement process and the formation of villages in the Shahsevans was the establishment of the Shiyar Azarbaijan Company, which, according to the company's statutes, "is established for buying and selling tractors, seeds and other agricultural equipment for farming in the Mughan Plain and other cities of Azerbaijan and any other permitted commercial operations that are useful for the advancement of the company's purpose". For this purpose, lands were transferred by the government for the company's activities, and the Shahsevans also gathered at the company's location. After the initial measures of the Shiyar Company, the program organization decided to provide agricultural activities and a settlement area for a group of Shahsevans by transferring water from the Aras River. For this purpose, a plan was prepared to construct a water transfer channel from the Aras and irrigation channels. Two main channels, A and T, and several subsidiary channels will be created in the Mughan plain, and Shahsevan-dwelling villages will be formed near these channels, and each of the Shahsevans will be given plots of land of 6 and 12 hectares for agriculture. In a survey of the reasons for settling in these villages, the villagers stated the following: development of the Mughan plain, lack of fodder in the desert and the loss of sheep due to drought, freedom from nomadism, poverty and hunger, destruction of crops due to drought or snow and cold, land division in Mughan, oppression and pressure from the Khans, agriculture and business. Conclusions The Shahsevans of the Mughan Plain were resettled in two stages during the Pahlavi period. During the reign of Reza Shah, the Shahsevans were forced to settle in coordination with other Iranian tribes. Many of them accepted the forced settlement program due to their fatigue from the unrest of the late Qajar period, which was more severe in the northwest of Iran than in other parts.In the 1320s, due to the lack of a centralized and powerful government and the failure to pursue forced settlement policies, the Shahsevans resumed nomadic life like other Iranian tribes. In the 1330s, the government's attention was drawn to the Mughan Plain in the form of development programs. The establishment of the Shiyar Azerbaijan Company in the late 1320s and its continuation under the name of the Mughan Plain Development Company provided the basis for the settlement of some of the Shahsevans. The Mughan Plain irrigation project, which had not been completed during the first Pahlavi period, gradually led to the development of the Mughan Plain and the Shahsevans' desire to settle there by constructing irrigation networks and building several villages for the Shahsevans to live in. With the development of agricultural lands, the Khans and Shahsevans, who had title deeds, began to register the lands in their own names. Land registration and agricultural work gradually brought them together, and the first Shahsevan villages were formed with government support policies. It should be noted that the construction of irrigation networks and the development of the Mughan Plain also had political reasons. The proximity of that region to the Soviet Union and the possibility of abuse and rebellion by the Shahsevan tribe prompted the Pahlavi government to implement large projects with large investments in order to both commercialize agriculture and force the nomads of the region to settle and work in the desired projects. ایل شاهسون یکی از بزرگترین اتحادیه های ایلی در شمال غرب ایران است. در دوره پهلوی، با اجرای طرح اسکان اجباری دهه 1310ش، بسیاری از شاهسونها در دشت مغان و نواحی مجاور آن اسکان یافتند. پس از سقوط رضاشاه در شهریور 1320، شاهسونها هم مانند سایر ایلات ایران، کوچنشینی را به صورت محدود آغاز کردند. از اواخر این دهه تا پایان دوره پهلوی، تحولات گستردهای در دشت مغان رخ داد که بر اثر آن بخش عمده‌ای از جمعیت شاهسونها اسکان یافتند و روستاهای شاهسوننشین به وجود آمد. این پژوهشِ داده‌بنیاد، براساس روش جمعآوری اطلاعات از مراکز آرشیوی و کتابخانهها و با رویکرد توصیفی-تحلیلی، بر آن است که فرایند اسکان ایلات شاهسون در دشت مغان و شکل‌گیری روستاهای شاهسون‌نشین در بازه زمانی ۱۳۲۷ تا ۱۳۵۷ش. را مورد بررسی قرار دهد. یافته‌های پژوهش نشان می‌دهد که وجود زمینه‌های داخلی تغییر روش زندگی در نزد ایلات شاهسون، مانند اشتغال شاهسونها به عنوان کارگران روزمزدی، از دست دادن دام‌ها و غیره، همزمان با عوامل مشوق و اجبارآمیز مانند طرح واگذاری اراضی دولتی در آذربایجان و أخذ تعهد از اشخاص، اجازۀ حفر قنات در زمینهای واگذاری، احداث کانالها و شبکه‌های آبیاری، تأسیس شرکت شیار آذربایجان، تأسیس شرکتهای سهامی-زراعی و شرکتهای کشت و صنعت، از عوامل اصلی اسکان شاهسونها در دشت مغان و نواحی مجاور بوده است. نتیجه پژوهش بیانگر این است که مجموعه عوامل و اقدامات دولت در بازه زمانی پژوهش، سبب عمران و آبادی دشت مغان شد و شاهسون‌ها هم از این قضیه استقبال کردند و به‌تدریج مشغول زراعت و کار در صنایع جدید ‌شدند. همچنین شاهسون‌ها در نقاطی که امکان دریافت زمین و کشاورزی وجود داشته است، اسکان ‌یافتند.

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