Child Marriage in Iran's Tribal and Ethnic Communities from the Early Qajar Period to the Constitutional Revolution: A Comparative Study of the Social Logics Underlying Early Marriage

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 Department of History, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Tabriz, Iran.

2 Department of History, Faculty of Law and Social Sciences, University of Tabriz, Iran

Abstract
In the social history of Qajar Iran, child marriage has often been examined only marginally within discussions of marriage customs, women’s status, and family relations, and has rarely been analyzed as an independent issue shaped by diverse social logics. The central problem of this study is to examine the role of social, economic, and kinship mechanisms in early marriage, as well as the similarities and differences in the manifestation of this phenomenon among the small-scale tribal and ethnic communities of Qajar Iran. Adopting a social-historical approach and a descriptive-analytical method, this study draws on library-based research and historical content analysis of travelogues, memoirs, historical reports, and relevant studies on the Qajar period. The findings indicate that child marriage in tribal and ethnic communities was neither a homogeneous nor a single-cause phenomenon; rather, it acquired meaning in relation to kinship structures, subsistence economies, bridewealth, polygyny, the need for labor, the preservation of tribal cohesion, and demographic reproduction. Moreover, the age of marriage, the family’s role in decision-making, women’s position in production, and the social functions of marriage varied significantly among different tribal and ethnic groups. The study concludes that child marriage in Qajar Iran should be understood not merely as a cultural tradition, but as part of the mechanisms through which social, economic, and kinship orders were reproduced in tribal and ethnic communities.

Keywords

Subjects

  • Bibliography

     

    ·         Afal al-Mulk, Gholām-Ḥusayn. (n.d.). Safar-nāmeh-ye Khorāsān va Kermān [Travelogue of Khorasan and Kerman]. Edited by Qudrat-Allāh Rūshanī. Tehran: Tus Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Allemagne, Henry René D. (1956). From Khorasan to Bakhtiari: A Travel Account. Translated by Muḥammad-ʿAlī Farehvashī. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]

    ·         Azad, Hasan. (1978). Behind the Scenes of the Harem. Urmia: Anzali. [In Persian]

    ·         Baben, C., & Frédéric Houssay. (1984). Travelogue of Southern Iran. Translated by Muḥammad-Ḥasan Khān Eʿtemād al-Salṭanah. Edited by Mīr Hāshem Moḥaddith. Tehran: Donyā-ye Ketāb. [In Persian]

    ·         Badlīsī, Sharaf Khān. (1998). Sharafnāmah. Vol. 1. Edited by Vladimir Veliaminov. Tehran: Asāṭīr Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Bakhtiyārī, Maryam. (2003). Memoirs of Sardar Maryam Bakhtiyari: From Childhood to the Beginning of the Constitutional Revolution. Compiled by Gholām-ʿAbbās Nūrūzī Bakhtiyārī. Tehran: Ānzān Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Barnes, Alex. (1994). Barnes' Travelogue: Travels in Iran during the Reign of Fatḥ-ʿAlī Shāh Qājār. Translated by Hasan Solṭānīfar. 2nd ed. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Rażavī. [In Persian]

    ·         Binning, R. B.M. (1857) A Journal of Two Years Travel in Persia. Ceylon e t c. Vol2. London: WM.H. Allen and Co. Leadenhall Street, p401

    ·         Bishop, Isabella L. (1996). From Bisotun to the Bakhtiari Mountains. Translated by Mihrāb Amīrī. Tehran: Sahand & Ānzān. [In Persian]

    ·         Bolūkbāshī, ʿAlī. (2003). Tribal Society in Iran. Tehran: Institute for Cultural Research Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Cooper, Merian C. (1955). Journey to the Land of the Brave. Translated by Amīr-Ḥusayn Ẓafar Īlkhān Bakhtiyārī. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]

    ·         Curzon, George Nathaniel. (2001). Persia and the Persian Question. Translated by Gholām-ʿAlī Vaḥīd Māzandarānī. Vols. 1–2. 5th ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Dieulafoy, Jane. (1992). Travel in Persia, Chaldea and Susa. Translated by Aḥmad Farehvashī. Edited by Bahrām Farehvashī. Tehran: University of Tehran Press. [In Persian]

    ·         Dobbed, Clement Augustus. (2005). Travelogue of Lorestan and Khuzestan. Translated by Muḥammad-Ḥusayn Āriyā. 2nd ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Drouville, Gaspard. (1985). Travels in Iran. Translated by Manūchihr Eʿtemād-Muqaddam. Tehran: Shabāvīz. [In Persian]

    ·         Edmonds, Cecil John. (1983). Two Travel Narratives on Lorestan: Notes on Lorestan. Translated by Iskandar Amān-Allāhī Bahārvand and Lailī Bakhtiyār. Tehran: Bābak. [In Persian]

    ·         Eʿteṣām al-Mulk, Mīrzā Khānlarkhān. (1972). The Travelogue of Mirza Khanlarkhan. Tehran: Manūchihr Maḥmūdī Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Eʿẓām Qudsī, Hasan. (1970). My Memoirs, or the Illumination of One Hundred Years of History. Vol. 1. Tehran: Abū Rayḥān. [In Persian]

    ·         Flandin, Eugène. (1977). Eugène Flandin's Travels in Iran. Translated by Ḥusayn Nūrṣādiqī. 3rd ed. Tehran: Eshrāqī Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Golī, Amīnullāh. (1987). The Political and Social History of the Turkmens. Tehran: Mahārat Publications. [In Persian]

    • Hejazi, Banafsheh. (1997). Be Zir-e Maghnaeh: A Study of the Status of Iranian Women from the First Century AH to the Safavid Era. Tehran: Elm. [in Persian]

    ·         Iskandar Beg Turkmān. (2003). Tārīkh-i ʿĀlamārā-yi ʿAbbāsī (The History of Shah Abbas the Great). Edited by Iraj Afshār. Vols. 1–2. 3rd ed. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr. [In Persian]

    ·         Jaubert, Pierre-Amédée. (1968). Travels to Armenia and Iran. Translated by ʿAlī-Qulī Eʿtemād-Muqaddam. Tehran: Bonyād-i Farhang-i Īrān. [In Persian]

    ·         Keenan, Derek. (1997). The Kurds and Kurdistan. Translated by Ebrāhīm Yūnesī. Tehran: Negāh Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Khvāndamīr, Ghiyāth al-Dīn. (2001). Ḥabīb al-Siyar fī Akhbār Afrād al-Bashar. Vol. 4. Edited by Muḥammad Dabīr-Siyāqī. Tehran: Khayyām Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Kiyānī, Manūchihr. (1997). Black Tents. Shiraz: Kiyān Nashr. [In Persian]

    ·         Layard, Sir Austen Henry. (1988). Layard's Travelogue: Early Adventures in Persia. Translated by Mihrāb Amīrī. Tehran: Vaḥīd Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         MacBean Ross, Elizabeth. (1994). Come with Me to the Land of the Bakhtiaris. Translated by Mihrāb Amīrī. Tehran: Sahand Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Malcolm, Sir John. (2001). The History of Persia. Translated by Mīrzā Ismāʿīl Ḥayrat. Vol. 2. Tehran: Afsūn Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Mardūkh Kurdistānī, Muḥammad. (2000). History of Mardukh. Tehran: Kārang Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Mashkūr, Muḥammad-Javād. (1996). A Survey of the History of Azerbaijan. Tehran: Kahkashān & Anjuman-i Āthār va Mafākhir-i Farhangī. [In Persian]

    ·         McGregor, Colonel C. M. (1987). An Account of a Journey to the Province of Khorasan. Translated by Majīd Mahdīzādah. Mashhad: Āstān-i Quds-i Rażavī. [In Persian]

    ·         Minorsky, Vladimir. (2000). The Kurds. Translated by Ḥabīb-Allāh Tābānī. Tehran: Gostareh Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Mīrniyā, ʿAlī. (1987). The Turkmen Tribes of the Gorgan Plain and Khorasan. Mashhad: Aṭlas Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Mīrzā Ibrāhīm. (1976). Travelogue of Astarabad, Mazandaran and Gilan. Edited by Masʿūd Golzārī. Tehran: Bonyād-i Farhang-i Īrān. [In Persian]

    ·         Mohajeri, Zahra. (2004). Lalalala Gol-e Pesteh. Mashhad: Astan Qods Razavi. [in Persian] Nikitine, Basil. (1987). The Kurds and Kurdistan. Translated by Muḥammad Qāżī. 2nd ed. Tehran: Nīlūfar Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Mūnis al-Dawlah. (2001). Memoirs of Mūnis al-Dawlah, Lady-in-Waiting of Nāṣir al-Dīn Shāh's Harem. Edited by Sīrūs Saʿdvandiyān. Tehran: Zarrīn Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Olivier, Guillaume Antoine. (1992). Olivier's Travels: The Socio-Economic History of Iran in the Early Qajar Period. Translated by Muḥammad Ṭāhir Mīrzā. Edited by Gholām-Reżā Varahrām. Tehran: Ettelāʿāt Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Polak, Jakob Eduard. (1989). Persia and the Persians. Translated by Kīkāvūs Jahāndārī. Tehran: Khvārazmī Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Pottinger, Henry. (2005). The Pottinger Travelogue. Translated by Shāpūr Gūdarzī. Tehran: Dehkhodā Bookstore. [In Persian]

    ·         Qūrkhānchī, Muḥammad-ʿAlī. (1981). Nokhbat al-Sayfiyyah: On the History and Geography of Astarabad. Edited by Manṣūrah Eteḥādīyah and Sīrūs Saʿdvandiyān. Tehran: Nashr-i Tārīkh-i Īrān. [In Persian]

    ·         Rāvandī, Murtażā. (2003). The Social History of Iran. Vols. 1, 3, 6, and 7. 2nd ed. Tehran: Negāh Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Rice, Clara Colliver. (2004). Clara Colliver Rice's Travelogue: Iranian Women and Their Way of Life. Translated by Asad-Allāh Āzād. Tehran: Kitābdār Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Rochechouart, Julien de. (1999). Memoirs of a Journey to Iran. Translated by Mihrān Tavakkolī. Tehran: Nashr-i Ney. [In Persian]

    ·         Sackville-West, Victoria. (2001). Twelve Days in the Bakhtiari Mountains of Southwestern Iran. Translated by Mihrān Tavakkolī. Tehran: Nashr-i Ney. [In Persian]

    ·         Saʿdvandiyān, Sīrūs. (2000). An Introduction to the Historical Demography of Iran in the Qajar Era. Tehran: Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance. [In Persian]

    ·         Sajjādī, ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn. (2008). History of the Kurdish Movements. Translated by Raʾūf Karīmī. 2nd ed. Sanandaj: Kurdistan Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Shafīʿī, Somayyeh Sādāt. (2021). The Social History of Women in the Qajar Era. Tehran: Sāles Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Sheil, Lady Mary. (1989). The Memoirs of Lady Sheil. Translated by Ḥusayn Abūturābiyān. 2nd ed. Tehran: Nashr-i Now. [In Persian]

    ·         Shinjō, Suzuki. (2014). Suzuki Shinjō's Travelogue: Travels across the Iranian Plateau. Translated by Hāshem Rajabzādah and Kinji Ōura. Tehran: Ṭahūrī Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Solṭānī, Muḥammad-ʿAlī. (1993). Historical Geography and Comprehensive History of Kermanshahan. Vols. 1 and 4. Tehran: Suhā Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Ṣowlat Qashqāʾī, Muḥammad-Nāṣir. (1987). Years of Crisis: The Daily Memoirs of Mohammad Naser Qashqai. Edited by Naṣr-Allāh Ḥaddādī. Tehran: Rasā Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Stark, Freya. (1985). Journey to Alamut, Lorestan and Ilam. Translated by ʿAlī-Muḥammad Sākī. 2nd ed. Tehran: Nashr-e ʿElmī. [In Persian]

    ·         Tāj al-Salṭanah. (1982). Memoirs of Taj al-Saltanah. Edited by Manṣūrah Eteḥādīyah and Sīrūs Saʿdvandiyān. Tehran: Nashr-i Tārīkh-i Īrān. [In Persian]

    ·         Valmont. (n.d.). The Full Moon. Translated by ʿAlī-Aṣghar Amīr-Moʿezz. Tehran: Vaḥīd Printing House. [In Persian]

    ·         Vámbéry, Ármin. (2008). Travels of a False Dervish in the Khanates of Central Asia. Translated by Fatḥ-ʿAlī Khvājah-Nūriyān. 6th ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Wishard, John. (1984). Twenty Years in Iran. Translated by ʿAlī Pīrniyā. Tehran: Novīn Publications. [In Persian]

    ·         Wolffson, Madame A. S. (1930). Iran: Past and Present. Translated by Mīrzā Ḥusayn Khān Anṣārī. Tehran: Khāvar Institute. [In Persian]

    ·         Yate, Charles Edward. (1986). Khorasan and Sistan: Colonel Yate's Travels in Iran and Afghanistan. Translated by Qudrat-Allāh Rūshanī and Mihrdād Rahbarī. Tehran: Yazdān Publications. [In Persian]

     

    ·         Journal Articles and Encyclopedia Entries

    ·         Bolūkbāshī, ʿAlī. (2000). “Afshār.” Dāʾirat al-Maʿārif-i Buzurg-i Islāmī (The Great Islamic Encyclopaedia), Vol. 9. Tehran: Center for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia. [In Persian]

    ·         Ẓāhirī ʿAbdvand, Ebrāhīm, & Karīmī Nūr al-Dīnvand, Rūḥ-Allāh. (2020). “A Study of the Social and Cultural Status of Bakhtiari Women during the Qajar Period Based on Folk Poetry.” Farhangestān-i Mardom-i Īrān (Iranian Folklore Academy), No. 63. [In Persian]

    • Ameri, Javad, Hassan Tabatabaei, & Hossein Tabatabaei. (June–July 2022). “The Reflection of Women's Social Status in the Indigenous Poems of Shahroud.” Farhang va Adabiyat-e Ameh, No. 44. [in Persian]

     

  • Receive Date 26 May 2026
  • Revise Date 25 July 2026
  • Accept Date 01 August 2026