BANĪ ḤARDĀN, a Shiʿite Arab tribe of Howayza (Ḥawīza) district in Ḵūzestān. Small in number (they were estimated at 2,500 persons early in the century, and at 500 families, i.e., roughly the same number, in the 1930s), their range is comparatively extensive: north of Ahvāz, west of Ahvāz to Howayza, between the Kārūn and the Karḵa rivers, and inland from the left bank of the Āb-e Gargar. Their main centers are Kūt Nahr Hāšem, Dūb-e Ḥardān, and Čārṭāq. Formerly predominantly nomadic (Lorimer, II, p. 120, noted only 100 persons settled), they have progressively sedentarized, cultivating wheat and barley and raising sheep. They are organized into six sections.
Bibliography:
(Great Britain) Admiralty, Persia, Geographical Handbook Series, Oxford, 1945, p. 380.
Henry Field, Contributions to the Anthropology of Iran, Chicago, 1939, pp. 192-93.
J. G. Lorimer, Gazetteer II, p. 637-38.
M. F. von Oppenheim, Die Beduinen, ed. W. Caskel, 4 vols., Wiesbaden, 1967, IV, pp. 35-36.
Search terms:
بنی هردان | bani hardan | bani hardaan |
(J. Perry)
Originally Published: December 15, 1988
Last Updated: December 15, 1988
This article is available in print.
Vol. III, Fasc. 7, pp. 694-695