Feyli Lurs

The Feyli Lurs (also transliterated as Fayli Lurs or Feyli Lors) are a collection of Lur tribes that primarily live in the Lorestan province of Iran. Their dialect is almost identical to that of standard Persian.

All of the tribes in Lorestan were known as "Feyli" during the two centuries that the entire territory of Lorestan was governed by hereditary governors that were descended from Hoseyn Khan Solvizi, who had received the governorship of the province by Shah Abbas I ((r. 1588 – 1629)) in 1593. However, this started to change the start of the 19th century. The eastern portion of Lorestan, Pish-e Kuh, was taken by Mohammad-Ali Mirza Dowlatshah, the governor-general of Kermanshah and the oldest son of Fath-Ali Shah Qajar ((r. 1797 – 1834)). The governor of Lorestan was thus only left in control of Posht-e Kuh, the western portion. The word "Feyli" then came to refer exclusively to those tribes in the Posht-e Kuh since it had previously been connected to the Solvizi family.

Not much reliable data has been collected about the Feylis of Posht-e Kuh. The Kord and Mahaki tribes are the two largest Feyli Lur groups in the area. In 1939, Henry Field estimated their population to be 50,000-60,000 people, while Mas'ud Kayhan estimated it at 40,000 people in 1941.

There also exists a Feyli Lur community in the Fars province, which has resided there since they went along with the Zand ruler Karim Khan Zand ((r. 1751 – 1779)). In 1849, it consisted of 100 families. Eventually, some of them became part of the Amali tribe of the Qashqai confederation, which is documented in the Fars-Nama-ye Naseri by Hasan Fasa'i. Others made Shiraz their new home; in 1939, Henry Field estimated them to be at 100 families, while Kayhan estimated it at 150 families in 1941. In 1956, they numbered between 800 and 1,000 people.