Zand (tribe)

The Zand tribe (Laki:ئیل زند) is a Laki-speaking Kurdish tribe mainly populating the countryside of Khanaqin in Iraq and in the provinces of Kurdistan and Hamadan of Iran.

The Zand tribe is originally from the Khanaqin area and settled in Malayer near Hamadan. Incorporated into the army of Iranian ruler Nader Shah (r. 1736-1747), they were moved to Khorasan. The Zands and other tribes of the Zagros Mountains managed to return home following Nader's assassination in 1747. Many returned to Lorestan according to M. Reza Hamzeh'ee, while Soane notes that parts of tribe ultimately returned to Khanaqin.

The tribe is most known for their member, Karim Khan Zand, who founded the Zand dynasty, ruling from 1751 till his death in 1779. His death was followed by internal conflicts for his succession which resulted in the weakening of the dynasty, ending with the defeat of Karim Khan's nephew Lotf Ali Khan by the Qajar ruler Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar (r. 1789-1797).

The tribe was also known as one of the few where women fought alongside their husbands.

The Zands are a branch of the Laks, a people who are academically classified as Kurds. Perry also states that the Zands "belonged to the Lakk group of Lurs". Frye, likewise, states that the Zand tribe "spoke the Lakk dialect of the Lur language". When Soane visited the tribe around 1918, the tribe denied any connection to Lurs indicating that they are Kurds who later became assimilated into a so-called separate ethnic group known as Lurs.

There's 8 villages in Bamposht district of Balochistan that's inhabited by Balochi-speaking Zands. These Zands are descendants of Lutfi Khan Zand's Soldiers who accompanied him on his flight to Bam.