During the First Settlement Period 1934 – 1941
Reza Shah’s government mobilized its army, police, and gendarmes to block migration, to disarm nomads, and to break their political organization. To achieve its purpose, the government also pitted various tribal people against one another. They developed mutual hostilities and attacked each other. These hostilities continued into post forced settlement times.
For example, the village of Shah Taslim in Mahoor Maylatoon region of the state of Fars which was settled by sixty or so households of the Dedehkehie, Tayeblu, Krush, and Gholdor from the Keshkuli branch of the Qashqa’i tribe came under repeated attack by non-Qashqa’i tribes such as the Buyr Ahmadis, and by the Darrehshuri branch of the Qashqa’i. The Buyr Ahmadis not only looted the inhabitants, but also took some men hostage. Many injuries and some deaths occurred. Divisiveness among the tribes contributed to the crime rate and violence, and these incidents in turn often resulted in migration of the victims to areas other than those assigned by the government. Many of the people who lost their belongings in these raids never again were able to rejoin the tribe when nomadism revived. Government officials also caused economic hardship.
For example, in his article, “Justice Douglas on Iran,” Douglas (1951) wrote that in dealing with the Lurs, Colonel Amir-Ahmadi and his soldiers took tens of thousands of sheep and goats when he pillaged this people. This is representative of the government officials’ attitude toward the tribes across Iran.
All the nomadic population were forced by military administration to discontinue migration and to settle in government built quarters in areas designated for settlement. The planners and the implementers had no understanding of the nomads and their sociocultural and economic traditions. The settlement program as it was implemented was highly inadequate. When the nomads were settled, the pastures given to them were insufficient to feed their herds. This led to overgrazing which greatly decreased the productivity of the land for years to come and in turn caused a drastic reduction in the size of the herds.
Another aspect of the settlement attempt was the lack of educational facilities for the tribal people. No effort was made to establish facilities to educate the nomadic peoples or to preserve tribal culture. These people simply did not know how to adjust to the new situation. Their old traditions were insufficient to prepare them for the new circumstances. Their culture was in danger of destruction because the government wished to Persianize them. Reza Shah subjected the people to measures aimed at the uprooting of their culture without offering them alternatives. Peoples’ health in the settled areas also deteriorated. The government offered no health programs. Traditional medicine, made up of wild herbs and wild animal parts declined in quantity and quality. These sources dried up and became inaccessible because previously they were obtained and gathered over the long path of migration in both the summer and winter camps. The tribal people were forced to live either in the summer or the winter camps and hence subjected to harsh climatic conditions to which they were not accustomed, harsh conditions which added to the decline in their health.
The settlement program did not include comprehensive agricultural projects. Most lands on which the nomads were settled were not agricultural lands. Lands were to be prepared and irrigated, but no farming implements were provided for carrying out this process. In many areas, water had to be obtained by digging wells and building complicated irrigation and aqueduct systems; for such programs there were no facilities, no know-how, or desire. The government attacked the political hierarchy during this period. Although in some cases a whole clan settled in one village with the kadkhodas and kikhas becoming the unofficial heads of these particular settlements* the kalantars, khans* and ilkhans were killed* imprisoned* or sent into internal exile.
During the Second Settlement Period 1941 – 1962
During this period the government made very little effort to settle nomads. Many nomads settled during this period due to adverse economic effects from the first settlement period.
During the Third Settlement Period 1962 – 1979
The national land reform was instituted to break the feudal system in Iran. The government used this process* however, to defuse the perceived threat of a restless nomadic population. Oberling (1974:211) quoted the Minister of Agriculture in 1962* Dr. Arsenjani* as naming Fars “the acknowledged center of feudalism in Iran, ” and announcing that the provisions of the Land Reform Law would take effect at once in that province, their execution to be carried out in a single transaction instead of in a piecemeal fashion as elsewhere in the country. Other actions at this time, according to Oberling, were the declaration that tribes were officially non-existent, the Persian word for “tribe” was deleted from all official correspondence, and the Shah himself bequeathed title deeds to plots of land to eighty tribal families at Firuzabad on December 27, 1962. Pasture nationalization all so brought about settlement, as did the plan to transform Iran into a dependent capitalist state. Since this latter plan required labor in the industrial areas, rural to urban migration was encouraged, and many nomads went to the cities to work and settle.