Talysh people in the context of "Azerbaijan (Iran)"

Ethnic groups in the Middle East are ethnolinguistic groupings in the "transcontinental" region that is commonly a geopolitical term designating the intercontinental region comprising West Asia (including Cyprus) without the South Caucasus, and also comprising Egypt in North Africa. The Middle East has historically been a crossroad of different cultures and languages. Since the 1960s, the changes in political and economic factors (especially the enormous oil wealth in the region and conflicts) have significantly altered the ethnic composition of groups in the region. While some ethnic groups have been present in the region for millennia, others have arrived fairly recently through immigration. The largest ethnic groups in the region are Arabs, Turks, Persians, Kurds, and Azerbaijanis but there are dozens of other ethnic groups that have hundreds of thousands, and sometimes millions of members.

Other indigenous, religious, or minority ethnic groups include: Antiochians, Armenians, Assyrians, Arameans in the Qalamoun Mountains, Baloch, Copts, Druze, Gilaks, Greeks (including Cypriots and Pontians), Jews, Kawliya, Laz, Lurs, Mandaeans, Maronites, Mazanderanis, Mhallami, Nawar, Samaritans, Shabaks, Talysh, Tats, Yazidis and Zazas.

Tālīsh (Talysh: Tolış; Azerbaijani: Talış; Persian: تالش, romanized: Tālesh) is a region in the southwestern coast of the Caspian Sea. It is a homeland of the indigenous Talysh people, who inhabit the region and speak the Talysh language. The territory and the language set apart Talish from its neighbors.

Talish is now divided between Azerbaijan and Iran. It stretches north from the Sefīd-Rūd river, which cuts through the Alborz mountains in Iran's Gilan province, to the Aras river in the south of the Republic of Azerbaijan.

The Talysh Khanate or Talish Khanate (Talysh: Tolyša xánati, Persian: خانات تالش, romanized: Khānāt-e Tālesh) was an Iranian khanate of Talysh origin that was established in Afsharid Persia and existed from the middle of the 18th century till the beginning of the 19th century, located in the south-west coast of the Caspian Sea.

It comprised the southeastern part of the modern-day Republic of Azerbaijan and the eastern tip of north-western Iran. The capital of the khanate was its chief city, Lankaran. As a result of the Persian defeat in the Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, the khanate was dissolved and absorbed by the Russian Empire.

Iranian studies (Persian: ايران‌شناسی Irânšenâsi), also referred to as Iranology and Iranistics, is an interdisciplinary field dealing with the research and study of the civilization, history, literature, language, art and culture of Iranian peoples. It is a part of the wider field of Oriental studies.

Iranian studies is broader than Persian studies, which is the study of the Persian language and literature specifically. The discipline of Iranian Studies focuses on broad trends in culture, history, language and other aspects of not only Persians, but also a variety of other contemporary and historical fellow Iranian peoples, such as Kurds, Lurs, Gilakis, Talysh, Tajiks, Pashtuns, Ossetians, Baluchis, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Parthians, Sogdians, Bactrians, Khwarazmians, and Mazandaranis.