evidence: History [edit]Antiquity [edit]Eastern Iranian (mainly Saka (Scythian)), Tocharian, and probably Dardic tribes, as well as pre-Indo-European substrate populations took part in the formation of the Pamiris: in the 7th and 2nd centuries BC the Pamir Mountains were inhabited by tribes known in written sources as the Sakas.[6][1][7] They were divided into different groupings and recorded with various names, such as Saka Tigraxauda ("Saka who wear pointed caps"), Saka Haumavarga ("Saka who revere hauma"), Saka Tvaiy Paradraya ("Saka who live beyond the (Black) Sea"), Saka Tvaiy Para Sugdam ("Saka who are beyond Sogdia").[8][9] [...] In the 1926 census the Pamiris were labelled as "Mountain Tajiks", in the 1937 and 1939 censuses they appeared as separate ethnic groups within the Tajiks, in the 1959, 1970 and 1979 censuses they were classified as Tajiks.[6] In the late 1980s Pamiri identity was further solidified through efforts to elevate the status of Pamiri languages and to promote literature in the Pamiri languages, as well as 'claims of sovereignty and republic status for Badakhshan' made by Pamiri intellectuals.[20] In 1991, after the fall of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR), GBAO remained part of the newly independent country of Tajikistan.[18]