# Iranian subnations  
Iran is a multi-ethnic society consisting of thirty-one provinces. Each subsociety has its own unique local language, cultural traditions, economic systems, social patterns and customs. In the same way as the country's political divisions have changed over time, local socioeconomic and cultural structures have adjusted to and been transformed by new realities (Mirzai, 2014, pp. 351376). Given the different patterns of slavery in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans, generalizations can lead to erroneous assessments and conclusions. For this reason, this paper focuses only on the formation of black communities in the aforementioned provinces, from the era of the slave trade to the present, and does not attempt to do so within a larger context.  
Historically, enslaved people were transferred from East Africa to the coastal ports of the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Oman and the Indian Ocean. The seaborne slave trade was largely dominated by Arab dealers, who had been using wellestablished maritime commercial networks for centuries (Archives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Iran 1266, Q1263.6.15; Nicolini, 2004, p. 100). They relied on strategies ranging from exploiting long-established climatic patterns (e.g., monsoons and winds) to adopting the flags of other nations or hiring Iranian vessels to evade search and seizure by British ships following the implementation of slave-trade suppression legislation after the mid-nineteenth century (National Archives of the United Kingdom 1847, FO 84/692; Lorimer, 1908-1915, Vol.1: pt. 1A, pp. 339, 548-550). Because slave trafficking depended on this system rather than on organized internal networks, most communities of enslaved Africans were established at disembarkation points along Iranian southern coastal frontiers and ports (Mirzai, 2002, pp. 229-246).  
After being delivered from sea slave traffickers to their new owners, the enslaved people began a new chapter of life. They were employed in a variety of occupations, from domestic employment to work in agricultural industries