Most of the inhabitants of Quchan are descended from a tribe of Zafarānlū Kurds resettled there by Shāh Abbas I in the 17th century. In return for frontier military service, the resettled Kurds enjoyed a wide-ranging autonomy under a hereditary tribal leader and were exempt from all tribute. Many of the area’s inhabitants are still nomads and live in tents in summer so as to be able to move their flocks to better grazing land.