Bushehr Province

Bushehr is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south of the country, with a long coastline onto the Persian Gulf. Its center is Bandar-e-Bushehr, the provincial capital. The province has seven districts: Bushehr, Dashti, Daylam, Kangan, Genaveh, and Tangestan. In 1996, the province had a population of approximately 744,000 people.

History

The Greeks knew of Bushehr by Mezambria during the battles of Nearchus. A French excavating team however in 1913 determined the origin of Bushehr to date back to the Elamite Empire. A city there, known as Lyan, contained a temple honoring an Elamite God. Lyan is thought to have been a commercial gateway to The Indian Ocean during the Elamite period.

The Medes and Achaemenids also built settlements in the area, among which one can name the Bardak e Siyah fort located 12 kilometers north of Borazjan, the Castle of Cyrus southwest of Borazjan, Tal Mer Castle, and Gur e Dokhtar, mysteriously shaped like the tomb of Cyrus at Pasargadae.

Bushehr remained a significant region during the Parthian and Sassanid ages, as Bakht e Ardashir was reported to have been a large port in the Persian Gulf during the time of Ardashir I of Persia.

The port city, which later became known as Riv e Ardashir and later Rey-shahr contained a massive fortification that was designed to protect the compound from naval attacks. Its remains can still be seen today 10 kilometers south of the present city of Bushehr.

A key turning point in the history of Bushehr occured when the armies of Islam invaded the region in the 7th century. Famous historians such as Tabari and Blaladhuri report the city of "Riv e Ardashir" to have fallen to the armies of Uthman ibn Abi al-'As between the year 19 and 22 after Hijra on the lunar Islamic calendar. Tabari even compares the fall of "Rey-shahr" to the battle of Qadisiyah in terms of its significance. (Al-Rusul wa al-Muluk). Baladhuri also verifies this important event and adds that the amount of booty collected after defeating the Persians at Rey-shahr was unprecedented since the battle of Qadisiyah.

With the invasion of the Arab armies of Islam in the 7th century, the civilization in this region entered an era of decline. No major event of significance is known to have taken place in this region until the arrival of the European colonialists in the 16th century.

The Portugese, invaded the city of Bushehr in 1506 and remained there until Shah Abbas Safavi succesfully defeated and liberated the Persian Gulf region of their presence. By 1734, Bushehr had once again risen to prominence due to Nadir Shah of the Afsharid dynasty, and his military policies in The Persian Gulf.

Bushehr was selected by Nadir to be the central base of Nadir's Naval fleet in the Persian Gulf. He thus changed the name of the city to Bandar e Nadiriyeh (Nadir's Port). He hired an Englishman by the name of John Elton to help build his fleet. Dutch accounts report his naval fleet to have amounted to 8000-10000 personnel as well as several ship construction installations.

After Nadir's death, the Dutch continued to have good commercial relations in Bushehr, until the British made their debut in Bushehr in 1763 by a contract they signed with Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty. By then, the city of Bushehr had become Iran's major port city in the Persian Gulf. By the Qajar era, Britain, Norway, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, and the Ottomans had diplomatic and commercial offices there, with Britain steadily gaining a foothold in the area. Close to 100 British ships are reported to have docked at the port city every year during the Qajar era.

The British in fact on three occasions landed troops in Bushehr begining in 1856. British troops took control of Bushehr in 1909 following the Constitutional Revolution of Iran, followed by another landing in 1915 when locals rioted against the British occupiers. They were forced to evacuate all troops in 1919 as the revolt against British occupation boiled off nationwide, and they finally closed their diplomatic office there in 1952.

With the arrival of Reza Pahlavi and the gradual pullout of the British from Bushehr, the area once again lost its prominence.

During the Iran-Iraq war, Bushehr sustained heavy damages. Kharg Island, for example, was attacked 2834 times by Saddam Hussein's bombers.

Bushehr today

Aside from the revived port city of Bushehr, which is the second main naval port of Iran after Bandar Abbas, Bushehr also has come back recently in the spotlight for three main reasons:

Kharg Island (Khark Island)

During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran's major petroleum exporting ports in Khuzestan sustained damages so severe, that a second port in Kharg Island was selected to carry on the major responsibility of Iran's petroleum exports. But even Kharg was not immune from Iraqi air raids.

Bushehr Nuclear Reactor

The Bushehr Light water PWR Nuclear Reactor, designed by Siemens AG, built by the Russians, is Iran's first. See main article here.

The industrial corridor of Assalouyeh

As many as 70,000 foreign engineers and technicians are currently working in this industrial zone 270 kilometers south of the provincial capital. This zone is where the nearby famous South Pars Gas field is located, where Iran has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure. The South Pars Gas field is the world's largest natural gas field.

The Assalouyeh industrial zone is deemed so lucrative that even American companies such as American Allied International Corp and Haliburton have bypassed American sanctions to become somehow involved in the zone.[1] (http://www.aaic.cc/assalouyeh.php)

Colleges and Universities

• Bushehr University of Medical Sciences (http://www.bpums.com/)
• Persian Gulf University (http://www.persiangulfu.ac.ir/)
• Islamic Azad University of Bushehr (http://www.iaubushehr.ac.ir/)
• Islamic Azad University of Khark
• Iran Nuclear Energy College

Some attractions of Bushehr

Despite its unique potentials, Bushehr remains to be developed for absorbing tourists and seriously lacks the necessary investment for tourism. The city of Bushehr has 3 star hotels, an airport, and modern amenities. The Cultural heritage Organization of Iran lists up to 45 sites of historical and cultural significance in the province. Some are listed below:

• Qal'eh Holandiha (The Dutch Castle)
• Mabad Poseidon, (Poseidon's temple)
• Gurestan Bastani (the ancient cemetry)
• Imamzadeh Mir Mohammed Hanifeh
• Aramgah (tomb of) Haj Mohammed Ibrahim Esfahani
• The Old Church of Kharg Island
• Qavam water reservoir
• Qazi House
• Maqbareh (tomb of) the English General
• Shaykh Sadoon Mosque
• The Holy Crist Church
• House of Raies Ali Delvari
• House of Malik
• The ancient site of Ray-Shahr which is located 8 km south of Bushehr.
• Tomb of Abdul mohaymrn
• House Darya Baygui
• House of Dehdashti

External Links

• Bushehr Cultural Heritage Organization (http://www.bushehrmiras.ir/)
• Iran Oil Terminals Company (http://www.nioc-otc.com/)
• Iran Petrochemical Commercial Company (http://www.petrochem-ir.net/)
• Pars Special Economic Energy Zone (http://www.pseez.com/HOMEFLASH.HTM)
• National Iranian Gas Company (http://www.nigc.org/)
• National Petrochemical Company of Iran (http://www.nipc.net/)
• Bushehr Province Department of Education (http://www.bushehr.medu.ir/) (in Persian)

Provinces of Iran
Ardabil | Bushehr | Chahar Mahaal and Bakhtiari | East Azarbaijan | Isfahan | Fars | Guilan | Golestan | Hamadan | Hormozgan | Ilam | Kerman | Kermanshah | Khuzestan | Kohkiluyeh and Buyer Ahmad | Kurdistan | Lorestan | Markazi | Mazandaran | North Khorasan | Qazvin | Qom | Razavi Khorasan | Semnan | Sistan and Baluchistan | South Khorasan | Tehran | West Azarbaijan | Yazd | Zanjan

fa:استان بوشهر