Khūzestān Province

Domes like this are quite common in Khuzestan province. The shape is an architectural trademark of craftsmen of this province. Daniel's shrine, located in Khuzestan, has such a shape. The shrine pictured here, belongs to Imamzadeh Hamzeh, located between Mahshahr and Hendijan.

Khūzestān (Persian: خوزستان) is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq's Basra Province and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahwaz and covers an area of 63,238 km². Other major cities include Behbahan, Abadan, Andimeshk, Khorramshahr, Bandar Imam, Dezful, Shushtar, Omidiyeh, Izeh, Baq-e-Malek, Mah Shahr, Dasht-i Mishan/Dasht-e-Azadegan, Ramhormoz, Shadegan, Susa, Masjed Soleiman, Minoo Island and Hoveizeh.

Historically Khuzestan is what historians refer to as ancient Elam, whose capital was in Susa. The Achaemenid Old Persian term for Elam was Hujiyā, which is present in the modern name. Khuzistan, meaning the Land of the Khuzi" refers to the original inhabitants of this province, the "Susian" people (Old Persian "Huza" or Huja (as in the inscription at the tomb of king Darius I at Naqsh-e Rostam, (the Shushan of the Hebrew sources) where it is recorded as inscription as "Hauja" or "Huja"). This is in conformity with the same evolutionary process where the Old Persian changed the name Sindh into Hind /Hindustan, whence the Hellenized name of "India". In Middle Persian the term evolves into "Khuz" and "Kuzi" The pre-Islamic Partho-Sassanid Inscriptions gives the name of the province as Khwuzestan.

The Persians settlers had by the 6th century BC, mixed with the native Elamite population. The assimilation, however, does not seem to have concluded until after the Islamic invasion of the 7th century, when the Muslim writers still mention "Khuzi" to be the primary language of the inhabitant of the province.

The seat of the province has for the most of its history been in the northern reaches of the land, first at Susa (Shush) and then at Shushtar. During a short spell in the Sasanian era, the capital of the province was moved to its geographical center, where the river town of Hormuz-Ardasher, founded over the foundation of the ancient Hoorpahir by Ardashir I, the founder of the Sassanid Dynasty in 3rd century AD. This town is now known as Ahwaz. However, later in the Sasanian time and throughout the Islamic era, the provincial seat returned and stayed at Shushter, until the late Qajar period. With the increase in the international sea commerce arriving on the shores of Khuzistan, Ahwaz became a more suitable location for the provincial capital. The River Karun is navigable all the way to Ahwaz (above which, it flows through rapids). The town was thus refurbished by the order of the Qajar king, Naser al-Din Shah and renamed after him, Nâseri. Shushtar quickly declined, while Ahwaz/Nâseri prospered to the present day.

Currently, Khuzestan has 18 representatives in Iran's parliament, the Majlis, and 6 representatives in the Assembly of Experts.

Contents

Etymology

The name Khuzestan means "The Land of the Khuzi" [2], refers to the original inhabitants of this province, the "Susian" people (Old Persian "Huza", Middle Persian "Khuzi" (the Shushan of the Hebrew sources) in the same evolutionary manner that Old Persian changed the name Sindh into Hind", whence the Hellenized name, "India"). The name of the city of Ahwaz also has the same origin as the name Khuzestan.[3], being an Arabic broken plural from the compound name, "Suq al-Ahwaz" (Market of the Huzis)--the medieval name of the town, that replaced the Sasanian Persian name of the pre-Islamic times.

The southern half of the province (south of the Ahwaz Ridge) was still known as "The Khudhi or The khooji" until the reign of the Safavid king Tahmasp I and the 16th century. By the 17th century, it had come to be known--at least to the imperial Safavid chancery as Arabistan. The great history of Alamara-i Abbasi by Iskandar Beg Munshi, written during the reign of Shah Abbas I the Great, regularly refers to the southern half of the province as "Arabistan" and its ruler as the "wali of Arabistan," from whence Shah Abbas received troops. Some tribes from far away up to Yemen had settled the southern half of the province since the 7th century AD, giving rise to some of the most prominent Arab poets such as Abu Nuwas Ahwazi. They remain as an integral part of Khuzistan up to now, so all the claims by later writers of geography or history may not represent the fact that the southern parts of Iran have been a sanctuary for many tribes who came and go or mingled with local Khuzi people.

There has been many attempts at finding other sources for the name, none however being tenable.

Geography and climate

The province of Khuzestan can be basically divided into two regions, the rolling hills and mountainous regions north of the Ahwaz Ridge, and the plains and marsh lands to its south. The area is irrigated by the Karoun, Karkheh, Jarahi and Maroun rivers. The northern section maintains a Persian (Lur,Bakhtiari, Khuzi) majority, while the southern section had an Arabic speaking majority until the great flood of job seekers from all over Iran inundated the oil and commerce centers on the coasts of the Persian Gulf since the 1940s. Presently, the Arabs predominated only in the countryside of the southern section of the province that was, until the late 1920s, as Arabistan.

Khuzestan has great potentials for agricultural expansion, which is almost unrivaled by the country's other provinces. Large and permanent rivers flow over the entire territory contributing to the fertility of the land. Karun, Iran's most effluent river, 850 kilometers long, flows into the Persian Gulf through this province. The agricultural potential of most of these rivers, however, and particularly in their lower reaches, is hampered by the fact that their waters carry salt, the amount of which increases as the rivers flow away from the source mountains and hills. In case of the Karun, a single tributary river, Rud-i Shur ("Salty River") that flows into the Karun above Shushtar contributes most of the salt that the river carries. As such, the freshness of the Karun waters can be greatly enhanced if the Rud-i Shur could be diverted away from the Karun. The same applies to the Jarahi and Karkheh in their lower reaches. Only the Marun is exempt from this.

The climate of Khuzestan is generally hot and occasionally humid, particularly in the south, while winters are much more pleasant and dry. Summertime temperatures routinely exceed 40 degrees Celsius and in the winter it can drop below freezing, with occasional snowfall, all the way south to Ahwaz.

History

Pre-Islamic History

The ziggurat of Choqa Zanbil in Khuzestan was a magnificent structure of the Iranian Elamite Empire. Khuzestan's Elamites were "precursors of the royal Persians", and were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense."

The province of Khuzestan is one of the centres of ancient civilization, based around Susa. The first large scale empire based here was that of the powerful 4th millennium BC Elamites.

Archeological ruins verify the entire province of Khuzestan to be home to the Elamite civilization, a non-Semitic, and non-Indo-European-speaking kingdom, and "the earliest civilization of Persia".[1]

As was stated in the preceding section, the name Khuzestan is derived from the Elamites (Ūvja) [2].

In fact, in the words of Elton L. Daniel, the Elamites were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense." [3] Hence the central geopolitical significance of Khuzestan, the seat of Iran's first empire.

In 640 BC, the Elamites were defeated by Ashurbanipal coming under the rule of the Assyrians who brought destruction upon Susa and Chogha Zanbil. But in 538 BC Cyrus the Great was able to re-conquer the Elamite lands. The city of Susa was then proclaimed as one of the Achaemenid capitals. Darius the Great then erected a grand palace known as Apadana there in 521 BC. But this astonishing period of glory and splendor of the Achaemenian dynasty came to an end by the conquests of Alexander of Macedon. And after Alexander, the Seleucid dynasty ruled the area.

As the Seleucid dynasty weakened, Mehrdad I the Parthian (171-137 BC), gained ascendency over the region. During the Sassanid dynasty this area thrived tremendously and flourished, and this dynasty was responsible for the many constructions that were erected in Ahwaz, Shushtar, and the north of Andimeshk.

Over the centuries, Nestorian missionaries brought Christianity to the region, using the Aramaic language. From at least the 500s AD, the region was called "Beth Huzaye". As of AD 639, the Nestorian seat was at Mahoze, the complex encompassing Ctesiphon and Seleucia on the Tigris; and the Nestorian Catholicos was Ishoyahb II of Gadala.

During the early years of the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 309 or 310-379), Arabs crossed the Persian Gulf from Bahrain to "Ardashir-Khora" of Fars and raided the interior. In retaliation, Shapur II led an expedition through Bahrain, defeated the combined forces of the Arab tribes of "Taghleb", "Bakr bin Wael", and "Abd Al-Qays" and advanced temporarily into Yamama in central Najd. The Sassanids resettled these tribes in Kerman and Ahwaz. Arabs named Shapur II, as "Shabur Dhul-aktāf" after this battle.[4]

The existence of prominent scientific and cultural centers such as Academy of Gundishapur which gathered distinguished medical scientists from Egypt, Greece, India, and Rome, shows the importance and prosperity of this region during this era. The Jondi-Shapur Medical School was founded by the order of Shapur I. It was repaired and restored by Shapur II (a.k.a. Zol-Aktaf: "The Possessor of Shoulder Blades") and was completed and expanded during the reign of Anushirvan.

The Arab Conquest of Khuzestan

Masjed Jame' Dezful. In spite of Saddam's devastating bombs, Khuzestan still possesses a rich heritage of architecture from Islamic, Sassanid, and earlier times.

The Arab invasion of Khuzestan took place in 639 AD under the command of Abu Musa al-Ash'ari from Basra, who drove the Persian Hormozan out of Ahwaz. Susa later fell, so Hormozan fled to Shushtar. There his forces were besieged by Abu Musa for 18 months. Shushtar finally fell in 642 AD; the Khuzistan Chronicle records that a unknown arab living in the city befriended a man in the army, and dug tunnels through the wall in return for a third of the spoil. The Basrans purged the Nestorians - the Exegete of the city and the Bishop of Hormizd, and all their students - but kept Hormozan alive.[5]

There followed the conquests of Jondishapoor and of many other districts along the Tigris. The battle of Nehavand finally secured Khuzestan for the Muslim armies.[6]

It is interesting to notice that there was much cooperation between Sassanids and non-Muslim Arabs during the Muslim conquest period, which shows that those wars were not Arab vs. Persian, rather Muslim vs. non-Muslims. For instance in 633-634, Khaled ibn Walid leader of the Muslim Army, defeated a force of the Sassanids' Christian Arab auxiliaries from the tribes of "Bakr", "'Ejl", "Taghleb" and "Namer" at "'Ayn Al-Tamr". [7]

The Arab settlements by military garrisons in southern Iran was soon followed by other types of colonization. Some Arab families, for example, took the opportunity to gain control of private estates.[8]. Like the rest of Iran, the Arab invasion thus brought Khuzestan under occupation of the Arabs of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, from southeastern Iran, raised the flag of independence once more, and ultimately regained control over Khuzestan, among other parts of Iran, founding the short-lived Saffarid dynasty. From that point on, Iranian dynasties would continue to rule the region in succession as an important part of Iran.

In the Umayyad period, large groups of nomads from the Hanifa, Bani Tamim, and Abd al-Qays tribes crossed the Persian Gulf and occupied some of the richest Basran territories around Ahwaz and in Fars during the second Islamic civil war in 661-665/680-684 A.D.[9].

During the Abbassid period, in the second half of the 10th century, the Assad tribe, taking advantage of quarrels under the Buwayhids, penetrated into Khuzestan, where a group of Tamim had been living since pre-Islamic times. However, following the fall of the Abbassid dynasty, the flow of Arab immigrants into Persia gradually diminished, but it nonetheless continued.

In the latter part of the 16th century, the Bani Kaab (pronounced Chaub in the local Gulfi dialect), from Kuwait, settled in Khuzestan.[10] And during the succeeding centuries, many more Arab tribes moved from southern Iraq to Khuzestan, and as a result, Khuzestan became "extensively Arabized".[11]. According to C.E. Bosworth in Encyclopædia Iranica, under the Qajar dynasty "the province was known, as in Safavid times, as Arabistan, and during the Qajar period was administratively a governor-generalate." This designator, however, was reserved for the southern half of the province, from the Ahwaz Ridge to the shores of the Gulf. The northern, more populous parts, with the capital at Shushtar, retained the old name, but also occasionally was incorporated into the district of the Greater Lur.

In 1856, in the course of the Anglo-Persian War over the city of Herat, the British naval forces sailed up the Karun river all the way to Ahwaz. However, in the settlement that followed, they evacuated the province. Some tribal forces, such as those led by Sheikh Jabir al-Kaabi, the Sheikh of Mohammerah, fared better in opposing the invading British forces than those dispatched by the central government, which was quite feeble. But, the point of the invasion of the province and other coastal regions of southern Persia/Iran were to force the evacuation of Herat by the Persians and not the permanent occupation of these regions.

In the past eighty years, except during the Iran-Iraq war, the province of Khuzestan thrived and prospered and today accounts for one of the regions in Iran that holds an economic and defensive strategic position.

Prior to 1925, although nominally part of Iranian territory, the area functioned for many years effectively as an autonomous emirate known as "Arabistan". The emirate was dissolved by Reza Shah government, along with other autonomous regions of Persia, in a bid to centralize the state. The old, historic name of 'Khuzistan' came to be applied once again to the entire territory by 1936.[12]

The Iran-Iraq war

Being on the border with Iraq, Khuzestan suffered the heaviest damage of all Iranian provinces during the Iran-Iraq war (1980–1988).

What used to be Iran's largest refinery at Abadan was destroyed, never to fully recover. Many of the famous nakhlestans (palm groves) were annihilated, cities were destroyed, historical sites were demolished, and nearly half the province went under the boots of Saddam's invading army [13]. This created a mass exodus into other provinces that did not have the logistical capability of taking in such a large number of refugees.

However, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push Saddam's forces back into Iraq. The battle of "the Liberation of Khorramshahr" (one of Khuzestan's largest cities and the most important Iranian port prior to the war) was a turning point in the war, and is officially celebrated every year in Iran.

Struggle over the province

Parthian era Bronze plate with Pegasus depiction ("Pegaz" in Persian). Excavated in Masjed Soleiman.

Saddam Hussein attempted to control Khuzestan during the Iran-Iraq war, which forced thousands of Iranians to flee the province. He claimed Khuzestan belonged to Iraq because of the large number of Arabic speaking persons in that province.

The government of the Islamic Republic of Iran does not conduct any official ethnic census in Iran, thus it is difficult to determine the exact demographics. Beginning in the early nineties, many ethnic Persian Khuzestanis began returning to the province, a trend which continues to this day as the major urban centres are being rebuilt and restored. Restoration has been slow due to neglect by the regime of the Islamic Republic. The city of Khorramshahr was almost completely destroyed as a result of Saddam's scorched earth policy. Fortunately, Iranian forces were able to prevent the Iraqis from attempting to spread the execution of this policy to other major urban centres.

The Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980 was a siege of the Iranian Embassy in London initiated by an Arab separatist group. Initially it emerged the terrorists wanted autonomy for Khuzestan; later they demanded the release of 91 of their comrades held in Iranian jails.[14] The group which claimed responsibility for the siege- the Arab Popular Movement in Arabistan- gave a number of press conferences in the following months, referring to what it described as "the racist rule of Khomeini". It threatened further international action as part of its campaign to gain self- rule for Khuzestan. But its links with Baghdad served to undermine its argument that it was a purely Iranian opposition group; there were allegations that it was backed by Iran's regional rival, Iraq. Their leader ("Salim" - Awn Ali Mohammed) along with four other members of the group were killed and the fifth member, Fowzi Badavi Nejad, was sentenced to life imprisonment.[15]

In 2005, Ahwaz witnessed a number of terrorist attacks. The first came ahead of the presidential election on 12 June.(see Ahvaz Bombings)

People and culture

A bust from The National Museum of Iran of Queen Musa, wife of Phraates IV of Parthia, excavated by a French team in Khuzestan in 1939.

According to the 1996 census, the province had an estimated population of 3.7 million people, of which approximately 62.5% were in the urban centres, 36.5% were rural dwellers and the remaining 1% were non-residents. According to the most recent census taken in 2004, the province had an estimated population of 4,277,998 inhabitants.[16]

Khuzestan, unlike most other provinces in Iran, is inhabited by a number of ethnic minorities and peoples. Autochthonous Persians in major cities, Iranian Arabs, the Bakhtiari Lurs, Behbahanis, Mizrahi Jews, Laks, and other Lurs of the north, the Turkic-speaking Qashqai and Afshari tribes, the Khuzis of Shush/Susa, Dezful, Shushtar, Andimeshk and the inhabitants of the coastal regions of the Persian Gulf all make up the population of the province of Khuzestan. There are no official ethnic statistics released by Iran's government.

Khuzestan in literature

Khuzestan has long been the subject of many a writer and poet of Persia, banking on its ample sugar production to use the term as allegory for sweetness. Some popular verses are:

زبس کز دامن لب شکر افشاند
شکر دامن به خوزستان بر افشاند

"Her lips aflow with sweet sugar,
The sweet sugar that aflows in Khuzestan."
Nizami

قد رعنای تو و قامت سرو کشمر
لب شیرین تو و شکر خوزستانی

"Your graceful figure like the cypress in Kashmar,
Your sweet lips like the sugar of Khuzestan."
Nizari Qohistani

که باشد که پیوند سام سوار
نخواهد از اهواز تا قندهار

"So Sām hath not need ride afar
from Ahvaz up to Qandehar."
Firdawsi

Languages

The Persian, Bakhtiari Lurs and other Lur groups of western Khuzestan all speak distinct dialects unique to their areas. Shushtari,Dezfuli and Behbahani are other dialects spoken in Khuzestan. Some Khuzestanis are bilingual, speaking both Persian and Arabic. Most Arabic-speakers speak a variety of Arabic distinct to the region known as Khuzestani Arabic. It is also not uncommon to find people able to speak a variety of indigenous dialects in addition to their own.

Traditions and religion

Khuzestani folk music is colorful and festive, and each native group has their own rich traditions and legacy in this area.

The people of Khuzestan are predominantly Muslim, followed by minorities (Jewish, Christian, and Mandean). Khuzestanis are also very well regarded for their hospitality and generosity.

Cuisine

Seafood is the most important part of Khuzestani cuisine, but many other dishes are also featured. The most popular Khuzestani dish is Ghalyeh Maahi. A popular fishdish that is prepared with heavy spices, onions and cilantro. The fish used in the dish is locally know as mahi soboor (shad fish), a species of fish found in the Persian Gulf. Other provincial specialties include qæliye-mæhi ("fish casserole"), qæliye-meygu ("shrimp casserole"), ashe-mohshala (a Khorramshahri breakfast stew), sær shir (a Dezfuli breakfast of heavy cream), hælim (a Shushtari breakfast of wheatmeal with shredded lamb), and kohbbeh (a deep-fried rice cake with ground beef filling and other spices of Arabic origin, a variant on Levantine kibbeh). Also see Iranian cuisine.

Historical figures

Many scientists, philosophers, and poets have come from Khuzestan, including Abu Nuwas, Abdollah ibn-Meymun Ahvazi, the astronomer Nowbækht-e Ahvazi and his sons as well as Jorjis, the son of Bakhtshua Gondishapuri, Ibn Sakit, Da'bal-e Khazai and Sheikh Mortedha Ansari, a prominent Shi'a scholar from Dezful.

Economy

The government of Iran is spending large amounts of money in Khuzestan province. The massive Karun-3 dam, was inaugurated recently as part of a drive to boost Iran's growing energy demands.

Khuzestan is the major oil-producing region of Iran, and as such is one of the wealthiest provinces in Iran, though it is claimed that this wealth does not benefit the average citizen. The government of Iran claims the province to rank third among Iran's provinces in GDP.[17]

In 2005, Iran's government announced it was planning the country's second nuclear reactor to be built in Khuzestan province.[18] The 360 MW reactor will be a Light Water PWR Reactor.[19]

Khuzestan is also home to the Arvand Free Trade Zone [20]. It is one of six economic Free Trade Zones in Iran.[21] and the PETZONE (Petrochemical Special Economic Zone in Mahshahr).

Shipping

Karoun River passing the Iranian city of Ahvaz

Karun river is the only navigable river in Iran. The British, up until recent decades, after the discovery by Austen Henry Layard, transported their merchandise via Karun's waterways, passing through Ahvaz all the way up to Langar near Shushtar, and then sent by road to Masjed Soleimanthe site of their first oil wells in the Naftoon oil field. Karoun is capable of the sailing of fairly large ships as far up as Shushtar.

Karkheh, Jarrahi, Arvand Rud, Handian, Shavoor, Bahmanshir (Bahman-Ardeshir), Maroon-Alaa', Dez, and many other rivers and water sources in the form of Khurs, lagoons, ponds, and marshes demonstrate the vastness of water resources in this region, and are the main reason for the variety of agricultural products developed in the area.

Agriculture

The abundance of water and fertility of soil have transformed this region into a rich and well-endowed land. The variety of agricultural products such as wheat, barley, oily seeds, rice, eucalyptus, medical herbs; the existence of many palm and citrus farms; having mountains suitable for raising olives, and of course sugar cane - from which Khuzestan takes its name - all show the great potential of this fertile plain. The abundance of water supplies, rivers, and dams, also have an influence on the fishery industries, which are prevalent in the area.

Industry

The Karun 3 and 4, and Karkheh Dam, as well as the petroleum reserves provide Iran with national sources of revenue and energy. The petrochemical and steel industries, pipe making, the power stations that feed the national electricity grid, the chemical plants, and the large refineries are some of Iran's major industrial facilities.

The province is also home to Yadavaran Field, a major oil field.

Higher education

  1. Khorramshahr University of Nautical Sciences and Technologies
  2. Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
  3. Petroleum University of Technology
  4. Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz
  5. Shahid Chamran University-Dezful
  6. Islamic Azad University of Shushtar
  7. Islamic Azad University of Abadan
  8. Islamic Azad University of Omidiyeh
  9. Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz
  10. Islamic Azad University of Behbahan
  11. Islamic Azad University of Izeh
  12. Amirkabir University of Technology, Mahshahr campus
  13. Azad University of Mahshahr

Attractions of Khuzestan

Iran National Heritage Organization lists 140 sites of historical and cultural significance in Khuzestan, reflecting the fact that the province was once the seat of Iran's most ancient empire.

Some of the more popular sites of attraction include:

The Parthian Prince, found in Khuzestan circa AD 100, is kept at The National Museum of Iran, Tehran.

Prominent people

See also

References

  1. ↑ According to: Sir Percy Sykes, A History of Persia, RoutledgeCurzon Publishers. 3rd edition. October 16, 2003. ISBN 0-415-32678-8 p.38
  2. ↑ According to The Cambridge History of Iran, 2, 259, ISBN 0-521-20091-1
  3. ↑ Elton L. Daniel. The History of Iran, ISBN 0-313-00030-1 p.26
  4. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica: p.202. Link: [1]
  5. ↑ Hoyland, Robert G., Seeing Islam as Others Saw It, Darwin Press, 1998, ISBN 0-87850-125-8 p184
  6. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica, p.206
  7. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica, page 204, under "Arab conquest of Persia"
  8. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica, p.212
  9. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica, p.215, under "Arab Tribes of Iran"
  10. ↑ See J.R. Perry, "The Banu Ka'b: An Amphibious Brigand State in Khuzestan", Le Monde Iranien et L'Islam I, 1971, p133
  11. ↑ Encyclopædia Iranica, p216
  12. ↑ Journal of Middle Eastern studies, Vol. 25, No. 3 (Aug., 1993), pp. 541-543
  13. ↑ See map: http://www.iranmiras.ir/fr_site/history/jomhoori/Image-104.jpg
  14. ↑ See:
  15. ↑ BBC link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/uk/2000/iranian_embassy_siege/720640.stm
  16. ↑ According to the German "Gazetteer" website
  17. ↑ (Persian) Link: http://www.ostan-kz.ir/papercutdetail_afa_pi_191.html
  18. ↑ BBC Link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4498932.stm
  19. ↑ BBC link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/persian/iran/story/2005/12/051210_ss-irannuclearaghazadeh.shtml
  20. ↑ Link: Arvand Free Trade Zone
  21. ↑ Link: http://www.iftiz.org.ir

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