National Persian Gulf Day

National Persian Gulf Day is a very important day for the Iranian people and it is celebrated annually on April 30th. It has taken place every year since 2004, and is marked with various ceremonies all over Iran, especially in the coastal cities of the Persian Gulf. [1] The Persian Gulf, in Western Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran (Persia) and the Arabian Peninsula.[2]

According to the book Documents on the Persian Gulf's name : the eternal heritage of ancient time the term Persian Gulf and its equivalents have been used continuously since 400 BC, but in 1964 the Arab league ratified a change of the name the Arabian Gulf. Apparently, this change was not accepted by some Arab countries. After the Iran-Iraq war, the decision was realised. The act angered Iran/Iranians, especially when the Arabs tried to use the name Arabian Gulf in the English mass media. While historical documents show that the waterway has always been referred to as the 'Persian Gulf,' certain Arab states have mounted efforts to remove 'Persian' from the name of the waterway.[3] After many gatherings and seminars by the NGOs and the geographers of Iran asking the government to preserve the heritage name of the Persian gulf, finally The Islamic Republic of Iran, in 2004 officially designated April 30 as the "National Persian Gulf Day", since the date coincides with the anniversary of Shah Abbas,' a successful military campaign against the Portuguese navy in the Persian Gulf, driving the Portuguese colonial forces out of the Strait of Hormuz in the Capture of Ormuz (1622). The decision was taken by the High Council of Cultural Revolution, presided over by former President Seyed Mohammad Khatami, the council mentioned the campaign launched recently by certain Arab states to rename Persian Gulf as the drive behind the decision. In 1514 the Portuguese captured Hormuz and built a fort. For more than a century the island remained Portuguese, but they were routed and forced to withdraw after 100 years by the Iranian forces. The Portuguese then lost all their colonial lands in east Africa and were forced back to Mozambique. .[4][5]

Post Company of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has issued a series of stamps commemorating the “the national day of Persian Gulf”.[6]

Names, routes and locations of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea.

Persian reconquest of Hormuz

In the Persia–Portugal war By the order of Abbas I, In 1602, the Iranian army under the command of Imam-Quli Khan, managed to expel the Portuguese from Bahrain.[7]

In 1612, the Portuguese Empire took the city of Gamrūn and transliterated the name to Comorão. Almost two years later (in 1615), Comorão was taken by ‘Abbās the Great after a naval battle with the Portuguese and renamed Bandar-e ‘Abbās, or "Port of ‘Abbās".

In 1622, with the help of four English ships, Abbas retook Hormuz from the Portuguese in the Capture of Ormuz (1622).[8]


References

  1. ↑ IRIB
  2. ↑ United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names Working Paper No. 61, 23rd Session, Vienna, 28 March – 4 April 2006. accessed October 9, 2010
  3. ↑ http://catdir.loc.gov/catdir/toc/fy11pdf02/2010344035.pdf
  4. ↑ Iran names Persian Gulf national day, Retrieved on 26 February 2009.
  5. ↑ Iranians to observe Persian Gulf Day, The Tehran Times, Retrieved on 30 April 2010.
  6. ↑ Persian Gulf stamps, Retrieved on 26 February 2009.
  7. ↑ Juan R. I. Cole, "Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shiism in Eastern Arabia, 1300-1800", p. 186, through JSTOR.
  8. ↑ Nahavandi and Bomati pp.159-162

External links

Coordinates: 26°N 52°E / 26°N 52°E

See also