Khuzestan province: Difference between revisions
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==Introduction== |
==Introduction== |
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Revision as of 08:58, 5 May 2005
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Introduction
Khuzestan is one of the 30 provinces of Iran. It is in the south-west of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its center is Ahvaz and covers an area of 63,238 sq. km. Other major cities include Behbahan, Abadan, Andimeshk, Khorramshahr, Bandar Imam, Dezful, Shushtar, Omidiyeh, Izeh, Baq-e-Malek, Mah Shahr, Dasht-e-Azadegan, Ramhormoz, Shadegan, Susa, and Masjed Soleiman.
Historically Khuzestan is what historians refer to as the ancient Elamite Empire, whose capital was in Susa, and in previous ages, Iranians referred to this province as Elam. The Old Persian term for Elam was Hujiyā, which is present in the modern name. Khuzestan is the most ancient Iranian province and is often referred to in Iran as the "birthplace of the nation," as this is the area where Aryan tribes first settled, assimilating the native Elamite population, and thus laying the foundation for the future empires of Persia, Media, and Parthia. These three empires ultimately came to be united under Cyrus the Great, forming the Persian Empire.
Khuzestan is also where Jondishapour was located.
Khuzestan has 18 representatives in Iran's parliament, The Majles, and 6 representatives in the Assembly of Experts.
Geography and demographics
According to the census in the year 1996, the province had a population of 3.7 million, of which approximately 62.5 % were in the urban areas, 36.5 % were rural dwellers and 1% of the remaining were non-residents.
The province of Khuzestan can be basically divided into two regions,i.e., the plains and mountainous regions. The former being in the south and west of the province. This area is irrigated by Karoon, Karkheh and Jarahi rivers. The mountainous regions are situated to the north and east of the province, and are considered to be a part of southern regions of the Zagros mountain ranges.
With regard to natural conditions, Khuzestan has unrivaled potentials not matched by any other province in the country. Large permanent rivers flow over the entire territory contributing to the fertility of the land; and Karun river, Iran's largest river, 850 kilometers long, flows into the Persian Gulf through this province.
The climate of Khuzestan is generally hot and humid, especially in the south.
Khuzestan, unlike other provinces in Iran, is inhabited by a number of ethnic minorities and peoples. Arab speakers, Bakhtiaris, Behbahanis, peoples of Dezful, Shushtar, and the inhabitants of the Persian Gulf coasts make up the population of the great and populated province of Khuzestan. There are however no official ethnic statistics released from Iran's government.
The name Khuzestan
There are many meanings and interpretations for the word "Khuzestan", which shows the antiquity of this land.
Most experts believe the name Khuzestan to be derived from Ķūzī, the name of the original non-semitic people of the province, whose distinctive language survived til Sassanid times. (see Encyclopedia Iranica, E. YarShater, Columbia University, Vol 1, p687-689.)
Ibn Nadeem, in his book Al-fehrest (“الفهرست”), mentions that all the Median and Persian lands of antiquity spoke one language. In his book, which is the most accredited account of spoken languages of Iran during the early Islamic era, he quotes the great scholar Abdullah Ibn al-Muqaffa:
- "The Iranian languages are Fahlavi (Pahlavi), Dari, Khuzi, Farsi (Persian), and Seryani."
He then adds that Khuzi is the unofficial language of the royalty and comes from Khuzestan.
On the other hand, sugar and sugar cane have also been given for the meaning of Khuz; and the fertile soil of Khuzestan has a splendid potential for growing this plant, and the best sugar cane is harvested there.
In Majma-ul-Tavarikh val Ghesas ("The Collection of histories and Tales") Khuzestan appears with such names as Hajuestan, Hobujestan, and Ajar, which seem to be derived from Hobujestan and Hujestan in Pahlavi languge. As in some dialects, such as Lori and Bakhtiari, the sound "h" is sometimes used for pronouncing Kh , the words oo, hoo and Khuz have in the process of time been added to the suffix -estan, and the word oojestan has gradually changed to Hujestan, and finally, the word Khuzestan was formed.
It is of significance to note that in ancient Persian dialects and in Pahlavi language, the sound "oo" was changable to "hoo" as in such words like Oormazd --> Hoormazd or Ooshmand --> Hooshmand. And Hoordad has also been pronounced Khordad and Khoortat.
Yaqut al-Hamavi (1179--1229 A.D.), the medieval geographer, states that the words Khooz, Hooz, Ahvaz and Hoveizeh are of the same origin. Up to recent years, the mentioned words were written with the letter "ح" (having an Arabic impression). Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "which appear in Darius's epigraph, and this word appears in the Naghsh-Rostam inscription as Khaja or Khooja; and Ahvaz was the seat of Khuzestan province in ancient times. This city was founded by Ardeshir-Babakan, the founder of Sassanid Dynasty, and used to be called Hoomshir or Hormoz-Ardeshir. The combination Khujestan Vajar or Hujestan Vajareh meant Khuzestan Bazzar; which up to recent decades, the Arab speakers called Ahvaz Soogh-ul-Ahvaz, meaning the Bazaar of Ahvaz.
Ahvaz or Hormoz Ardeshir, which combine God's name and the King's name, was built in two parts. In one part, the nobles of the city lived; and the other part was inhibited by merchants. During the conquest of Khuzestan by invading Arabs in the 7th century, "the noble's city" was demolished; but the merchant city (Soogh-ul-Ahvaz) remained intact. Ahvaz is thus a Persian word and a Persian city, and Abu-Mansoor Javalighi of the 12th century, writes:
- "Ahvaz is the name of an Iranian city which its Persian name has been Arabicized and the Arabs have accepted the Persian dictation of the word."
Some others think that Ahvaz and Khuzestan are related to the name Ooksin, a city in the era of Elamite Empire civilization, and are the changed forms of the words Ooks, Ookz, Hookz, Huz and Khuz.
History
The province of Khuzestan is one of the centers of ancient civilization, dating back 6000 years around the Susa region. In the 4th millennium BC the powerful Elamite Empire, a non-Semitic kingdom independent of Mesopotamia, was founded in Susa.
Archeological ruins establish the entire province of Khuzestan to be home to the Elamite civilization, "the earliest civilization of Persia" (according to A History of Persia, S. Percy Sykes, p38). As was stated in the preceding section, the word "Khuzestan" is derived from the Elamites (ŪUvja accoring to The Cambridge History of Iran, 2, 259), a non-semitic people unrelated to their northern neighbors in Mesopotamia. (see introduction of The splendour of Iran, E. Booth-Clibborn)
In fact, in the words of Elton Daniel, The Elamites were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense". (The History of Iran, p26) 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 wrought 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 Achaemenian capitals. Darius The Great then erected a grand palace known as 'Hadish' there in 521 BC. But this astonishing period of grandiose glory and splendour of the Achaemenian dynasty came to an end by the conquests of Alexander the Macedonian. And after Alexander, the Seleucid dynasty ruled the area.
As the Seleucid dynasty weakened, Mehrdad I the Parthian (171-137 BC), gained victory 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 Ahvaz, Shushtar, and the north of Andimeshk. After the Muslim Arabs invaded and occupied Iran, the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates controlled Khuzestan, as well as the rest of Iran, until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, from eastern 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, as it always had been.
In the mid 1800's Britain initiated a war with Iran in a failed attempt to conquer Khuzestan. Having lost, the British continued in their attempts to wrest control of the province by supporting a number of Arab tribes that had invaded Iran from elsewhere. The last of these tribes was finally defeated in 1925 by Reza Shah, permanently ending any further military actions against Khuzestan by Britain. 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.
The existance of prominent scientific and cultural centers such as Academy_of_Gundishapur which gathered distiguished medical scientists from Egypt, Greece, India, and Rome, shows the importance and prosperity of this region during ancient times. Jondi-Shapoor medical school was founded by the order of Shapoor I (241-271 A.D.). 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.
Many scientists, philosophers, and poets have come from Khuzestan territory. To name a few are Abu Nuwas, Abdollah-lbn-Meymoon Ahvazi, the astronomer Nowbakht-e Ahvazi and his sons; as well as Jorjis, the son of Bakhtshooa Gondishapoori; Ibn Sakit, and Da'bal-e-Khazai; and many more.
The Iran-Iraq war
Being on the border with Iraq, Khuzestan suffered the heaviest damage of all Iranian provinces during the Iran-Iraq war.
What used to be Iran's largest refinery at Abadan was destroyed, never to fully recover. Many of the famous "nakhlestans" were annihilated, cities were destroyed, historical sites were demolished, and half the province even went under the boots of Saddam's invading army. This created a mass exodus into provinces that did not have the logistical capability of taking in mass refugees.
However, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push back Saddam's army 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
The first person to launch secessionist unrests in Khuzestan was Sheikh Khaz'al, who was backed by the British colonialists.
Control of Khuzestan was also Saddam Hussein's primary strategic objective that launched the Iran-Iraq War, which forced thousands of the ethnic Persian majority to flee the province. During the Iran-Iraq War large numbers of Iraqi Shi'a Arab refugees settled in Khuzestan, escaping Saddam's persecution, and today they are said to form a significant percentage of the Arab minority population, mostly residing in the rural areas.
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 decimated 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 largest population of ethnic Persian Khuzestanis residing in a single area (outside of Iran) can be found in the American state of Texas.
The Iranian Embassy Siege of 1980 was a terrorist siege of the Iranian Embassy in London initiated by Arab separatists, backed by Saddam Hussein. Initially it emerged the terrorists wanted autonomy for Khuzestan; later they demanded the release of 91 of their comrades held in Iranian jails. Arab separatists supported Saddam's forces in attacking both Persian Iranian soldiers and civilians, in what could be considered an attempt at an ethnic cleansing of the Persian Khuzestani majority, despite the fact that the majority of the Arab Khuzestani population were loyal to Iran and fought alongside Persian Iranians against Saddam. After the withdrawal of Iraqi forces towards the end of the war, the remainder of Arab separatists fled to Iraq, though Saddam continued to entertain the notion of a potential future invasion of Khuzestan for many years afterwards.
Economy
Khuzestan is the major oil-producing region of Iran, and as such is the wealthiest province in Iran, though this wealth does not benefit the average citizen, it is claimed. Yet the government of Iran claims the province to rank third among Iran's provinces in GDP. source (in Farsi)
Shipping
Karun river is the only river in Iran capable of sailing. The British, up to recent decades, after the discovery by Sir Henry Layard, transported their merchandise via Karun's waterways, passing through Ahvaz all the way up to Masjed Soleiman, the site of their first oil wells in the Naftoon oil field. Karun is capable of sailing of fairly large ships as far up as Shushtar.
Karkheh, Jarrahi, Arvand, Handian, Shavoor, Bahmanshir (Bahman-Ardeshir), Maroon-Alaa', Dez, and many other rivers and water sourses in the form of Khurs, lagoons, ponds, and marshes demonstrate the vastness of water resourses in this region, and are the main reason for variety of agricultural products in the area.
Agriculture
The abundance of water, 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; and the existence of many palm and citrus farms, and 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, have an influence on the fishery industries.
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.
Universities
- Khorramshahr University of Nautical Sciences and Technologies
- Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences
- Petroleum University of Technology
- Shahid Chamran University-Ahvaz
- Shahid Chamran University-Dezful
- Islamic Azad University of Abadan
- Islamic Azad University of Omidiyeh
- Islamic Azad University of Ahvaz
- Islamic Azad University of Behbahan
- Islamic Azad University of Izeh
Attractions of Khuzestan
Iran's National Heritage Organization lists 140 sites of Historical and Cultural significance in Khuzaestan province. After all, this province was the seat of Iran's most ancient empire.
Some of the more popular sites of attraction are:
- Choqa Zanbil: was the seat of the Elamite Empire. The magnificent five-story temple is one of the greatest monuments in the Middle-East today. This Monolith, with its labrynthine walls made of thousads of large bricks with Elamite inscription, manifesting the antiquity of this shrine. This temple was religiously sacred and was built in the honor of Anishushinak the protector deity of the city of Susa.
- Burial site of Daniel the Prophet: who was a Jewish prophet deared by Cyrus and who became vizier during the rule of Darius. It is said that when Daniel, upon the order of Darius, was going to visit Jerusalem, died and was buried in Shush. The grave of Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, who rose against the oppression of the Umayyad Caliphs, is also located nearby.
- Dezful (Dezpol), whose name is taken from a bridge (Pol) over Dez river having 12 spans being built by the order of Shapoor I. This is the same bridge that was called "Andamesh Bridge" by historians like Istakhri who says the city of Andimeshk takes its name from this bridge. Moqaddasi, the famous historian, calls it "The City of the Bridge".
- Shushtar, known as the "City of Forty Elders" in the local dialect. The Friday Mosque of Shushtar was built by the orders of Abbasid Caliphs. This mosque, has 54 pillars and balconies, and "Roman" arches.
- Izeh, or Izaj, was one of the main targets of the Islamic army in their invasion of Persia, and has enjoyed great prosperity in different historical times. Kharezad Bridge, one of the strangest bridges of the world, is situated in this city and was named after Ardeshir Babakan's mother. It is built over casted pillars of lead each 104 meters high. Ibn Battuta, the Morroccan tourist, who visited this city in the 14th century, refers to many monasteries, Caravanserais, aqueducts, schools, and fortresses in the town. The brass statute of "The Partian Man" which is being safeguarded in the National Museum of Iran, is from here.
- Masjed Soleiman is another Khuzestan town, which besides having ancient fire alters and temples like Sarmasjed, Bard-neshondeh, and others, is the winter's resting area of the Bakhtiari tribe, and the first oil well of Iran was dug in this region by William Knox Darcy.
- Abadan, has a shrine which some say is the tomb of Elias, the long lived Hebrew prophet along the Bahmanshir river.
See also
External links
- Haft Tappe archeological site in Khuzestan
- Choqa Zanbil Ziggurat Official website
- Official website of Khuzestan Governorship
- Ayapir archeological site
