Khorramshahr
Encyclopedia
Khorramshahr is a city in and the capital of Khorramshahr County
, Khuzestan Province
, Iran
. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,866, in 26,385 families.
Khorramshahr is a port
city located approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Abadan. The city extends to the right bank of the Shatt al-Arab waterway near its confluence with the Haffar
arm of the Karun
river.
time in the 1st. Century AD. Whether or not this was located at the where Khurramshahr is today, is highly debatable.
During the Islamic centuries, the Daylamite Buwayhid
king, Panah Khusraw Adud ad-Dawlah ordered the digging of a canal to join Karun River (which at the time emptied independently into the Persian Gulf through the Bahmanshir
channel, to the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab (the joint estuary of the Tigris
and Euphrates
rivers. The extra water made the joint estuary more reliably navigable. The channel thus created was known as the Haffar
, Arabic for "excavated," "dugout," which exactly described what the channel was. The Haffar soon became the main channel of the Karun
, as it is in the present day. Establishment of a port town at the confluence of the Haffar and the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab is natural and may be expected. However, there is absolutely no mention of such a place in the geographical records, while there are an ample mentions of the port of Abadan
nearby.
The modern city was founded in 1812 by Sheikh Yusuf bin Mardo, when steam navigation began on the Karun, who named it Muhammarah (Arabic for 'reddish,' an allusion to the red clay fort build by the Sheikh in the port). The name remained until the 1930s, when the Iranian Academy of Culture (the Farhangistan), in its extensive amending of toponyms in Iran/Persia, renamed the city Khurram Shahr, "The Pleasant City."
.
The first Sheikh was Ali Mardan of the Muhaisin clan of the Bani Kaab Arab tribe. Succeeding Sheikhs were:
's scorched earth
policy. Prior to the war, Khorramshahr had grown extensively to become Iran's primary non-oil port city, and home to some of the most sprawling neighborhoods in Iran. The population was predominantly wealthy and upper class, and along with Abadan, the prevalent culture was that of modern Iranian cosmopolitanism
.
The battle of Khorramshahr was the first major engagement between Iraqi and Iranians forces in the war. After occupying the city on October 26, the city remained in Iraqi hands until April 1982, when the Iranians launched Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas
(Persian: بیت المقدس) to recapture the Khuzestan province. The first attack (April 24 to May 12) consisted of 70,000 Pasdaran and succeeded in pushing the Iraqis out of the Ahvaz-Susangerd area. The Iraqis withdrew back to Khorramshahr and, on May 20, launched a counter attack against the Iranians, which was repulsed. The Iranians then launched an all out assault on Khorramshahr, capturing two of the defense lines in the Pol-e No and Shalamcheh region. The Iranians gathered around the Shatt al-Arab(Known as Arvand Rud in Iran) waterway, surrounding the city and, thus, beginning the second siege. The Iranians finally recaptured the city on May 24 after two days of bitter fighting, capturing 19,000 soldiers from a demoralized Iraqi Army after the fighting was over. Over 2,000 of these prisoners were executed. As a result, the Iraqis now know May 24 as “Martyr’s Day”, although the Iranians celebrate this day as the Liberation of Khorramshahr
.
By the end of the war, Khorramshahr had been completely devastated by Saddam Hussein
's forces, with very few buildings left intact. Other major urban centres such as Abadan and Ahvaz
were also left in ruins, though nowhere nearly as bad as Khorramshahr. The city of Khorramshahr was one of the primary and most important frontlines of the war and has thus achieved mythic status amongst the Iranian population.
production and exports and imports through the city port, though on a much smaller scale as restoration is not yet totally complete, even though almost two decades have passed since the end of the war. Residents originally from Khorramshahr have also slowly been returning to the city, rebuilding their houses and businesses.
Southern Branch of Jondi Shahpour University, Ahvaz (Shahid Chamran University), was established comprising two colleges: the College of Marine Sciences and the College of Maritime Management and Economics. But this newly established center was closed soon after due to the war imposed on Iran. This college recommenced academically in 1993, admitting 10 MS students in the fields of physical oceanography and marine biology on Shahid Chamran’s campus. With the start of the postwar reconstruction of the war torn cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr in 1998, the Southern Branch was moved back to Khorramshahr, expanding its academic scope by admitting undergraduate students in the fields of marine biology, environmental sciences and fisheries.
In 2003, this institute separated from Shahid Chamran University and became Khorramshahr University of Marine Science and Technology (KMSU), with access to open waters, the Arvand and Bahmanshir rivers, and adjacency to the Shadegan and Hor Swamps, situated in the Arvand Free Zone.
Khorramshahr County
Khorramshahr County is a county in Khuzestan Province in Iran. The capital of the county is Khorramshahr. At the 2006 census, the county's population was 155,224, in 32,563 families. The county is subdivided into two districts: the Central District and Minu District...
, Khuzestan Province
Khuzestan Province
Khuzestan Province is one of the 31 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...
, Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
. At the 2006 census, its population was 123,866, in 26,385 families.
Khorramshahr is a port
Port
A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....
city located approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Abadan. The city extends to the right bank of the Shatt al-Arab waterway near its confluence with the Haffar
Haffar
During the early Islamic centuries, the Daylamite Buwayhid king, Panah Khusraw Adud ad-Dawlah, ordered the digging of a canal to join the Karun River, which at the time emptied independently into the Persian Gulf through the Bahmanshir channel, to the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab waterway, the joint...
arm of the Karun
Karun
The Kārun is Iran's most effluent, and the only navigable, river. It is 450 miles long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang, before passing through the capital of the Khuzestan Province of...
river.
History
In ancient times, the area where the city exists today was under the waters of the Persian Gulf, before becoming a part of the vast marshlands and the tidal flats at the mouth of the Karun River. The small town known as Piyan, and later Bayan appeared in the area no sooner than the late ParthianParthia
Parthia is a region of north-eastern Iran, best known for having been the political and cultural base of the Arsacid dynasty, rulers of the Parthian Empire....
time in the 1st. Century AD. Whether or not this was located at the where Khurramshahr is today, is highly debatable.
During the Islamic centuries, the Daylamite Buwayhid
Buwayhid
The Buyid dynasty, also known as the Buyid Empire or the Buyids , also known as Buwaihids, Buyahids, or Buyyids, were a Shī‘ah Persian dynasty that originated from Daylaman in Gilan...
king, Panah Khusraw Adud ad-Dawlah ordered the digging of a canal to join Karun River (which at the time emptied independently into the Persian Gulf through the Bahmanshir
Bahmanshir
The Bahmanshir channel is a secondary estuary of the Karun River that parallels the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab waterway on the far side of the Abadan Island for 70 miles, emptying into the Persian Gulf....
channel, to the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab (the joint estuary of the Tigris
Tigris
The Tigris River is the eastern member of the two great rivers that define Mesopotamia, the other being the Euphrates. The river flows south from the mountains of southeastern Turkey through Iraq.-Geography:...
and Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...
rivers. The extra water made the joint estuary more reliably navigable. The channel thus created was known as the Haffar
Haffar
During the early Islamic centuries, the Daylamite Buwayhid king, Panah Khusraw Adud ad-Dawlah, ordered the digging of a canal to join the Karun River, which at the time emptied independently into the Persian Gulf through the Bahmanshir channel, to the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab waterway, the joint...
, Arabic for "excavated," "dugout," which exactly described what the channel was. The Haffar soon became the main channel of the Karun
Karun
The Kārun is Iran's most effluent, and the only navigable, river. It is 450 miles long. It rises in the Zard Kuh mountains of the Bakhtiari district in the Zagros Range, receiving many tributaries, such as the Dez and the Kuhrang, before passing through the capital of the Khuzestan Province of...
, as it is in the present day. Establishment of a port town at the confluence of the Haffar and the Arvand Rud/Shatt al-Arab is natural and may be expected. However, there is absolutely no mention of such a place in the geographical records, while there are an ample mentions of the port of Abadan
Abadan
Abadan is a city in and the capital of Abadan County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. It lies on Abadan Island , from the Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi-Iran border. The civilian population of the city dropped to near zero during the eight-years Iran–Iraq War. In 1992, only 84,774 had returned to live...
nearby.
The modern city was founded in 1812 by Sheikh Yusuf bin Mardo, when steam navigation began on the Karun, who named it Muhammarah (Arabic for 'reddish,' an allusion to the red clay fort build by the Sheikh in the port). The name remained until the 1930s, when the Iranian Academy of Culture (the Farhangistan), in its extensive amending of toponyms in Iran/Persia, renamed the city Khurram Shahr, "The Pleasant City."
Sheikhdom
In the early 18h century Mohammerah became a SheikhdomEmirate
An emirate is a political territory that is ruled by a dynastic Muslim monarch styled emir.-Etymology:Etymologically emirate or amirate is the quality, dignity, office or territorial competence of any emir ....
.
The first Sheikh was Ali Mardan of the Muhaisin clan of the Bani Kaab Arab tribe. Succeeding Sheikhs were:
- 1800s? – 1819 Sheikh Yusuf bin Mardo
- 1819–1881 Sheikh Jabir al-Kaabi Khan bin MardoSheikh Jabir al-KaabiSheikh Jabir al-Kaabi was the leader of the Bani Kaab Arab tribe and the Sheikh of Khorramshahr during the 19th century...
- 1881–1897 Sheikh Maz'al Khan ibn Jabir Khan, styled Muaz us-Sultana
- 1897–1925 Sheikh Khaz'al Khan ibn Jabir, styled Sardar-i AqdasNishan-e-AqdasThe Nishan-e-Aqdas was an Imperial Iranian Order founded in 1870 by the Qajar Shah of Iran Nassereddin. There were three classes, with two different styles for Iranians and foreigners...
The Iran–Iraq War
During the Iran–Iraq War it was extensively ravaged by Iraqi forces as a result of Saddam HusseinSaddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's scorched earth
Scorched earth
A scorched earth policy is a military strategy or operational method which involves destroying anything that might be useful to the enemy while advancing through or withdrawing from an area...
policy. Prior to the war, Khorramshahr had grown extensively to become Iran's primary non-oil port city, and home to some of the most sprawling neighborhoods in Iran. The population was predominantly wealthy and upper class, and along with Abadan, the prevalent culture was that of modern Iranian cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism
Cosmopolitanism is the ideology that all human ethnic groups belong to a single community based on a shared morality. This is contrasted with communitarian and particularistic theories, especially the ideas of patriotism and nationalism...
.
Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas
Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas was an Iranian operation conducted during the Iran–Iraq War. The operation was a success, in as so far as it achieved its standing aim of evicting Iraqi troops from the Iranian city of Khorramshahr...
(Persian: بیت المقدس) to recapture the Khuzestan province. The first attack (April 24 to May 12) consisted of 70,000 Pasdaran and succeeded in pushing the Iraqis out of the Ahvaz-Susangerd area. The Iraqis withdrew back to Khorramshahr and, on May 20, launched a counter attack against the Iranians, which was repulsed. The Iranians then launched an all out assault on Khorramshahr, capturing two of the defense lines in the Pol-e No and Shalamcheh region. The Iranians gathered around the Shatt al-Arab(Known as Arvand Rud in Iran) waterway, surrounding the city and, thus, beginning the second siege. The Iranians finally recaptured the city on May 24 after two days of bitter fighting, capturing 19,000 soldiers from a demoralized Iraqi Army after the fighting was over. Over 2,000 of these prisoners were executed. As a result, the Iraqis now know May 24 as “Martyr’s Day”, although the Iranians celebrate this day as the Liberation of Khorramshahr
Liberation of Khorramshahr
The Liberation of Khorramshahr was the Iranian recapture of the port city of Khorramshahr from the Iraqis on May 24, 1982 during the Iran–Iraq War. The Iraqis had captured the city early in the war on October 26, 1980. The successful retaking of the city was part of Operation Beit ol-Moqaddas...
.
By the end of the war, Khorramshahr had been completely devastated by Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti was the fifth President of Iraq, serving in this capacity from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003...
's forces, with very few buildings left intact. Other major urban centres such as Abadan and Ahvaz
Ahvaz
-History:For a more comprehensive historical treatment of the area, see the history section of Khūzestān Province.-Ancient history:Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius's epigraph...
were also left in ruins, though nowhere nearly as bad as Khorramshahr. The city of Khorramshahr was one of the primary and most important frontlines of the war and has thus achieved mythic status amongst the Iranian population.
Economy
The economy of Khorramshahr is still largely affected by the destruction and depopulation of the city's residents in the 1980s during the first years of the Iran–Iraq War. The main activities are, however, essentially the same as before the war, petroleumPetroleum
Petroleum or crude oil is a naturally occurring, flammable liquid consisting of a complex mixture of hydrocarbons of various molecular weights and other liquid organic compounds, that are found in geologic formations beneath the Earth's surface. Petroleum is recovered mostly through oil drilling...
production and exports and imports through the city port, though on a much smaller scale as restoration is not yet totally complete, even though almost two decades have passed since the end of the war. Residents originally from Khorramshahr have also slowly been returning to the city, rebuilding their houses and businesses.
Climate
Khorramshahr has long, hot summers and mild, short winters. The mean temperature in summer is 55 degrees celsius?, maximum temperature in summer could soar up to 66 degrees Celsius while in winters the minimum temperature could fall around -3 degrees Celsius. The annual rainfall is 200 mm. Khorramshahr experiences many sandstorms.Marine Science & Technology University of Khorramshahr
In 1976, in Filieh, an area bordering the port city of Khorramshahr, the Persian GulfSouthern Branch of Jondi Shahpour University, Ahvaz (Shahid Chamran University), was established comprising two colleges: the College of Marine Sciences and the College of Maritime Management and Economics. But this newly established center was closed soon after due to the war imposed on Iran. This college recommenced academically in 1993, admitting 10 MS students in the fields of physical oceanography and marine biology on Shahid Chamran’s campus. With the start of the postwar reconstruction of the war torn cities of Abadan and Khorramshahr in 1998, the Southern Branch was moved back to Khorramshahr, expanding its academic scope by admitting undergraduate students in the fields of marine biology, environmental sciences and fisheries.
In 2003, this institute separated from Shahid Chamran University and became Khorramshahr University of Marine Science and Technology (KMSU), with access to open waters, the Arvand and Bahmanshir rivers, and adjacency to the Shadegan and Hor Swamps, situated in the Arvand Free Zone.