نشریه مطالعات خلیج فارس
سال چهارم شماره 1 (پیاپی 13، تابستان 1397)

This paper explores the etymology of the geographical names of the southern regions of Iran and the Persian Gulf and the related changes based on philology. It also provides a brief account of the toponymy of Greater and Lesser Tunbs, Abu Musa, Oman Sea, Masqat, Siraf, Ras Musandam, Hormuz Island, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Basra, Gombroon (Bandar Abbas), Bashagard, Kumzar, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah, Tis, Frur, and Frar. Therefore, it mainly focuses on the etymology of the names of the countries, ports, islands, and other important places in the north and south of the Persian Gulf.

Unlike the other European countries, the colonial activities of the United Kingdom in the Persian Gulf region and its islands have a long history. The first colonial activities of Britain date back to the late years of the third quarter of the 16th century. Therefore, considering the end of 1971, when the British forces left the Persian Gulf, eastern regions of Suez Canal, and the three islands of Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs, as the end of its colonial activities, the colonial history of this country amounts to 400 years in duration. Iran’s geo-political and economic status played a significant role in Britain’s protection of its most important colony, India, against the invasion of its colonial rivals, particularly the Russians, as well as its looting of Iran’s national wealth (oil resources in the south). Thus Britain tried to penetrate and even invade the land of Iran, especially the Persian Gulf and its important islands including Abu Musa and the Greater and Lesser Tunbs. In order to justify and cover up its colonial purposes, Britain resorted to certain international laws and arguments, such as Qasimi rulers’ shared ownership and control of the mentioned islands and their being under the sovereignty of Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah until before 1903, the principle of Terra nullius between 1903 and 1904, and the legal principle of the statute of limitation from 1935 onwards. This was the case while Abu Musa Island and Greater and Lesser Tunbs were always under the sovereignty of the Iranian government and had never been without an owner or forgotten as remote lands.

Given the frequent references of authors to the commercial and political significance of Jiroft and its desirable features in various Islamic periods, different routes must have branched from this city for the departure and arrival of tradesmen’s caravans. The Jiroft-Hormuz route was probably one of the most important of such routes. Unfortunately, in spite of the significance and fame that it enjoyed during its own time, it has not received much attention from the historians, researchers, and archeologists of Islamic periods. In the past, Jiroft was considered to be one of the major trade centers of Iran connecting the Southeast of the country to its central and southern regions. It was also connected to the Persian Gulf through its famous waterfront, Hormuz. The caravan route of Jiroft to the Port of Hormuz was one of the important routes of the early to middle Islamic centuries, and the distribution of several cultural elements along this route demonstrates its significance and splendor in the state of Kerman. The main reason for the importance of this route was its supreme commercial value as it connected Jiroft as an important urban center, which was linked to the Southeast of Iran, to Hormuz, which was an important commercial port at that time. The present study aimed to examine the route connecting Jiroft to the Port of Hormuz up to Maghun district and determine its true value. In doing so, while employing a historical approach, the authors explored a number of historical and geographical sources, archeological reports, and the findings of methodical archeological studies in Jiroft, Cheshmeh Shah, and Kalatak Boluk. The findings of this study indicate that the Jiroft-Hormuz route passed through Cheshmeh Shah, Boluk, and Faryab, which were culturally linked with each other, and then reached the Port of Hormuz. The studies carried out on the pottery found in archeological investigations revealed that the mentioned regions enjoyed prosperity during the Islamic middle periods, particularly in the Seljuk era, but lost their affluence in later periods.

The connecting role of Iran in previous periods has always attracted the attention of different nations and ethnic groups. In fact, as a crossroad connecting different countries to each other, Iran was always witness to the conflicts among different ethnic groups. During the past periods, Iran and China had some commercial relationships with each other and, in addition to trading through land routes, they also exchanged their goods through the sea route of the Persian Gulf and its islands, such as Kish and Hormuz, and Siraf Port. The ports of the Persian Gulf have played a great role in Iran’s economic prosperity since long ago, and many different sources testify to the truth of this claim. The present paper examines the mentioned role with an emphasis on the economic and commercial status of the Persian Gulf in the Ilkhanid Period.

The Spatial Structure of each region reflects the different plans which have been developed under the influence of economic, social, and natural structures and the systems of activity distribution during different periods. Ignoring the establishment of a logical balance among the three pillars of population, activity, and environment in spatial organization results in the disintegration of the living and activity environment, waste of space potentials and talents, marginalization of regions and application of pressure on limited-range potentials, intensification of spatial inequalities, inefficient and inappropriate service distribution, and disruption in symmetrical and consistent regional development. The present study was intended to examine the spatial structure of Hormozgan Province and to introduce an appropriate approach to a logical spatial arrangement and establishment of balance and harmony in the distribution of the three pillars of space (population, activity, and environment). This study was conducted following the descriptive-analytic method and the collected data were analyzed using the Arc GIS software. To identify an efficient strategy for the purpose of optimizing the conditions of spatial structure, the researchers collected the views of a number of experts and professionals and analyzed them using the SWOT Model. The findings of the study indicate that the spatial structure of Hormozgan Province is centralized and unicentral, and the hierarchy of population- and activity-based settlement system has not been formed there. In the same vein, the researchers conclude that an appropriate strategy for improving the spatial structure of this province and accessing a desirable one is to focus on the spatial planning approach and dispersed stability strategy, which deals with the development of the second and third level regions of the province.

Do-baytī (literally “two-couplet”) is one of the most popular Persian poetic forms. One of the ways of learning about the characteristics of people in each region is to examine their local folklore. Fayez Dashti is one of the popular Do-baytī writers of the south Iran, and the secret behind his fame is his reflecting the elements of southern local culture and speaking of people’s pains and wishes in his poems. The purpose of this study was to reveal the mutual effects of the local culture of the south of Iran and Fayez’s Do-baytīs on each other. In doing so, the authors have tried to examine the similarities between the narrative contents of his Do-baytīs and the spiritual and material elements of southern people’s culture. Fayez’s popularity among people and their particular beliefs and ideas have turned him into a legend, and people have written some myths in order to explain his poetic art. Fayez was a people’s poet who benefitted from the common proverbs and parables of the region, and southern people have accepted his poems as a part of their culture. Many of his do-baytīs have become immortal in the Sharveh songs (a special style of Luri singing of sad songs). Fayez was a rural poet inspired by his living environment in creating the images in his poems. Such images manifest the particular atmosphere of the villages in Dashti, Dashtestan, and Tangestan counties.