See full version: Persian Gulf History
Through the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf is connected to Gulf of Oman. There have been serious incidents that have affected the environment of the Persian Gulf in recent years. While oil spills from the heavy traffic of oil tankers over years have been serious enough, oil spills from 1983, during the Iran-Iraq War, and in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War, have been catastrophic.
Six of the eight littoral states were created in the 20th century, and only Iran (Persia) and Oman have long histories as separate entities. The Persian Gulf states today contain some 118 million people, representing many ethnic, religious, linguistic and political communities. A major cleavage is that between Persian and Arab. Arabic, a Semitic language, is spoken in Iraq and the states of the peninsula. Iran (Persia) has an Aryan heritage, and its main language, Persian (Farsi), is an Indo-European language. Muslims of the Shiite sect predominate in Iran (Persia), Iraq and Bahrain, whereas Sunni Muslims form the majority in other Persian Gulf states. here
The modern strategic importance of the Persian Gulf dates from the mid-19th century, when three great empires confronted each other there: British India, Tsarist Russia and Ottoman Turkey. The British established political control over much of the Persian Gulf in the early 1800s and kept it for 150 years, establishing a tradition of outside involvement that persists today. Britain did not establish formal protectorates (as in the case, for example, of Egypt), but did enter into treaties with local shaikhs offering them protection in return for control over their foreign policy. In 1899 Kuwait, then considered a dependency of the Ottomans, was brought into this system. After World War I, the political map of much of the Middle East was redrawn as the Ottoman Empire was replaced by modern states, including Turkey, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. The small Arab shaikhdoms on the western shore of the Persian Gulf were under British protection until 1971 (in the case of Kuwait, 1961). Iran (Persia) was never a colony, and for much of the 19th and 20th century Britain competed with Russia for influence there. [links]
The present importance of the Persian Gulf stems from its massive energy deposits. Sixty-five percent of the world's known oil reserves are located in the Persian Gulf countries, which produce over a third of the world's daily output. (By comparison, North America holds 8.5 percent of the world's reserves.) Saudi Arabia ranks first in reserves, with 261 billion barrels, followed by Iraq (100 billion), the U.A.E. (98 billion), Kuwait (96.5 billion), and Iran (89 billion). The Persian Gulf is also rich in natural gas, with Iran and Qatar holding the world's second and third-largest reserves, respectively.
Origins of the name of Hormuz strait
Because of dominance of Iranians generally Middle East and the west of Asia in the past, this strait (Hormuz), has a Persian name, as well as the Persian Gulf. In fact, all the countries that nowadays are existed in this region are the result of colonialism of the England government. There are three ways to investigate the origins of the name of Hormuz strait. First of all, the ancient people made the name Hormuz, from the name of Persian God, Ahura-Mazda. In Iranian ancient religious, Ahura-Mazda is also known as Ohrmazda, Aramazd, Hourmazd or Ahuramazda. In the second possibility, in the Sassanid Empire, the name of kings who made a business center from the Persian Gulf was Hormuz, and because of this reason, they named this strait after their names. And the third possibility is maybe they named this strategic strait because of the city near it was named Hormuz. The remains of that ancient city still exist in the Hormuzgan province. However, most of the experts believe that this nomination is because of the vicinity of this strait to the Hormuz city. Nevertheless, Hormuz is also the name of five Sassanid kings (224-652 A.C) which are as follows: more
The land conflicts are because of the short width in the shorten part of the strait which is about 21 miles. In the beaches of Iran, the depth of Hormuz strait is lesser in the beach sides of Iran. Iran has six strategic Island (Hormuz, Lark, Queshm, Hengam, lesser Tunb, greater Tunb and Abu Musa.) are located in the entrance of Oman sea to the Persian Gulf. They are shaped like an arc, and they are known as Iranian defensive arc against the possible aggressions. The Hormuz island which is located in Hormuz strait is a geopolitical and geo-economical place, which in the Achaemenian empire era (330-550 BCE) was a site navigation (Eghtedari, 1344- 45) and in the time of occupation of south of Iran by Portugal, They used this island to connect the Persian Gulf to the Indian Ocean. In the 18 and 19 century, the Hormuz island was the cross way to transport the spice from the Calicut port of India to the Europe. (The geography and national strategies of Iran- Dr. Masoome Taheri Moosavi, page 148). here
The sea bed in the Hormuz strait is a high steep from the north to the south. In recent decades, because of using the heavy oil tankers, these tankers just are able to transport in the deepest part of this strait in the Musandam shores but in the past, the way of oil tanker ships in the Hormuz strait was between lesser Quwain and rocky shores of the Musandam Island until 1979. In this year, the Oman government announced to the international maritime consulting organization (IMCO), that this government cannot guarantee the safety of the ships which are passing the distance between the lesser Quwain Island and the rocks of Musandam Island anymore. They demanded to recognition shipping route from the north of Alsalame Island to the Iran maritime borders, then they considered two parallel shipping routes for the oil tankers in the north and south, between Quwain Island (greater and lesser) and the border between Iran and Oman. more
One of the most important international straits of the world is strategic Strait of Hormuz, which is one of the most vital traffic straits of the world. Iran is the controller of this strait. Therefore, it enhances the military force of the country. Iran is a pacifistic country, although, the western countries and their allies in the Middle East did a lot of inhuman things but Iran never used the option of closing the Hormuz strait. There are more than 100 straits between oceans and canals in the entire world which their width is below 40 kilometers (25 miles). If somebody rates them based on the number of ships, economic excellence, geographic vulnerability and military usefulness, the top five straits which are the gates of Middle East and north of Africa are: Hormuz strait in the south of Iran, strait of Gibraltar, Bosporus strait, Dardanelles in Turkey and Babb-el-Mandeb strait. Hormuz strait is a curved beam sea that separates the Iranian plateau from the Arabian Peninsula, and it connects the Persian Gulf to the sea of Oman and Indian Ocean. This strait is a trough from the third period of geological, which cuts along of the mountains of south of Iran to the Musandam peninsula. There is no special criterion for identify the length of Hormuz strait but maybe the maritime boundary between Iran and Oman be the best criterion for this. The length of this boundary line is 202.1 kilometers (124.8 nautical miles). The longest distance of Strait of Hormuz is 84 kilometers (from the shore of Bandar-Abbas in the north to the northeast place of shore of Musandam in the south), and the shortest distance is estimated 33.6 kilometers (between Iranian island, Lark in the north and the Oman island, Alsalame, or in other words, greater Quwian island in the south). more
Persian Gulf: 3 specimens, Bushehr Province [(ZMSBUK.HD.10), TL 813, SVL 722, HL 26, HW 16.7, GL 18.8, SNL 4.9, NEL 3.9, ND 53, GBD 80, NSL 7, NSR 35, BSR 42, NB 41; (ZMSBUK.HD.13), TL 879, SVL 791, HL 28.1, HW 15, GL 12.5, SNL 4.2, NEL 4, ND 55, GBD 89, NSL 7, NSR 40, BSR 44, NV 302, NB 46; (ZMSBUK.HD.16), TL 1200, SVL 1072, HL 36.6, HW 23.7, GL 27.6, SNL 6, NEL 5.2, ND 74, GBD 157, NSL 7, NSR 41, BSR 50, NV 306, NB 53], September 2013, collector: M. Rezaie-Atagholipour. here
Head of Hydrophis viperinus: a lateral view b dorsal view.
Head of medium size; rostral beaked-shaped, elongate with decurved and pointed tip (Figures (Figures2a, 2a , ,3a); 3a ); mental elongate, slender and dagger-shaped, hidden in the groove between chin shields (Figures (Figures3a, 3a , ,6c); 6c ); body slightly elongate, not markedly slender anteriorly (Figure 6e–f ); 301–348 ventrals [340–354 (Volsøe 1939)], small and more or less indistinguishable from adjacent scales at mid-body (Figure (Figure4e); 4e ); 40–55 scale rows on neck and 53–65 on body [47–52 and 56–60 (Volsøe 1939)].
Head of medium size (Figure (Figure15); 15 ); second supralabial touches prefrontal scale (Figure (Figure14); 14 ); body markedly elongate, not slender anteriorly (Figure 15d ); 387 ventrals [363–385 (Volsøe 1939)], slightly distinguishable from adjacent scales; [27–31 scale rows on neck, 34–38 on body (n = 4, Volsøe 1939; n = 1, present study)]. here
Hydrophis viperinus is distinct from other sea snakes in the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman by having markedly rectangular-shaped and enlarged ventrals on the anterior part of the body. Smith (1926) and Wall (1921) mentioned that the Persian Gulf is the westernmost distribution limit of Hydrophis viperinus. Volsøe (1939) had doubts about it: “their only exact records from the Persian Gulf are however from Muscat, which is situated about 400 km outside the Strait of Hormoz”. We agree with Volsøe (1939) as the two specimens we examined in this study and the specimens examined in other studies in the area (e.g. Boulenger 1887; Volsøe 1939) have all been collected from the Gulf of Oman. We did not find any specimen of Hydrophis viperinus in Iranian coastal waters of the Persian Gulf during our field surveys. Therefore, population of Hydrophis viperinus in the Persian Gulf, if present, seems likely to be in low abundance.
King Hormuz I (273- 274 A.C) was son of King Shapour I. King Hormuz II (303-310 A.C) was the 8th Sassanid king and also known as Narseh. King Hormuz III (457-459 A.C) was the son of Yazdgerd II, and he was the 17th king of Sassanid Empire. The King Hormuz IV (579-590 A.C) was the 24th king of Sassanid empire and the King Hormuz V (632 A.C) was the 31yh king of this Empire. more
The strategic strait of Hormuz in Persian Gulf here
Map of Strait of Hormuz with maritime political boundaries (2004) [links]
Geo-strategic of Strait of Hormuz
The length of this strait is about 100 nautical miles (182 kilometers) and in the shorten part its width is about 21 nautical miles. This strain is between the Iranian island, Lark and the Oman Island, greater Quwain. The Hormuz strain located between the Iran (in north) and Musandam peninsula of Oman (in south). Both governments of Iran and Oman clam that they got 12 nautical miles of the ownership the Hormuz strait. [links]
One of the most important international straits of the world is strategic Strait of Hormuz, which is one of the most vital traffic straits of the world. Iran is the controller of this strait. Therefore, it enhances the military force of the country. Iran is a pacifistic country, although, the western countries and their allies in the Middle East did a lot of inhuman things but Iran never used the option of closing the Hormuz strait. There are more than 100 straits between oceans and canals in the entire world which their width is below 40 kilometers (25 miles). If somebody rates them based on the number of ships, economic excellence, geographic vulnerability and military usefulness, the top five straits which are the gates of Middle East and north of Africa are: Hormuz strait in the south of Iran, strait of Gibraltar, Bosporus strait, Dardanelles in Turkey and Babb-el-Mandeb strait. Hormuz strait is a curved beam sea that separates the Iranian plateau from the Arabian Peninsula, and it connects the Persian Gulf to the sea of Oman and Indian Ocean. This strait is a trough from the third period of geological, which cuts along of the mountains of south of Iran to the Musandam peninsula. There is no special criterion for identify the length of Hormuz strait but maybe the maritime boundary between Iran and Oman be the best criterion for this. The length of this boundary line is 202.1 kilometers (124.8 nautical miles). The longest distance of Strait of Hormuz is 84 kilometers (from the shore of Bandar-Abbas in the north to the northeast place of shore of Musandam in the south), and the shortest distance is estimated 33.6 kilometers (between Iranian island, Lark in the north and the Oman island, Alsalame, or in other words, greater Quwian island in the south).