The History of the Persian Gulf

Due to its strategic location and rich natural resources, the Persian Gulf has always been the focus of governments and nations, and many sultans and kings had up to it as an economically important location and the Achaemenid and Parthian kings supported the expansion of trade in this region.

The Parthians controlled two trade routes, one of which was a trade route that extended from the side of the Euphrates, Asia Minor, Syria, and Northern Mesopotamia to the Persian Gulf. (1)

In order to expand Iran’s trade, Darius, the king of Achaemenid Iran, ordered the creation of the Suez Canal, so that commercial ships could reach Egypt and the Mediterranean from the Persian Sea and the Red Sea.

In a stone inscription left from that period, it is written: “I, Darius, am a Persian and from Persia, I conquered Egypt and ordered them to build this canal and it was made so that ships could sail from the Nile which flows in Egypt to the sea in Persia. This canal was dug and the ships were sent as I ordered; as it was my will” (2)

It has been recorded in history that the Parthians competed fiercely with the Romans and in order to expand trade they turned the Persian Sea into a transit route. (3)

This trend continued in the Sassanid era, too, and Bandar-e Siraf (around Bushehr) became a major trade center. The names Pars, Fars, Parsova, and Iran can even be seen in the historical documents of China from the 4th to the 12th century AD, which indicates the existence of trade relations between the two regions. (4)

Even after the advent of Islam in Iran, the Iranians were still ahead of other Middle Eastern governments in seafaring and sea trade. (5)

Throughout the history of Iran, the colonialists were always in a struggle to gain an upper hand in the Persian Gulf. For example, during the Safavid era, the Ottomans started invading the Persian Gulf, the Portuguese took complete control of this region around the 16th century and were always in conflict with the Ottomans. In 1587 AD, the Safavid king, Shah Abbas I, pushed back the Portuguese with the help of the British, and in return, the British began to control this area. The Dutch took over the Strait of Hormuz in 1623 AD and took over a share of Iran’s trade. This caused a conflict with the British. Not long after, in 1664 AD, the French East India Company was established and another competitor was added. During the Afsharid rule, Nader Shah bought several ships from England and Holland and formed Iran’s navy in the Persian Gulf. (6)

During the Qajar era, the Persian Gulf was invaded by colonial countries more than ever before; especially England, which considered itself the ruler of the Persian Gulf, and the imprudence of the Qajar kings paved the way for the illegitimate presence of England, France, and Russia. Amir Kabir (prime minister of Naser al-Din Shah) tried hard to form the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf and the Caspian Sea but did not succeed because of the interference of his rivals.

The obnoxious move to change the name of the Persian Gulf, which is actually an insult to the identity and civilization began in 1937 AD; the documents about which are still available in the British Ministry of Foreign Affairs. (7)

The term “Arabian Gulf” was first used by the representative of England living in the Persian Gulf, Roderick Owen, in a book entitled “Golden Bubble: Arabian Gulf” where he wrote that “I had not seen any other name than the Persian Gulf in all the books and maps, but after spending a few years on the shores of the Persian Gulf (Bahrain), I realized that the inhabitants of the southern coast are Arabs, so I thought we should call it Arabian Gulf.”

Persian Gulf; A Historical Name

In naming lands, seas, rivers, mountains, etc., ancient geographers kept certain criteria in mind. For instance, seas and lakes were named after the country and land that was located near and around them; such as the Gulf of Mexico, Persian Gulf, China Sea, Indian Ocean, Mazandaran Sea (Caspian), etc. (8)

The southwestern region of Iran was called Fars, whose ancient inhabitants were called “Parsian”, which the Greeks called Persay, and two Achaemenid and Sassanid kingdoms arose from among this people. Some researchers believe that “Parsian” were the Parsua people who lived near Lake Urmia (whose name is mentioned in the Assyrian inscription) but migrated to the south and settled in the land of Pars - at a time when none of the small and large coastal countries of today existed and they were all part of the vast Persian Empire (9) - as a result of which the sea adjacent to this region was called the Pars Sea. Even the powerful countries of that day, such as Greece and Rome, could sail their ships and enter the Persian Gulf with the permission of the Iranians. (10) The Greeks called this sea “Persicus Sinus”, which means “Persian Gulf”. (11)

In an inscription left by him, the Achaemenid king, Darius the Great, had used the phrase “Drayeh Tiye Hacha Parsa Aabi” which means “Pars Sea”. (12)

Arabs, too, have always known that the name (Persian Gulf) has been the true name of this great sea. Arab geographers also knew it from the first centuries of Islam. Abul-Qasim Ubaydallah ibn Abdallah, popularly known as Ibn Khurdadbeh, who wrote his book “Al-Masalik wa Al-Mamalik” around the years 844-847 AD, writes about the Persian Gulf: “The Tigris is in the middle of the city of Baghdad, then it passes through Wasit until it flows to Al-Bataeh and… It then passes to Basra and passes to the district of Al-Madhar, then all flows into the Fars Sea… (13)

Masoudi, another famous Arab writer, has, in his valuable book “Muruj al-Dhahab wa Ma’adin al-Jawhar” (Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems) written about the seas he mentioned the name of the Persian Gulf as the “Pars Sea”. He writes: “The Pars Sea is full of waves and waves and...” (14) Ibn Hawqal, a famous Arab traveler and geographer, too, has, in his famous book “Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ” mentions the name “Fars Sea”. (15) Similarly, Istakhari, an expert Arab geographer and the author of the book “Masalik al-Mamalik” again mentions the “Fars Sea” (16)

While describing the borders of Fars, in his book “Taqwim al-Buldan”, Abulfeda writes: “The western border of Fars is Khuzestan… and its southern border is the “Fars Sea”. (17)

In the book “Mu’jam al-Buldan”, which is considered an authentic dictionary of geographical terms by all geographers, the name of the Persin Gulf has been mentioned as “Bahr-e Fars” (Fars Sea) (18)

Thus, what can be inferred from historical texts and even acknowledged by Arab geographers is that the “Persian Gulf” belonged to the Persians and Iran during the periods of history, and what some Arabs, with the cooperation of the United States and England, are trying is a futile attempt to eradicate the ancient name of the Persian Gulf and it will always remain “PERSIAN GULF”.

Endnotes

1. Igor Mikhailovich Diakonoff,The Paths of History
2. Hamid Tusi Maraghi,Bisotun Inscription, P. 563
3. Iraj Afshar (Sistani),Historical Geography ofThe Pars Sea, P. 293
4. Ibid., P. 294
5. Ignaty Yulianovich Krachkovsky,The History of Geographical Writings in Islamic World, P. 111
6. Iraj Afshar (Sistani),The Name of Persian Gulf, P. 41
7. Iraj Afshar (Sistani),Historical Geography ofThe Pars Sea, PP. 138-139
8. Iraj Afshar (Sistani),The Name of Persian Gulf, P. 64
9. Abbas Qadyani,
10. Abdul-Hossein Nahchiri,
11. Iraj Afshar (Sistani),Historical Geography ofThe Pars Sea, P. 127
12. Ibid., P. 118 and Hamid Tusi Maraghi,Bisotun Inscription, P. 563
13. Ibn Khurdadbeh,Al-Masalak wa Al-Mamalik
14. Masoudi,Muruj al-Dhahab wa Ma’adin al-Jawhar, P. 166
15. Ibn Hawqal,Ṣūrat al-’Arḍ
16. Istakhari,Masalik al-Mamalik, P. 29
17. Abulfeda,Taqwim al-Buldan, P. 367
18. Yaqut al-Hamawi,Kitāb Mu'jam al-Buldān, P. 400