Kharg Island, Iran

Overview[]

Khark Island is situated in the north west of the Persian Gulf and the middle of the Darius Oilfield.

Stats[]

Name- Khark Island or Kharg Island, Persian: Jazīreh-ye Khārk, Arabic: Jazīrat Khārg.
Location Northern Persian Gulf, 34 miles (55 km) northwest of the port of Bushire (Būshehr)
Only settlement- Kark
Size- 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi).
Population- 8,193 in 2016.
Produce- Oil, sulfate fertilizers, liquid gas, and other petroleum products.
Climate- Hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: BSh).
Language- Persian, Arabic and Khargi. The Iranian dialect of the Persian settlers of the Achaemenid period may have in turn been the ancestor of the Khargi language.

History[]

Pre-oil[]

83 rock cut tombs and 62 megalithic tombs. There are qanat (i.e. kariz) on the island that would have provided ancient irrigation.
2 rock-cut chambered tombs that feature a relief of a reclining man drinking in the Seleucid and Parthian (or possibly Nabataean) architecture styles of Palmyra along with a damaged relief suggested to feature Nike on the face of a sphere-topped column.
The ruins of a coarse stone temple with a plastered altar and Nestorian style crosses.
A Christian church complex or ancient monastery.
A recently damaged Achaemenid inscription “The not irrigated land was happy [with] my bringing out [of water]”.
It was first mentioned in the Persian book Hudud al-'Alam (Arabic: حدود العالم, lit. "Boundaries of the World" or "Limits of the World")as a good source for pearls around 982 AD.
It was held by the Dutch in the 15th Century.
It was held by the Portuguese in the 16th and 17th Centuries.
It was visited by the French traveller Jean de Thévenot in 1665. The island was recorded as trading with Isfahan and Basra.
It was held by 1753 the Dutch Empire, bought perpetual ownership of the island from Mir Nasáir, the Arab ruler of Bandar Rig for 2,000 Rupees.
It was captured in 1766 Mir Mahanna, the governor of Bandar Rig.
It was captured by the British in 1838 by the British to block the Siege of Herat (1838) but was soon returned to Persia.
It was held by Persia soon after 1838.
Captain A. W. Stiffe visited in 1898.
Both by F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld visited it in in 1910.

Post-oil[]

A crude-oil terminal and loading facility was opened in the 1960s, but super-tankers chose to dock there rather than at Abadan for bulk landing purposes. Kharg beach was used by tourists in 1970. Amoco's oil terminal was seased after the Iran's Islamic revolution.

Iran-Iraq war[]

It was was devastated by an Iraqi air-raid in 1986 and rebuilding began in 1988. It was repaired by 1990. It lead to the dispute in the English contract law case The Kanchenjunga [1990] 1 Lloyd's Rep 391, regarding the conditions for repudiatory breach, the risks incurred during a war of contract and a claimant's right to elect to accept repudiation.

Present day[]

Iran had exported and swapped 950 million barrels of crude oil via southern Khark oil terminal in 2009.

Kharg Island, Iran

Contents

Overview[]

Stats[]

History[]

Pre-oil[]

Post-oil[]

Iran-Iraq war[]

Present day[]

Economy[]

Also see[]

Sources[]

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