Kharg or Khark Island ( fa, جزیره خارک) is a
continental island
An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...
in the
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...
belonging to
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...
. The island is located off the coast of Iran and northwest of the
Strait of Hormuz
The Strait of Hormuz ( fa, تنگه هرمز ''Tangeh-ye Hormoz'' ar, مَضيق هُرمُز ''Maḍīq Hurmuz'') is a strait between the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. It provides the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf to the ...
. Its total area is . Administered by the adjacent coastal
Bushehr Province, Khark Island provides a sea port for the export of oil and extends Iranian
territorial sea
The term territorial waters is sometimes used informally to refer to any area of water over which a sovereign state has jurisdiction, including internal waters, the territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the exclusive economic zone, and potenti ...
claims into the Persian Gulf oil fields. Located on Khark Island is
Khark, the only city in the
Khark District.
History
![Kharg oil loading terminal](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/21/Kharg_oil_loading_terminal.jpg)
Mentioned in the ''
Hudud al-'Alam'' as a good source for pearls around 982 AD, Khark was visited by the French traveller
Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot (16 June 1633 – 28 November 1667) was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a linguist, natural scientist and botanist.
Education
He was born in Paris and received his educa ...
in 1665, who recorded trade at the time with
Isfahan
Isfahan ( fa, اصفهان, Esfahân ), from its Achaemenid empire, ancient designation ''Aspadana'' and, later, ''Spahan'' in Sassanian Empire, middle Persian, rendered in English as ''Ispahan'', is a major city in the Greater Isfahan Regio ...
and
Basra
Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...
.
In 1753 the
Dutch Empire established both a trading post and a fort on the island after securing perpetual ownership of the island from Mir Nasáir, the Arab ruler of Bandar Rig, in return for a present of 2000 rupees. In 1766 the Dutch fort was captured by Mir Mahanna, the governor of
Bandar Rig.
The island was briefly occupied in 1838 by the British to block the
Siege of Herat (1838) Siege of Herat may refer to:
* Siege of Herat (652), part of the Islamic conquest of Sassanid Persia
* Siege of Herat (1448)
* Herat campaign of 1731
* Siege of Herat (1837–1838), an action by Qajar Persia that preceded the Anglo-Persian War
* ...
but was soon returned. Amoco built and operated the oil terminal on the island. Its property was expropriated after the revolution.
![NIOC Kharg beach](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a7/NIOC_Kharg_beach.jpg)
Once the world's largest offshore crude oil terminal and the principal sea terminal for Iranian oil, the Khark Island facilities were put out of commission in the fall of 1986. Heavy bombing of the Khark Island facilities from 1980 through 1988 by the
Iraqi Air Force
The Iraqi Air Force (IQAF or IrAF) ( ar, القوات الجوية العراقية, Al Quwwat al Jawwiyah al Iraqiyyah}) is the aerial warfare service branch of the Iraqi Armed Forces. It is responsible for the defense of Iraqi airspace as well ...
during the
Iran–Iraq War
The Iran–Iraq War was an armed conflict between Iran and Iraq that lasted from September 1980 to August 1988. It began with the Iraqi invasion of Iran and lasted for almost eight years, until the acceptance of United Nations Security Council ...
all but destroyed most of the terminal facilities. Khark Island was situated in the middle of the
Darius Oilfield, also destroyed by the intensive bombing. Repair to all facilities has been very slow, even after the war ended in 1988. The events experienced by this island gave rise to the dispute in the English contract law case ''The Kanchenjunga''
9901 Lloyd's Rep 391, regarding the conditions for repudiatory breach of contract and a claimant's right to elect to accept repudiation.
In 2009, Iran exported and swapped 950 million barrels of crude oil via southern Khark oil terminal.
Archaeology
The first archaeological evidence of human occupation on Khark island was reported by Captain A. W. Stiffe in 1898, with studies published about his discoveries by F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld in 1910. They discovered two rock-cut chambered tombs featuring arched entranceways to a main chamber with
vestibule from which spawned around twenty smaller chambers. The southern tomb is deep and features a relief of a reclining man drinking in the
Seleucid
The Seleucid Empire (; grc, Βασιλεία τῶν Σελευκιδῶν, ''Basileía tōn Seleukidōn'') was a Greek state in West Asia that existed during the Hellenistic period from 312 BC to 63 BC. The Seleucid Empire was founded by the ...
and
Parthian Parthian may be:
Historical
* A demonym "of Parthia", a region of north-eastern of Greater Iran
* Parthian Empire (247 BC – 224 AD)
* Parthian language, a now-extinct Middle Iranian language
* Parthian shot, an archery skill famously employed by ...
styles of
Palmyra
Palmyra (; Palmyrene: () ''Tadmor''; ar, تَدْمُر ''Tadmur'') is an ancient city in present-day Homs Governorate, Syria. Archaeological finds date back to the Neolithic period, and documents first mention the city in the early second ...
along with a damaged relief suggested to feature
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
on the face of a sphere-topped column. Mary-Joseph Steve has argued that the architecture of the tombs is more reminiscent of
Nabataean
The Nabataeans or Nabateans (; Nabataean Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; Arabic: , , singular , ; compare grc, Ναβαταῖος, translit=Nabataîos; la, Nabataeus) were an ancient Arab people who inhabited northern Arabia and the southern Lev ...
architecture at
Petra
Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean Aramaic, Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to t ...
than anything
Palmyrene.
[Steve, M.-J., "Sur l'île de Khârg dans le golfe Persique," Dossiers d'Arche‚ologie 243, pp. 74-80, 1999.]
Another eighty three rock cut tombs and sixty two
megalith
A megalith is a large stone that has been used to construct a prehistoric structure or monument, either alone or together with other stones. There are over 35,000 in Europe alone, located widely from Sweden to the Mediterranean sea.
The ...
ic tombs have been studied on Kharg. The rock-cut tombs fall into four categories; single chambered, shallow tombs of varying shape, pit burials and excavated multi-chambered complexes. Steve also noticed the presence of several
Nestorian
Nestorianism is a term used in Christian theology and Church history to refer to several mutually related but doctrinarily distinct sets of teachings. The first meaning of the term is related to the original teachings of Christian theologian ...
style crosses at some of the tombs.
There are also ruins of a coarse stone
temple
A temple (from the Latin ) is a building reserved for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. Religions which erect temples include Christianity (whose temples are typically called churches), Hinduism (whose temples ...
on the island measuring around square with a plastered
altar for fire in the centre.
A
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
church complex or ancient
monastery
A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...
of some by is also located on the island featuring a chapel, nineteen
monk
A monk (, from el, μοναχός, ''monachos'', "single, solitary" via Latin ) is a person who practices religious asceticism by monastic living, either alone or with any number of other monks. A monk may be a person who decides to dedica ...
s cells, library and courtyard.
Achaemenid inscription
On November 14, 2007, a
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a logo-syllabic script that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Middle East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. It is named for the characteristic wedge-sha ...
inscription dating back to
Achaemenid era
The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...
was discovered on Kharg Island in
Old Persian
Old Persian is one of the two directly attested Old Iranian languages (the other being Avestan language, Avestan) and is the ancestor of Middle Persian (the language of Sasanian Empire). Like other Old Iranian languages, it was known to its native ...
. The inscription is carved on a coral rock in Old Persian semi-syllabic cuneiform signs. Despite the usually well-ordered regular system of Achaemenid inscriptions, this one is in an unusual order written in five lines.
The linguist
Habib Borjian Habib Borjian is a linguist who specializes in a wide variety of matters, including historical linguistics, language documentation, philology and Iranian languages and literature. He was educated at Columbia University, the University of Tehran and ...
explains that if the inscription is authentic, combined with the island's known history of ''
kariz'' usage, "which came about under the Achaemenid rule in the
Near East
The ''Near East''; he, המזרח הקרוב; arc, ܕܢܚܐ ܩܪܒ; fa, خاور نزدیک, Xāvar-e nazdik; tr, Yakın Doğu is a geographical term which roughly encompasses a transcontinental region in Western Asia, that was once the hist ...
(550–330 BCE)", it can be suggested that there was a
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
colonisation of Kharg under the Achaemenids.
The Iranian dialect of the Persian settlers of the Achaemenid period may have in turn been the ancestor of the
Khargi language, with Borjian adding that "there is no contradicting evidence to make this hypothesis implausible".
On May 31, 2008, the inscription was seriously damaged by unknown vandal(s). They destroyed it with a sharp object, such that about 70 percent of the inscription was seriously damaged. The nature of the damage indicates that it was done deliberately.
The 17th-century French traveller
Jean de Thévenot
Jean de Thévenot (16 June 1633 – 28 November 1667) was a French traveller in the East, who wrote extensively about his journeys. He was also a linguist, natural scientist and botanist.
Education
He was born in Paris and received his educa ...
noted the presence of qanat (i.e. kariz) on the island that would have provided ancient irrigation.
In popular culture
The island appears with a SAM radar installation on it in the
Sega Genesis
The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Syst ...
flight simulator
F-15 Strike Eagle II
''F-15 Strike Eagle II'' is an F-15E Strike Eagle combat flight simulator released in 1989 by MicroProse and is the sequel of '' F-15 Strike Eagle''. It was followed in 1992 by ''F-15 Strike Eagle III'', the final game of the series.
The fighter ...
in the Persian Gulf mission map.
The island is featured as a playable map in
DICE
Dice (singular die or dice) are small, throwable objects with marked sides that can rest in multiple positions. They are used for generating random values, commonly as part of tabletop games, including dice games, board games, role-playing g ...
's ''
Battlefield 3
''Battlefield 3'' is a 2011 first-person shooter video game developed by DICE (company), DICE and published by Electronic Arts for Windows, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. It is a direct sequel to 2005's ''Battlefield 2''.
In ''B ...
'' video game,
having some resemblance to the real island.
It also appears in ''
Delta Force: Black Hawk Down – Team Sabre''.
See also
*
List of lighthouses in Iran
This is a list of lighthouses in Iran. Retrieved 2 October 2016
Lighthouses
See also
* Lists of lighthouses
References
External links
*
{{Asia topic, List of lighthouses in
Iran
Lighthouses
Lighthouses
A lighthouse is a t ...
References
{{Lighthouse identifiers , qid2=Q106112543
Megalithic monuments in the Middle East
Islands of Iran
Bushehr County
Islands of the Persian Gulf
Archaeological sites in Iran
Landforms of Bushehr Province