Bushehr

Etymology

The roots of the name "Bushehr" are uncertain. It is unlikely that it is derived from Abū Šahr ("father of the city"), a theory which remains popular. It may be an abbreviation of Bokht-Ardashir ("Ardashir has given"), though this is not backed by conclusive evidence. https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008730547.

History

Origins

A number of alleged premodern references to Bushehr, including the first made by an Arab geographer in 1225, have been disputed as perhaps alluding to the modern city of Reishahr, a harbor 10 km to the south, where archaeological evidence points to the presence of a much older settlement. Reishahr is also most likely equivalent to the town of Mesambria, a place the Greeks knew since the campaign of Nearchus (died 300 BC), and which also has been occasionally identified with Bushehr.

Rise

In 1734, Iranian military commander Nader Shah made Bushehr (then still a minor fishing village) the headquarters of the Persian Gulf fleet that he sought to create. This marked the start of Bushehr's rising importance. In order to build a massive warship, Nader even brought heavy wood from Mazandaran's forests, which was 1,000 km away from Bushehr. The shell of this ship drew notice from European travelers for the next 50 years. The naval aspirations of Nader ended when he was murdered in 1747, but Bushehr continued to serve as a prominent port for at least the following 150 years. Between 1737 and 1753, the Dutch East India Company operated a trading post in Bushehr.

In 1763 the Arab ruler of Bushehr Sheikh Nasr Al-Madhkur granted the British East India Company the right to build a base and trading post there. It was used as a base by the British Royal Navy in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, Bushehr became an important commercial port. It was occupied by British forces in 1856, during the Anglo-Persian War 1856-1857. Bushehr surrendered to the British on 9 December 1856.

Aside from Bushehr's strategic significance—being situated 300 km from Shiraz and 600 km from that of Ottoman-ruled Basra—the place offered few benefits and numerous drawbacks. The town and its surrounding area were somewhat shielded by the interior's hilly terrain and narrow gorges, but were still vulnerable to pirate intrusion. In the 19th century, European ships had to dock around four kilometers offshore and transfer freight and passengers through small boats due to the shallow path to both the shoreline and the bay. Despite the numerous windcatchers on top of the houses, the water in the wells was salty, and the summer heat and humidity were unbearable.

The main commercial port of Iran

Bushehr soon replaced Bandar Abbas as the country's most important commercial port. This was because of Iran's political and economic centre being moved to Shiraz under the Zand ruler Karim Khan Zand (), who had established his authority in western Iran.

Demographics

Language

Linguistic composition of the city.{{bar box|title=Bushehr, Iran linguistic composition|titlebar=#ddd|left1=language|right1=percent|float=|bars=

Population

|graph-pos = |graph-width = |graph-height = |1956 |18,412 |1966 |23,547 |1976 |58,956 |1986 |120,787 |1991 |132,824 |1996 |143,641 |2006 |161,674 |2011 |195,222 |2016 |223,504 At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 161,674 people in 25,158 households. The census in 2011 counted 195,222 people in 52,204 households. The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 223,504 people in 63,820 households.

Climate

Bushehr has a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen: BSh) with a precipitation pattern resembling a Mediterranean climate, albeit it is both too hot and dry for too long to qualify as such, by a wide margin, due to the threshold for hot climates being much higher in terms of required rainfall. |Jan record high C = 30.0 |Feb record high C = 32.0 |Mar record high C = 38.0 |Apr record high C = 42.5 |May record high C = 47.0 |Jun record high C = 48.6 |Jul record high C = 50.0 |Aug record high C = 47.0 |Sep record high C = 48.5 |Oct record high C = 41.0 |Nov record high C = 35.4 |Dec record high C = 32.0 |year record high C = 50.0 |Jan record low C = -1.0 |Feb record low C = 2.5 |Mar record low C = 5.0 |Apr record low C = 8.0 |May record low C = 14.0 |Jun record low C = 18.0 |Jul record low C = 21.0 |Aug record low C = 22.0 |Sep record low C = 17.0 |Oct record low C = 12.0 |Nov record low C = 5.0 |Dec record low C = 2.0 |year record low C = -1.0 | Jan dew point C = 10.7 | Feb dew point C = 11.3 | Mar dew point C = 13.5 | Apr dew point C = 16.8 | May dew point C = 20.4 | Jun dew point C = 23.7 | Jul dew point C = 26.2 | Aug dew point C = 27.4 | Sep dew point C = 25.0 | Oct dew point C = 21.1 | Nov dew point C = 15.0 | Dec dew point C = 12.4 | year dew point C = 18.6 |access-date = December 31, 2023}}

|Jan record high C = 30.0 |Feb record high C = 32.0 |Mar record high C = 38.0 |Apr record high C = 42.5 |May record high C = 47.0 |Jun record high C = 48.6 |Jul record high C = 50.0 |Aug record high C = 47.0 |Sep record high C = 46.0 |Oct record high C = 41.0 |Nov record high C = 34.5 |Dec record high C = 32.0 |year record high C = 50.0 |Jan record low C = -1.0 |Feb record low C = 2.5 |Mar record low C = 5.0 |Apr record low C = 8.0 |May record low C = 14.0 |Jun record low C = 18.0 |Jul record low C = 21.0 |Aug record low C = 22.0 |Sep record low C = 17.0 |Oct record low C = 12.0 |Nov record low C = 5.0 |Dec record low C = 2.0 |year record low C = -1.0

• (temperatures),*
• (precipitation), (humidity), (days with precipitation), (sunshine)

Nuclear development

Main article: Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant

Bushehr is twelve kilometres from the site of the Bushehr Nuclear Power Plant being built in cooperation with Russia. The work was begun by the Bonn firm A.G., a unit of Siemens AG, which contracted to build two nuclear reactors based on a contract worth $4 to $6 billion, signed in 1975.

Work stopped in January 1979, and Kraftwerk Union fully withdrew from the project in July 1979, with one reactor 50% complete, and the other reactor 85% complete. They said they based their action on Iran's non-payment of $450 million in overdue payments. The company had received $2.5 billion of the total contract. Their cancellation came following the 1979 Iranian Revolution. Iran subsequently requested that Siemens finish construction, but Siemens declined. Shortly afterward Iraq invaded Iran and the nuclear programme was stopped until the end of the war. The reactors were damaged by multiple Iraqi airstrikes between March 1984 and 1988.

In 1995, Russia signed a contract to supply a light water reactor for the plant (the contract is believed to be valued between $700 million and $1.2 billion USD). The agreement calls for the spent fuel rods to be sent back to Russia for reprocessing. The plant started adding electricity to the national grid on 3 September 2011, and was officially opened in a ceremony on 12 September 2011.

Notes

References

Sources

References

1. ((OpenStreetMap contributors)). (25 August 2024). "Bushehr, Bakhsh-e-Markazi of Bushehr County, Bushehr County, Bushehr Province, Iran".
2. "WVG2+HH2 Bushehr, Bushehr Province, Iran".
3. {{GEOnet3. -3057164
4. Hassan. Habibi. fa. تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1369/06/21 (Iranian Jalali calendar). (12 September 1990 ). link. fa. لام تا کام [Lam ta Kam]. {{lang. fa. ‌وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior]. fa. کمیسیون سیاسی دفاعی هیأت دولت [Political Defense Commission of the Government Board]. fa. شناسه [ID] 51E6AB17-6790-42EF-804B-D38845E50FAD. {{lang. fa. شماره دوره [Course number] 69, {{lang. fa. شماره جلد [Volume number] 3.
5. (2015). "Language distribution: Bushehr Province".
6. "Cities with a population of 100,000 and more (1956-2006 census)". Iran data portal.
7. fa. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]. link
8. link. fa. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]
9. fa. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]. link
10. "Monthly Total Precipitation in Bushehr by Month 1951–2010". Iran Meteorological Organization.
11. Pike, John. "Bushehr - Iran Nuclear Reactor".
12. (4 September 2011). "Iranian nuclear power station 'begins generating electricity'". The Guardian.