Khorramshahr

Khorramshahr (Persian: خرمشهر [xoræmˈʃæhɾ], also romanized as Khurramshahr, Arabic: المحمرة, romanized as Al-Muhammerah)[3][4] is a city in the Central District of Khorramshahr County, Khuzestan province, Iran, and serves as both capital of the county and of the district.

For the administrative division of Khuzestan province, see Khorramshahr County. For the medium-range ballistic missile, see Khorramshahr.

Khorramshahr
Persian: خرَمشَهر
City
Khorramshahr is located in Iran
Khorramshahr
Khorramshahr
Coordinates: 30°26′22″N 48°10′54″E[1]
CountryIran
ProvinceKhuzestan
CountyKhorramshahr
DistrictCentral
Population
 (2016)[2]
 • Total133,097
Time zoneUTC+3:30 (IRST)
Mandaeans in Khorramshahr in 2015

At the 2006 National Census, its population was 123,866 in 26,385 households.[5] The following census in 2011 counted 129,418 people in 33,623 households.[6] The latest census in 2016 showed a population of 133,097 people in 37,124 households.[2]

Khorramshahr is an inland port city located approximately 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) north of Abadan. The city extends to the right bank of the Shatt Al Arab waterway near its confluence with the Haffar arm of the Karun river. The city was destroyed in the Iran–Iraq War, with the 1986 census recording a population of zero. However, Khorramshahr was rebuilt after the war, and more recent censuses show that the population has returned to its approximate pre-war level.

History

The area where the city exists today was originally under the waters of the Persian Gulf. It later became part of the vast marshlands and the tidal flats at the mouth of the Karun River. The small town known as Piyan, and later Bayan appeared in the area no sooner than the late Parthian time in the first century AD. Whether or not this was located at the same spot where Khurramshahr is today, is highly debatable.

During the Islamic centuries, the Daylamite Buwayhid king, Panah Khusraw Adud ad-Dawlah ordered the digging of a canal to join the Karun River (which at the time emptied independently into the Persian Gulf through the Bahmanshir channel) to the Shatt al-Arab (the joint estuary of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, known in Iran as Arvand Rud). The extra water made the joint estuary more reliably navigable. The channel thus created was known as the Haffar, Arabic for "excavated," "dugout," which exactly described what the channel was. The Haffar soon became the main channel of the Karun, as it is in the present day.

It was the capital of the Sheikdom of Muhammara, and until 1847, at which time it became Persian territory (according to Article II of the Treaty of Erzurum), Khorramshahr was alternately claimed and occupied by Persia and Turkey. Its ruler at the time was an Arab sheikh.[7]

Iran–Iraq War
Main articles: Battle of Khorramshahr (1980) and Battle of Khorramshahr (1982)

Because of the war, the population of Khorramshahr dropped from 146,706 in the 1976 census to 0 in the 1986 census. The population reached 34,750 in the 1991 census and by the 2006 census it reached 123,866, and according to World Gazetteer its population as of 2012 is 138,398, making the population close to what it was before the war.[8]

Mandaean community

Khorramshahr is home to a Mandaean community. It is one of the last remaining locations in the world where Neo-Mandaic is still spoken. There are only a few hundred speakers of the Khorramshahr dialect of Neo-Mandaic.[9]

Notable people

References
  1. OpenStreetMap contributors (4 August 2023). "Khorramshahr, Khorramshahr County" (Map). OpenStreetMap. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  2. "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1395 (2016)". AMAR (in Persian). The Statistical Center of Iran. p. 06. Archived from the original (Excel) on 21 October 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  3. Khorramshahr can be found at GEOnet Names Server, at this link, by opening the Advanced Search box, entering "-3071225" in the "Unique Feature Id" form, and clicking on "Search Database".
  4. Khorramshahr entry in Encyclopædia Britannica http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/316878/Khorramshahr
  5. "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)". AMAR (in Persian). The Statistical Center of Iran. p. 06. Archived from the original (Excel) on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 25 September 2022.
  6. "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1390 (2011)" (Excel). Iran Data Portal (in Persian). The Statistical Center of Iran. p. 06. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  7. One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Muhamrah". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 18 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 956.
  8. "Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1385 (2006)" (Excel). Statistical Center of Iran. Archived from the original on 20 September 2011.
  9. Häberl, Charles (2009). The neo-Mandaic dialect of Khorramshahr. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-05874-2. OCLC 377787551.
  10. "Majid Bishkar: The 'Prince of Persia' who cast a spell with his magic". East Bengal Football Club official website. May 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2021.
  11. "Mohsen Rastani". Qoqnoos. Archived from the original on 22 June 2013.
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