zeynab ghanbarynejad

Among the goals of land reform in Iran, in addition to transforming the structure of rural society and eliminating the lord-serf system, was to provide facilities and facilities necessary for the relative prosperity and gradual strengthening and growth of the villagers. Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi (1320-1357sh) tried to act in favor of farmers by forming rural cooperative companies, agricultural joint-stock companies, creating rural culture houses, forming rural social insurance organizations, and finally Corps of Knowledge (Sepah-e danesh). During the implementation of land reforms, Fars province was one of the most important and largest agricultural provinces of Iran. This research, using the descriptive-analytical method and using historical documents and books, seeks to find an answer to the question with the implementation of the land reform law in Fars, how did the rural cooperative companies perform in improving the lives of farmers? According to the findings of the research, with the establishment of rural cooperative companies in Fars, the abuse of village chief and village owners as the board of directors of cooperative companies increased. The establishment of these companies not only did not improve the living conditions of the villagers; Rather, it led to their destitution. This issue has been reflected in people's complaints to the Fars Governorate, Governance in the Ports and Agrarian Reform Organization.

Urbanization is one of the most obvious manifestations of the evolution of human societies. The increasing expansion of urbanization and the increase in the number of cities and their quantitative and qualitative changes have been influenced by various factors such as industrialization, migration of villagers to cities, and social and cultural changes in different societies. From the 1320s onwards, when Iran underwent major political changes, the movement and internal movements in the country were also very noticeable. In the continuation of this process, at the beginning of the 1340s and with the implementation of social reforms by Mohammad Reza Shah, this movement became more intense in Iran, the obvious consequence of which was the expansion of cities and the development of urbanization in Iran. The question of this research is, what was the situation of the governorate of the ports and islands of the Persian Gulf (Bushehr) during the years 1340 to 1355 AH in terms of urban population and urbanization growth? And how did the number of its cities change quantitatively? The present research method is descriptive-analytical based on library and documentary sources and secondary analysis of population and housing census data in the target years. According to the research findings of the Governorate of the Persian Gulf Islands and Ports, which had the lowest rate of urbanization in the country in the years before 1340 A.H. it faced a high urbanization growth in the years after that. Bushehr, the centre of the governorate, received more than 50% of the internal immigrants of the province, and the expansion of the urban population in it caused the physical development of the city and the emergence of the phenomenon of marginalization in the city; However, due to the low population density, the number of its towns did not increase much during the years in question.

During the first half of the 20th century, the southern regions of Iran, the coasts and the islands of the Persian Gulf underwent severe political, economic and social changes that led to results that were considered the origin of many important events in the region. During these years, Iran was experiencing very difficult conditions. The chaotic internal situation, the devastating economic effects after World War I and II, and the intervention of the colonial powers in various affairs of the country caused further weakness of the central government and the intensification of internal crises. In this situation, the situation in the southern regions, ports and islands of the Persian Gulf was subjected to insecurity, local and regional crises more than other parts of Iran. The seizure of power by the local rulers and their arbitrary actions, which were supported by the British, led to more involvement of the British in the management of regional affairs. The more colorful presence of England during these years and the attempt to take over the management of regional affairs left different consequences. The purpose of this research is to investigate the consequences of British presence in the Persian Gulf, its ports and islands, and its hinterland during the years of the first half of the 20th century. The research method is descriptive-analytical based on library sources and documents. According to the findings of the research, the more colorful presence of the British in the Persian Gulf during the first half of the 20th century caused more insecurity, chaos and conflict in the region. and the islands of the Persian Gulf and causing disturbance in the normal commuting of the residents of the region.

Fars was one of the Major landowner areas in the country, and a large part of this area was the territory of tribes and nomads of the southern regions of the country whose rulers were the owners of many properties in Fars and allowed many atrocities against their subjects. The agricultural lands in the country's southern regions had a completely different situation from the northern and western territories of the country in terms of quality and fertility due to the weather conditions and soil type. The question raised in this research was: what was the situation of significant owners and small owners and types of ownership interest in Fars on the eve of land reforms? According to the findings of the research, many of the owners of Fars were among the majority of the country's owners in only the area of land, vast but low-yielding lands that did not have much income due to water scarcity and successive droughts. Therefore, most of the owners of these areas, even though they were among the big owners of the country, were not very rich, and many had to hand over some of their lands to rich people or merchants every year due to their debts. And since these owners were not engaged in any other profession, they were very dependent on the income of their properties and ownership interests. The research method was analytical-descriptive and based on library and documentary sources.

The increasing expansion of urbanization and the increase in the number of cities and its quantitative and qualitative changes have been influenced by various factors such as industrialization, migration of villagers to cities, economic, social and cultural developments in different societies. From the 1930s onwards, when the country underwent major political changes, internal movements and movements in the country were also very noticeable. At the beginning of the sixties, with the continuation of government development programs and the implementation of social reforms by Mohammad Reza Shah, this mobility and movement in the country intensified. Simultaneously with the third development plan in the country, land reforms were implemented, which was one of the most fundamental social reforms of the Shah in improving the life of rural communities. These programs intensified internal migration, especially rural migration in the country and the growth of cities. In this research, we try to study the growth of urbanization and changes in urban population and the increase in the number of cities in Fars province in the sixties and seventies. The present research method is descriptive-analytical based on library resources. According to the research findings of Fars province, which was one of the major rural centers and tribes and nomads of the country, in the sixties and after, it was faced with widespread migration of villagers to the city and settlement of tribes and nomads in cities. Shiraz, the capital of the province, received more than 50% of the province's internal and external immigrants. The expansion of urban population in Shiraz led to the physical development of the city, the emergence and growth of the phenomenon of marginalization in it.

Migration from rural to urban areas, as the dominant form of migration in Iran, has two aspects; One aspect is the natural conditions that lead to the migration of excess population or the so-called overflow of the rural population, the other aspect is due to government policies and the implementation of incomplete reforms in the villages, such as land reform. The collapse of traditional production methods in Iranian society, which culminated in land reform in the 1961s, can be considered as a turning point in accelerating the process of internal rural-urban migration and the growth of urbanization in the country. In this research, an attempt is made to investigate the conditions that accelerated the process of rural migration in Persia in the sixties and seventies. The method of the present research is descriptive-analytical and based on historical documents and sources. The most important event taken by the government in the early 1961s to improve the social life of the villages was land reform. According to the findings of the study in Fars after the land reform, there were many conflicts over cropping patterns and the type of land and water division. The lands of Persia were different in different parts of the province. In most areas, farmers owned land; But with the lack of water, they practically did not have much use for their land. On the other hand, successive droughts were one of the major problems in this province. In addition to these conditions, some government projects (construction of dams and formation of agricultural joint stock companies) also worsened the situation, which resulted in the formation of large-scale rural migration and urban growth in the province.

To investigate and explain the formation of the Peasant Congress in 1963 and its results.

Data presented and analyzed is based on documents and library sources.

The Peasant Congress was held in Tehran a year after the land reform. In order to achieve its political and economic goals, the government announced the emerge of the new class of "peasants" to be the backbone of the legitimacy of land reform.  The government had failed in its previous efforts to carry out land reform due to the opposition of the landlords and a minority of the urban middle class. This time, however, it could gain national approval of the plan also through a referendum.

At the beginning of the 20th century, in spite of the royal proclamation of the Iranian Constitutional Decree by Mozaffar ad-Din Shah on 5 August 1906, unrests and uprisings still continued all over the country. In such conditions, due to its geographical distance from the center of power, the South of Iran suffered from chaotic and disorganized conditions. The khans of the tribes and ethnic groups acted independently and autocratically because of the central government’s lack of attention, and in the middle of this chaos people were treated with cruelty and despotism. Following a descriptive-analytic method and relying on library sources and documents, this study aimed to explore the effects of the ethnic and tribal system dominating the ports and islands of the Persian Gulf in the first half of the 20th century on the conditions of these regions and explain the outcomes of the policies of Reza Shah Pahlavi there. According to the findings of the study, the absence of the ruling power in the southern regions of the Persian Gulf during the last years of the Qajar government had resulted in a lot of unrest and despotic and willful acts on the part of tribes. After the beginning of the First World War and the violation of Iran’s neutral position by the involved countries, the situation was extremely worsened. The economic recess in the ports and islands and the blockage of trade routes, on the one hand, and the conflicts among the tribes and ethnic groups and the suppression of their rights caused people’s escape to other regions, particularly to the southern coasts of the Persian Gulf. This process continued during the reign of Reza Shah and the exercise of power by the central government and, as a result, the population of these regions decreased on a daily basis.

This paper reports how the 1960s land reform in Iran was implemented in the southern territory of Iran along the Persian Gulf.

Archival material and library resources were consulted to collect data.

The reform in the territory proceeded smoothly after resistance by lanlords and tribal chiefs in the neigbering Fars province was suppressed. Landlords voluntarily handed over their ownership documents to the authorities, though some tried to bribe local officials to save their interests. Nonetheless, the absence of an independent department in the region to oversee the reform, lack of financial resources, and trained staff caused some delay in the process.