Palms and Dates of Fars in the Early Islamic Centuries from the Perspective of Historical Geography

Palm cultivation and date production were considered as the main occupations of farmers and gardeners of the tropical regions of Fars Province during the early Islamic centuries. The present study was conducted from the perspective of historical geography based on human interaction with its surroundings. Therefore, palm cultivation, date production, and various areas depending on palm-related livelihoods were studied in Fars Province during the mentioned period. This research was a descriptive-analytical study performed by referring to library resources and conducting a field study in some areas of the province cultivating palm trees with palm irrigation structures. In the early Islamic centuries, various regions of the province were regarded as tropical regions where palm trees were of great importance. Some references have considered this province, especially Khark Island, as the origin of all palm trees in the world. Persian books have reported “palm” under the name of “khormabon,” but the southern Iranian people have used to call palm trees “Mokh”, “Mogh”, and “Mog”, which are some words rooted in the Pahlavi language. Resistance against drought, adaptation to warm climate, and high fruiting rate are the important natural features of this tree. Historical and geographical sources, as well as the remaining old palm gardens, suggested interaction of people living in Fars Province with their surrounding geography and their attempts to establish many palm gardens. In old Fars Province, there were settlements called “Moghistan”, “Mokhdan”, and “Moghdan”, indicating that people planted palm trees and had palm gardens. Moreover, the rise of gardens in this region mainly meant that palm trees were planted here as well.In the tropical regions of Fars Province, people used all parts of a palm tree in their lives. In fact, many of the livelihood patterns of people in this area were taken from the palm tree. Palm played an important role in the architecture of houses as the trunk of this tree was used in their ceilings. In some places, people built their houses with the foliage of this tree. In the tropical regions of Fars Province, the word “pish” (or pesh) meaning palm leaf was adopted from Pahlavi language. Palm leaves had an important impact on the emergence of handicrafts and supplies needed in the people’s lives in this area. Brooms, fans, ropes, and various containers were among the items made with palm leaves. A variety of instruments made from palm leaves indicated the vast extent of its use and its important role in the people’s lives in the tropical lands of Fars Province. This reflected people's creativity in using a natural phenomenon like a palm tree and making widely used tools from its leaves, thus indicating their interaction with the natural phenomena around them.Dates are the main product of palm trees. “Khorma” (Persian word for date) is again a Pahlavi word. Dates and fresh dates (Rotab) were important products produced in the tropical regions of the province. Since this region was always threatened by drought, dates played an important role in providing food for people due to their abundant energy and long durability. In some periods, they were considered as the only fruit for people. Their pureness and sweetness led to their abundant use in nutrition. Different products, such as date honey and date syrup, were produced from dates. Dates were widely used with dairy and Tahini. They were also used to make different dishes, sweets, and Halva, which were among the common traditional foods of the province. They were of medical importance and used as medicine for treating some diseases as well.Dates were important economically and were among the main export items of the tropical regions in this province and a source of income for a number of people. During the years of famine and pest attack, dates  were imported from Basra and Bahrain to be used in the province. Due to trade relations, dates were also exported from the Persian Gulf countries to India and China where such palm trees were not planted.One of the important effects of palm trees on the people’s lives in the tropical regions of Fars Province was coinage of a large number of words and terms related to them, indicating that palm trees had more influence on the lexical richness of literature and culture of this land compared to any other trees. The importance of palm trees led to preservation of many of these words in the folklore and traditions of these people throughout history. Therefore, it could be said that palm tree was the most important tropical tree in Fars Province and date was the major tree crop in this region.