نشریه مطالعات خلیج فارس
سال چهارم شماره 3 (پیاپی 15، زمستان 1397)

Presently, water, as one of the geographical sources of power, plays a significant role in international relationships. According to several geopolitics experts, “The next war in the Middle East will be about water.” The shortage of drinking water in the Persian Gulf region has prompted some statesmen to review their previous policies and adopt a more realistic standpoint in this regard. Accordingly, the countries in this region are facing several challenges due to their lack of access to drinking water. Although these countries are located on the shores of the Persian Gulf, they cannot use its water for drinking purposes because of its extreme salinity. On the other hand, being located on the coasts of the Persian Gulf, such countries enjoy a desirable strategic situation, and this waterway can perform a significant role in their international relationships. Here, the authors have adopted a descriptive-analytic approach in order to examine the hydropolitics of the Persian Gulf. They also intend to demonstrate that the next war in this region will be over water and gaining access to water resources. Undoubtedly, Iran plays the main role in establishing peace and convergence instead of conflict and tension with respect to this major issue.

Social poems mirror the images of the poet and his contemporary people. Such images enjoy greater transparency in local poems because perhaps the local language and its addressees include the intimate domain of the poet’s family, fellow-citizens, and relatives. Thus, in local poems, the empathy between the poet and the reader, more than anything else, originates in their shared feelings of acquaintance and familial relationship (or common language and life). When we read local poems, or when we speak the same language as the poetand come from the same place, we preserve the right for ourselves to not only criticize their eloquence and evaluate their power of speech but also change the truth of their words. At the same time, in spite of encountering a different dialect, we are capable of understanding it and, alongside lexical, syntactic, and semantic analyses and discussions, we can observe some images of the poet’s living environment, learn about the conditions of their time, and compare them with similar cases. In the present paper, the author has tried to present his findings with regard to the local poems of Larestan to the readers and introduce some aspects of the language and lifestyle of the people of the south of Iran to them.

One of the common phenomena on the coasts of the Persian Gulf has always been the movement of human communities during various historical periods.The rise and fall of Bandar Lengeh in the Persian Gulf region is an example of such frequent historical movements on these eventful coasts. This port, which was made during the late years of the Afsharid period, developed such a high status over a very short time and during the first half of the Qajar period that it was called half of the world, a unique port, and sometimes Pearl Port. However, it collapsed during the late Qajar period. The present study investigates the reasons for the rise and fall of this port following an analytic-historical method. The findings indicate that, in the Qajar era, Bandar Lengeh was one of the important centers for the gathering of the local tradesmen of coastal regions and some hinterlands such as Larestan and, through relying on hunting and exporting pearls as well as exporting other goods to other ports of the Persian Gulf, attained a supreme place among the ports of the two sides of this waterway. However, the flourishing period of Bandar Lengeh was short and, during the reign of Mozaffarad-Din Shah Qajar and after the legislation of some new customs laws, the process of its decline began. During the early years of the reign of Pahlavi Dynasty, with the expansion of smuggling and insecurity in the hinterlands of this port, there remained no trace of the progress and prosperity of Bandar Lengeh as one of the important ports of the Persian Gulf.

Kish Island is one of the important and strategic islands of the Persian Gulf. A study of the historical background of this island indicates that its geographical conditions, natural features, and linkingstatus played some roles in increasing its population and turning it into an important harbor and dockyard. Because of being located on the commercial route of northern ports, Kish Island was always the focus of attention of local and regional rulers. Following Siraf’s losing its lure and luster, Kish Island managed to obtain a noteworthy place among other coastal territories of the Indian Ocean. However, the roles of Bani Qaysar rulers, Atabaks of Fars, and Tayyebi family cannot be ignored in promoting the commercial prosperity of this island. The present paper explores the economic status of Kish Island during the interval between the decline of Siraf and prosperity of Hormuz Island (5th-8thcenturies AH).

This paper initially deals with the process of the transfer of the name of “Hormuz” from a harbor town near the present Minab to Jarun Island in the first year of the 8th century (AH) and, then, presents some of the descriptions of Hormuz Island provided by world travelers before 909 AH/1503 AD or four years before the invasionof the Persian Gulf by the Portuguese. Next, it provides an account of the conquest of Persian Gulf ports by Afonso de Albuquerque, the Portuguese Admiral, in 913 AH/1507 AD and the reactions of the residents of these ports to this event. The writer then continues with the defeat of the Portuguese and their being expelled from the region in 1031 AH/1622 AD. The Appendix presents a brief description of Ahmad Ibn Majid and his role in the Portuguese penetration of the Persian Gulf.