Khuzestan Provincee

Khūzestān (Persian: خوزستان) is one of the 28 provinces of Iran. It is in the southwest of the country, bordering Iraq and the Persian Gulf. Its capital is Ahvaz and covers an area of 63,238 km². Other major cities include Behbahan, Abadan, Andimeshk, Khorramshahr, Bandar Imam, Dezful, Shushtar, Omidiyeh, Izeh, Baq-e-Malek, Mah Shahr, Dasht-i Mishan/Dasht-e-Azadegan, Ramhormoz, Shadegan, Susa, Masjed Soleiman, Minoo Island and Hoveizeh.
Historically Khuzestan is what historians refer to as ancient Elam, whose capital was in Susa, and in previous ages, Iranians referred to this province as Elam. The AchaemenidOld Persian term for Elam was Hujiyā, which is present in the modern name.
Khuzestan is the most ancient Iranian province and is often referred to as the "birthplace of the nation," since this is where the Persians one of the branches of Aryan tribes first settled, assimilating the native Elamite population, and thus laying the foundation for the future dynastic empires of Achaemenid, Parthia and Sasanid. The pre-Islamic Partho-Sassanid Inscriptions gives the name of the province as Khwuzestan. Khuzestan is also where the medical college and the town of Jondishapour was located.
The provincial capital, Ahvaz is the anagram of "Avaz" and "Avaja" which appear in Darius the Great' epigraph. This word appears in Naqsh-e Rostam inscription as "Khaja" or "Khooja".
Ahvaz was the seat of Khuzestan province in the old days. The modern city build over the foundation of Hoorpahir or Hormoz-Ardeshir, which was founded by Ardashir-Babakan the founder of Sassanid Dynasty in 4th century AD.
Currently, Khuzestan has 18 representatives in Iran's parliament, The Majlis, and 6 representatives in the Assembly of Experts.

Geography and climate

The province of Khuzestan can be basically divided into two regions, i.e. the plains and mountainous regions. The former being in the south and west of the province. This area is irrigated by the Karun, Karkheh and Jarahi rivers. The mountainous regions are situated to the north and east of the province, and are considered to be a part of southern regions of the Zagros mountain ranges.
With regard to natural conditions, Khuzestan has unrivaled potentials unmatched by any other province in the country. Large permanent rivers flow over the entire territory contributing to the fertility of the land. Karun, Iran's largest river, 850 kilometers long, flows into the Persian Gulf through this province.
The climate of Khuzestan is generally hot and humid, particularly in the south, while winters are much more pleasant and dry.

People and culture

According to the 1996 census, the province had an estimated population of 3.7 million people, of which approximately 62.5% were in the urban centres, 36.5% were rural dwellers and the remaining 1% were non-residents. According to the most recent census taken in 2004, the province had an estimated population of 4,277,998 inhabitants.
Khuzestan, unlike most other provinces in Iran, is inhabited by a number of ethnic minorities and peoples. Autochthonous Persians in major cities, Arabic-speakers and Iranian Arab tribes, the Bakhtiari, Behbahanis, Laks, and Lurs of the north, the Turkic-speaking Qashqai and Afshari tribes, the peoples of Dezful, Shushtar and the inhabitants of the coastal regions of the Persian Gulf all make up the population of the province of Khuzestan. There are no official ethnic statistics released by Iran's government.

Languages

The Persian, Bakhtiari and Lur groups of western Khuzestan all speak distinct dialects unique to their areas. Some Khuzestanis are bilingual, speaking both Persian and Arabic. Most Arabic-speakers speak a variety of Arabic distinct to the region known as Khuzestani Arabic. It is also not uncommon to find people able to speak a variety of indigenous dialects in addition to their own.

Traditions and religion

Khuzestani folk music is colorful and festive, and each native group has their own rich traditions and legacy in this area.
The people of Khuzestan are predominantly Shi'a, with small Sunni, Jewish, Christian, and Mandean minorities. Khuzestanis are also very well regarded for their hospitality and generosity.

Cuisine

Seafood is the most important part of Khuzestani cuisine, but many other dishes are also featured. A popular dish that is prepared with heavy spices, onions and cilantro is simply called soboor ("shad"), after its main ingredient, a species of fish found in southern Iranian waters. Other provincial specialties include qæliye-mæhi ("fish stew"), qæliye-meygu ("shrimp stew"), ashe-mohshala (a Khorramshahri breakfast soup), sær shir (an Andimeshki breakfast of heavy cream), hælim (a Shushtari breakfast of wheatmeal with shredded lamb), and kohbbeh (a deep-fried rice cake with ground beef filling and other spices, and is of Arabic origin). Also see Iranian cuisine.

Historical figures

Many scientists, philosophers, and poets have come from Khuzestan, including Abu Nuwas, Abdollah ibn-Meymun Ahvazi, the astronomer Nowbækht-e Ahvazi and his sons; as well as Jorjis, the son of Bakhtshua Gondishapuri; Ibn Sakit, Da'bal-e Khazai; Sheikh Mortedha Ansari, a prominent Shi'a scholar from Dezful, and many more.

The origin of the name Khuzestan

Main article: Origin of the name Khuzestan
The name Khuzestan, which means "The Land of the Khuzi", refers to the original inhabitants of this province, the Khuzi people. The name Ahvaz also has the same origin as the name Khuzestan.
The province, however, has also been called Arabistan or Arabestan at times, particularly starting during the reign of Tahmasp I in the 16th century, after the Arab Muhammad ibn Falah, leader of the Msha'sha'iya, initiated a wave of attacks on Khuzestan in AD 1440, leading to a gradual increase in the Arab population of Khuzestan.
Reza Pahlavi, however, restored the original name of the province in 1923.

History

Pre-Islamic History

The province of Khuzestan is one of the centres of ancient civilization, based around Susa. French archeologists such as Jaques De Morgan date the civilization here as far back as 8000 BC when excavating areas such as Tal-i Ali-Kosh. The first large scale empire based here was that of the powerful 4th millennium BC Elamites.
Archeological ruins verify the entire province of Khuzestan to be home to the Elamite civilization, "the earliest civilization of Persia".
As was stated in the preceding section, the name Khuzestan is derived from the Elamites (Ūvja).
In fact, in the words of Elton L. Daniel, the Elamites were "the founders of the first Iranian empire in the geographic sense." Hence the central geopolitical significance of Khuzestan, the seat of Iran's first empire.
In 640 BC, the Elamites were defeated by Ashurbanipal coming under the rule of the Assyrians who brought destruction upon Susa and Chogha Zanbil. But in 538 BC Cyrus the Great was able to re-conquer the Elamite lands. The city of Susa was then proclaimed as one of the Achaemenid capitals. Darius the Great then erected a grand palace known as Apadana there in 521 BC. But this astonishing period of glory and splendour of the Achaemenian dynasty came to an end by the conquests of Alexander of Macedon. And after Alexander, the Seleucid dynasty ruled the area.
As the Seleucid dynasty weakened, Mehrdad I the Parthian (171-137 BC), gained ascendency over the region. During the Sassanid dynasty this area thrived tremendously and flourished, and this dynasty was responsible for the many constructions that were erected in Ahvaz, Shushtar, and the north of Andimeshk.
Over the centuries, Nestorian missionaries brought Christianity to the region, using the Aramaic language. From at least the 500s AD, the region was called "Beth Huzaye". As of AD 639, the Nestorian seat was at Mahoze, the complex encompassing Ctesiphon and Seleucia on the Tigris; and the Nestorian Catholicos was Ishoyahb II of Gadala.
During the early years of the reign of Shapur II (A.D. 309 or 310-379), Arabs crossed the Persian Gulf from Bahrain to "Ardashir-Khora" of Fars and raided the interior. In retaliation, Shapur II led an expedition through Bahrain, defeated the combined forces of the Arab tribes of "Taghleb", "Bakr bin Wael", and "Abd Al-Qays" and advanced temporarily into Yamama in central Najd. The Sassanids resettled these tribes in Kerman and Ahvaz. Arabs named Shapur II, as "Shabur Dhul-aktāf" after this battle.
The existence of prominent scientific and cultural centers such as Academy of Gundishapur which gathered distinguished medical scientists from Egypt, Greece, India, and Rome, shows the importance and prosperity of this region during this era. The Jondi-Shapur Medical School was founded by the order of Shapur I. It was repaired and restored by Shapur II (a.k.a. Zol-Aktaf: "The Possessor of Shoulder Blades") and was completed and expanded during the reign of Anushirvan.

The Arab Conquest of Khuzestan

The Arab invasion of Khuzestan took place in 639 AD under the command of Abu Musa Al-Ash'ari from Basra, who drove the Persian Hormozan out of Ahvaz. Susa fell in two days, so Hormozan fled to Shushtar. There his forces were besieged by Abu Musa for 18 months. Shushtar finally fell in 642 AD; the Khuzistan Chronicle records that a Qatari living in the city befriended a man in the army, and dug tunnels through the wall in return for a third of the spoil. The Basrans purged the Nestorians - the Exegete of the city and the Bishop of Hormizd, and all their students - but kept Hormozan alive.
There followed the conquests of Jondishapoor and of many other districts along the Tigris. The battle of Nehavand finally secured Khuzestan for the Muslim armies.
It is interesting to notice that there was much cooperation between Sassanids and non-Muslim Arabs during the Muslim conquest period, which shows that those wars were not Arab vs. Persian, rather Muslim vs. non-Muslims. For instance in 633-634, Khaled ibn Walid leader of the Mulsim Army, defeated a force of the Sassanids' Christian Arab auxiliaries from the tribes of "Bakr", "'Ejl", "Taghleb" and "Namer" at "'Ayn Al-Tamr".
The Arab settlements by military garrisons in southern Iran was soon followed by other types of colonization. Some Arab families, for example, took the opportunity to gain control of private estates. Like the rest of Iran, the Arab invasion thus brought Khuzestan under occupation of the Arabs of the Umayyad and Abbasid Caliphates, until Ya'qub bin Laith as-Saffar, from southeastern Iran, raised the flag of independence once more, and ultimately regained control over Khuzestan, among other parts of Iran, founding the short-lived Saffarid dynasty. From that point on, Iranian dynasties would continue to rule the region in succession as an important part of Iran.
In the Umayyad period, large groups of nomads from the Hanifa, Bani Tamim, and Abd al-Qays tribes crossed the Persian Gulf and occupied some of the richest Basran territories around Ahvaz and in Fars during the second Islamic civil war in 661-665/680-684 A.D.
During the Abbassid period, in the second half of the 10th century, the Assad tribe, taking advantage of quarrels under the Buwayhids, penetrated into Khuzestan, where a group of Tamim had been living since pre-Islamic times.[citation needed] However, following the fall of the Abbassid dynasty, the flow of Arab immigrants into Persia gradually diminished, but it nonetheless continued.
In the latter part of the 16th century, the Bani Kaab, from Kuwait, settled in Khuzestan. And during the succeeding centuries, many more Arab tribes moved from southern Iraq to Khuzestan, and as a result, Khuzestan became "extensively Arabized".  According to C.E. Bosworth in Encyclopedia Iranica, under the Qajar dynasty "the province was known, as in Safavid times, as Arabistan, and during the Qajar period was administratively a governor-generalate."
In the mid 1800s Britain initiated a war with Iran in a failed attempt to dominate Khuzestan. Tribal forces led by Sheikh Jabir al-Kaabi, the Sheikh of Mohammerah, had been vital in successfully defending the province. In the past eighty years, except during the Iran-Iraq war, the province of Khuzestan thrived and prospered and today accounts for one of the regions in Iran that holds an economic and defensive strategic position.

The Iran-Iraq war

Being on the border with Iraq, Khuzestan suffered the heaviest damage of all Iranian provinces during the Iran-Iraq war.
What used to be Iran's largest refinery at Abadan was destroyed, never to fully recover. Many of the famous nakhlestans (palm groves) were annihilated, cities were destroyed, historical sites were demolished, and nearly half the province went under the boots of Saddam's invading army  This created a mass exodus into other provinces that did not have the logistical capability of taking in such a large number of refugees.
However, by 1982, Iranian forces managed to push Saddam's forces back into Iraq. The battle of "the Liberation of Khorramshahr" (one of Khuzestan's largest cities and the most important Iranian port prior to the war) was a turning point in the war, and is officially celebrated every year in Iran.

Khuzestan Attractions:

SUSA (SHUSH)

It is difficult to conceive a more imposing site than Susa, as it stood in the days of its Kayanian splendor- its great citadel and columnar edifices raising their stately heads above groves of date, Konar and lemon trees- and backed by rich pastures and golden seas of corn and the distant snow-clad mountains. The visitor to Susa will drive first up to the castle on top of Acropol hill one of the four Tappehs, or mounds, on which Susa was built. According to the findings from the region the city dates back to pre-historic era. Marvelous painted pottery from Susa was discovered and can be seen in the castle storerooms in the Louvre museum in Paris. Some found potteries dating back to the fourth millennium BC prove that Susa was one of the oldest cities in the world. Susa reached its first peak under the reign of Untash Gal, who built Shush as his administrative capital and founded Chogha Zanbil as his religious center. Shush was burnt around 640 BC by the Assyrian Ashur Banipal, but it came back to prominence and its Golden Age began with the advent of Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Achaemenian Empire of Iran. The site is built on four small mounds. If you enter at the gate from the street, you cannot fail to notice the fortress ,on top of the tallest mound , the Acropolis. This castle built at the end of the 19th century and is now probably the most imposing structure at Susa. Next to the Acropolis there is the largest mound, the Royal town, once the quarter of the court officials, which has revealed the remains of many periods from the Elamite to the Arab. Northwest of the Royal Town is Apadana, where Darius I, built this residence and two other palaces .Two very well preserved foundation tablets found beneath the site of Darius palace. one in Elamite and the other in Babylonian, record the noble ancestry of its founder and the fur-flung origins of its materials and workers- from as far east as India to as far west as Abyssinia-as a piece of propaganda to show the might of the Achaemenian Empire at the time. The tablets are now in Tehran National Museum. There is a museum in the town of Susa in which historical objects, relics of ancient tombs and coffins belonging to different ages are exposed.

Daniel Tomb

The reputed tomb of the Prophet Daniel, is situated on the east bank of the river Sha'ur; immediately to the east raises the great mound of Susa. It is a building surmounted by a pineapple cone in white plaster and it is clearly of no great antiquity. It is typical of this part of Iran and also of Iraq. If we can believe the Book of Daniel, the prophet was closely associated with Susa during his lifetime; It was at Shushan the palace that he had his vision of the ram with two horns, one of which was higher than the other.

Chogha Zanbil

Chogha Zanbil is some 45 km south-east of Susa. The ziggurat here is the best surviving example of Elamite architecture anywhere and one of the most memorable sites in Iran. Originally it had five concentric stories but only three remained to a total height of some 25m. It is hard to believe that such an imposing landmark could have been lost to the world for over 2,500 years. This earliest known Iranian monument of imposing dimensions and character, rivaling the pyramids of Egypt, was built at Dur Untash, a city near Susa, by Untash-Gal, king of Elam, about 1,250 BC, and in honor of Inshushinak, guardian god of Susa; it reached the height of its splendor in 1,200 BC, and its downfall occured 640 BC when the sun of Ashurbanipal set over the Elamite dynasty. The ziggurat served as both temple and tomb. Composed of five separately built concentric towers of varying heights, the innermost and tallest was 50 m above the ground level. The base is more than 1,200 m long. Only the three first stages are more or less intact, overlooked by a shapeless mass of bricks that have returned to a clay-like condition. The tower was solid throughout; it was built starting from the center toward the outside. The inside was made of raw bricks and the outside with the backed bricks. There is only one row of small vaulted rooms, without connection with each other, looking out onto the terraces on each of the sides, staircases gave access to the higher stages.