Kharg Island
Native name:
جزیره خارک
Kharg Island is located in Persian Gulf
Kharg Island
Kharg Island
Geography
Location Persian Gulf
Coordinates 29°14′42″N 50°18′36″E / 29.24500°N 50.31000°E / 29.24500; 50.31000
Area 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi)
Administration
Iran
Province Bushehr
Demographics
Population 8,193 (2016)

Kharg Island (Persian: جزیره خارک) is a continental island of Iran in the Persian Gulf. The island is 25 km (16 mi) off the coast of Iran and 483 km (300 mi) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Its total area is 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi). Administered by the adjacent coastal Bushehr province, Kharg Island provides a sea port for the export of oil and extends Iranian territorial sea claims into the Persian Gulf oil fields. The city of Kharg is located on the island.

History

Mentioned in the Hudud al-'Alam as a good source for pearls around 982 AD, Kharg was visited by the French traveller Jean de Thévenot in 1665, who recorded trade at the time with Isfahan and Basra.[1]

In 1753, the Dutch colonial empire established both a trading post and a fort (Mosselstein) on the island after securing perpetual ownership of the island from Mir Nasáir, the Arab ruler of Bandar Rig, in return for a present of 2,000 rupees.[2] In 1766, the Dutch fort was captured by Mir Mahanna, the governor of Bandar Rig.[3]

The island was briefly occupied in 1838 by the British to block the Siege of Herat (1838) but was soon returned. Amoco built and operated the oil terminal on the island; its property was expropriated after the Iranian Revolution in 1979.[citation needed]

Once the world's largest offshore crude oil terminal and the principal sea terminal for Iranian oil, the Kharg Island facilities were put out of commission in the autumn of 1986. Heavy bombing of the Kharg Island facilities from 1980 through 1988 by the Iraqi Air Force during the Iran–Iraq War destroyed most of the terminal facilities. Kharg Island was situated in the middle of the Darius Oilfield, also destroyed by the intensive bombing. Repair to all facilities has been very slow, even after the war ended in 1988. In 2009, Iran exported and swapped 950 million barrels of crude oil via the southern Kharg oil terminal.[4]

Following the beginning of the 2026 Iran war on 28 February 2026, analysts interpreting satellite imagery noted that Iran apparently expected Kharg Island to become a target in an upcoming conflict and therefore had started to reduce the amount of oil in storage there since early February 2026. Although the facilities on Kharg were initially not attacked, only nine of the oil tanks were estimated to be full by 7 March 2026, compared to 27 in mid-January.[5]

Archaeology

Remains of the Assyrian Monastery (fa) in Kharg Island.
Kharg Island
Kharg Island is located in Iran
Kharg Island
Kharg Island
Shown within Iran
Location 25 km (16 mi) off the coast of Iran
Coordinates 29°14′08″N 50°18′36″E / 29.235481°N 50.31°E / 29.235481; 50.31
History
Periods Selucid, Parthian, Nabataean
Site notes
Archaeologists F. Sarre, E. Herzfeld, Marie-Joseph Steve
Condition ruins
Public access yes
Jazireh-ye Khark Lighthouse
Map
Location Kharg Island, Iran Edit this at Wikidata
Coordinates 29°12′51″N 50°19′10″E / 29.214028°N 50.319333°E / 29.214028; 50.319333
Tower
Foundation concrete base
Construction aluminium skeletal tower
Height 14 m (46 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Shape square pyramidal tower with central cylinder and lantern[6][7]
Light
Focal height 90 m (300 ft) Edit this on Wikidata
Range 17 nmi (31 km; 20 mi) Edit this on Wikidata
Characteristic Fl(2) W 12s Edit this on Wikidata

The first archaeological evidence of human occupation on Khark Island was reported by Captain A. W. Stiffe in 1898, with studies published about his discoveries by Friedrich Sarre and Ernst Herzfeld in 1910. They discovered two rock-cut chambered tombs featuring arched entranceways to a main chamber with vestibule from which spawned around twenty smaller chambers. The southern tomb is 13 m (43 ft) deep and features a relief of a reclining man drinking in the Seleucid and Parthian styles of Palmyra along with a damaged relief suggested to feature Nike on the face of a sphere-topped column. Mary-Joseph Steve has argued that the architecture of the tombs is more reminiscent of Nabataean architecture at Petra than anything Palmyrene.[8][9][10][11][12]

Another 83 rock-cut tombs and sixty-two megalithic tombs have been studied on Kharg. The rock-cut tombs fall into four categories: single chambered, shallow tombs of varying shape, pit burials and excavated multi-chambered complexes. Steve also noticed the presence of several Nestorian style crosses at some of the tombs.[10]

There are also ruins of a coarse stone temple on the island measuring around 7.5 m (25 ft) square with a plastered altar for fire in the centre.[1]

A Christian church complex or ancient monastery of some 96 m (315 ft) by 85 m (279 ft) is also located on the island featuring a chapel, nineteen monks cells, library and courtyard.[1]

Achaemenid inscription

Main article: Achaemenid inscription in the Kharg Island

On 14 November 2007, an Achaemenid era cuneiform inscription in Old Persian was discovered on Kharg Island. The inscription is carved on a coral rock in Old Persian semi-syllabic cuneiform signs. Despite the usually well-ordered regular system of Achaemenid inscriptions, this one is in an unusual order written in five lines.[13]

Translation
"The not irrigated land was happy [with] me bringing out [water]"[14]

The linguist Habib Borjian explains that if the inscription is authentic, combined with the island's known history of kariz usage, "which came about under the Achaemenid rule in the Near East (550–330 BCE)", it can be suggested that there was a Persian colonisation of Kharg under the Achaemenids.[14] The Iranian dialect of the Persian settlers of the Achaemenid era may have in turn been the ancestor of the Khargi language, with Borjian adding that "there is no contradicting evidence to make this hypothesis implausible".[14]

On 31 May 2008, the inscription was seriously damaged by unknown vandal(s). They destroyed it with a sharp object, such that about 70% of the inscription was seriously damaged. The nature of the damage indicates that it was done deliberately.[15]

The 17th century French traveller Jean de Thévenot noted the presence of a qanat (i.e. kariz) on the island that would have provided ancient irrigation.[1]

Geography and governance

Kharg oil terminal (1967)

The island is 25 km (16 mi) off the coast of Iran and 483 km (300 mi) northwest of the Strait of Hormuz. Its total area is 20 km2 (7.7 sq mi).[citation needed]

The city of Kharg, the only city in the Kharg District, is located on the island.[citation needed] There is a beach known as Kharg beach.

Administered by the adjacent coastal Bushehr province, Kharg Island provides a sea port for the export of oil and extends Iranian territorial sea claims into the Persian Gulf oil fields.[citation needed] As of 2012 the Kharg oil terminal handled about 98% of Iran's crude exports.[citation needed]

Kharg beach in 1970

Demographics

In the 2016 Iranian census, there were 8,193 people recorded on the island.[16]

See also

  • Kharg, Iran (city)
  • Kharg District
  • List of lighthouses in Iran

References

  1. ^ a b c d Potts, D. T. (2004). "KHARG ISLAND II - History and archeology". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica (Online ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica Foundation.
  2. ^ J. R. Perry, "The Banu Ka'b: An amphibious brigand state in Khuzistan", Le monde iranien et l'Islam, 1, 1971, p. 131-152. Idem, "Mir Muhanna and the Dutch: Patterns of piracy in the Persian Gulf", Stud. Ir. 2, 1973, p. 85.
  3. ^ Abdullah, Thabit (2001). Merchants, Mamluks, and murder: the political economy of trade in eighteenth century Basra. State University of New York Press. ISBN 978-0-7914-4808-3. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  4. ^ "Khark Oil Exports". Iran Daily. 2009. Archived from the original on 22 May 2009. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  5. ^ "Der Iran räumt seit Wochen heimlich sein wichtigstes Öllager". wiwo.de. 2026. Retrieved 10 March 2026.
  6. ^ Rowlett, Russ. "Lighthouses of Iran". The Lighthouse Directory. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved 3 October 2016.
  7. ^ NGA List of Lights – Pub.112 Retrieved 3 October 2016
  8. ^ Stiffe, Captain A. W., "Persian Gulf notes. Kharag Island", Geographical Journal 12, 1898, p. 179-182. Sykes, P.M., A History of Persia, vol. 2, London, 1915.
  9. ^ F. Sarre and E. Herzfeld, Iranische Felsreliefs, Berlin, 1910.
  10. ^ a b Steve, M.-J., "Sur l'île de Khârg dans le golfe Persique", Dossiers d'Archéologie 243, p. 74-80, 1999.
  11. ^ Steve, M.-J., et al. L'île de Kharg. Une page de l'histoire du Golfe Persique et du monachisme oriental. Civilisations du Proche-Orient, Gent, Série I, Archéologie et Environnement (Forthcoming)
  12. ^ Haerinck, E., "Quelques monuments funéraires de l'île de Kharg dans le Golfe Persique", Iranica Antiqua 11, 1975, p. 144-167. Idem, "More pre-Islamic coins from southeastern Arabia", Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 9, 1998, p. 278-301. Handbuch des Persischen Golfs, 5th ed., Hamburg, Deutsches Hydrographisches Institut, 1976.
  13. ^ "Newly Found Old-Persian Cuneiform Inscription of Kharg Island Deciphered". Iranian Cultural Heritage News Agency. 8 December 2007. Archived from the original on 29 September 2011. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  14. ^ a b c Borjian, Habib (2019). "The Language of the Kharg Island". Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. 29 (4): 680. doi:10.1017/S1356186319000403. S2CID 213053987.
  15. ^ "Khark island's Achaemenid inscription seriously damaged". Payvand News. 1 June 2008. Archived from the original on 28 April 2012. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  16. ^ Census of the Islamic Republic of Iran, 1395 (2016): Bushehr Province. amar.org.ir (Report) (in Persian). The Statistical Center of Iran. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kharg Island.