Bushehr
بوشهرIran's Gulf port of coral-stone merchant houses, sea songs and the ruins of Siraf.
Bushehr became Iran's main port on the Persian Gulf in the eighteenth century, after Nader Shah made it a base for his navy. Its old quarter of coral-stone merchant houses with latticed balconies recalls its trading years.
Down the coast lie the ruins of Siraf, a great port of the ninth and tenth centuries whose merchants traded with China and East Africa. Fayez Dashti, a poet of the Dashtestan district, is the voice of the region's folk song.
Cities and towns
Bushehrبوشهر
The old port
Borazjanبرازجان
The market town of Dashtestan
Sirafسیراف
Once one of the great ports of the Indian Ocean
Landmarksبناها و نشانهها
Siraf
سیرافRuins of a medieval port that traded with China and East Africa
Bushehr through time
Iranian historyThe Pahlavi century and afterدوران پهلوی و پس از آن
Two Pahlavi shahs built railways, universities and a centralised state, while poets, novelists and film-makers created a new Persian culture. The era ended with the revolution of 1979.
- Excavations at Siraf begin under David Whitehouse