Hormuz Island

Hormuz is a small island at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, near the port of Bandar Abbas. For two centuries before the Portuguese arrived, the kingdom of Hormuz controlled much of the Gulf's trade, and the island's harbour was known across the Indian Ocean. In 1507 the Portuguese commander Afonso de Albuquerque began a fortress here, and Portugal held the island until 1622, when a Safavid army with English naval help drove the garrison out.

The Portuguese fort still stands on a spit of land at the northern tip, built of the island's own dark red stone. Inside are vaulted cisterns, chapels and rusting cannon, and its walls look out over the strait that ships still pass through today.

The island's other fame is its geology. Hormuz is a salt dome, and its surface is a patchwork of red, ochre, yellow and white earth and rock, much of it rich in iron oxide. The red earth, known locally as gelak, is used in cooking as a sauce and spice, and in art. Visitors ride around the island in local rickshaw-style vehicles to see the red beach, the salt caves and the cliffs. Local artists have also taken up the coloured earth as a material, laying out patterns and carpet designs on the ground.