Busher

Romanization : Bushehr
Persian : بوشهر

The capital of Bushehr Province in southwestern Iran . It is a port city 150km southwest of Shiraz . The population is about 400,000. Along with Hormuz Island and Bandar Abbas, it was one of Iran 's major trading ports in the past. Many old buildings remain in the old city center, and there is a new city center to the south, with Bushehr Airport located between the two. Accessibility + Noise Bushehr is steadily developing, centered around a thermochemical power plant. In addition, the steel industry, textile industry, and fishing industry have developed.

Thanks to active exchanges with Western powers such as Britain in modern times , Bushehr played a leading role in the modernization of Iran. For example, Iran's first modern printing press was built and Iran's first magazine was circulated, and electricity was introduced very early. Iran's first wired communications also ran from Bushehr to India and Europe. Meanwhile, in the port of Bandar Siraf, 170 km southeast of Bushehr, there is the ancient city of Siraf, which was submerged by an earthquake , and is one of the targets of undersea archeology . The port of Bandar Rig, 50 km to the northwest , is famous for its culture and buildings , which still retain the influence of the Arabs .

There has been a port since the time of Elam . During the Hellenistic period , under the Seleucid dynasty , it was called Antioch of Persia (Ἀντιόχεια τῆς Περσίδος), where Antiochus III stayed after his expedition to the east. It became part of the Parthians in 170 BC and was then renamed Bukt Ardassir after its founder , Ardassir I, during the Sassanian Empire . Bukht Ardashir was a major naval base for the Sassanian Empire and, from the 5th century, a major stronghold for Nestorian Christians seeking missions to southern Iran. Over the years, Bukt Ardashir was abbreviated to the current Buser.

Illustration of Buscher from 1840

Meanwhile, in the 13th and 14th centuries, Gulf Arabs migrated across the sea from Bushehr to Bandar Abbas. Among them, the Hawala tribe settled in Bushehr, and after the death of Nadir Shah in 1747, their chief, Sheikh Nasr al-Madkur, expelled the Persian Shabandar (governor) and took control of the city, taking advantage of the chaos. In January 1751 he declared independence and imprisoned the customs officers sent by Ismail III. In September of that year, Nasr invaded Bahrain , but was repulsed, and conversely, in November, the Bahraini army led by Sheikh Asalu besieged Bushehr. However, when the latter also failed to capture and retreated, Nasr attacked and occupied Bahrain again. (1753)[1] When the Dutch East India Company, which had been trading in Bushehr since 1737, left in 1752 , Nasr gave permission to the British East India Company to build a ship and station a navy in 1763 .

Meanwhile, in Zubara, southern Qatar, there was a Utba tribe from Nejd , and war broke out in 1782 when a member of the tribe was killed in Bahrain after a dispute. Iran's Zand dynasty dispatched 2,000 troops to help Nasr, who was nominally subordinate to them, and they attacked Zubara, but were repulsed. (May 1783) Afterwards, the Utba tribe of Zubara joined with their relatives in Kuwait and attacked and occupied Bahrain.[2] Even after the loss of Bahrain, the Hawala tribe ruled Bushehr, and the city was occupied by British troops during the Anglo-Persian War . (December 1856) Afterwards, the rule of the Qajar dynasty was restored, and the Arabs returned to the Arabian Peninsula.

In 1915, during World War I, it was reoccupied by British troops sent to offset German influence.

It suffered a major blow in the 2026 US-Iran war . An A319 plane parked at the airport was destroyed in an Israeli airstrike, and a nuclear power plant was hit by an Israeli airstrike.