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Abadan

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: Geography of the Middle
East

          Abadan (film) is also the name of a 2003 Iranian movie from
          director Mani Haghighi, as well as the name of a town in
          Turkmenistan

   Map of Iran (Persia) and surrounding lands, showing location of Abadan
   Arvand river between Abadan (left) and khorramshahr (right).
   Arvand river between Abadan (left) and khorramshahr (right).

   Abadan ( Persian: آبادان) is a city in the Khuzestan province in
   southwestern Iran ( Persia). It lies on Abadan Island (68 km long, 3-19
   km wide, the island is bounded in the west by the Arvand River and to
   the east by the Bahmanshir outlet of the Karun River), on the Arvand
   river 53 kilometers from the Persian Gulf, near the Iraqi-Iran border.
   It is the capital of Abadan County. In 2005, the population was
   estimated to be at 415,139. The civilian population of the city dropped
   to near zero during the eight-years Iran-Iraq war. In 1992, only 84,774
   had returned to live in the city. By 2001, the population had jumped to
   206,073, only to double in the past five years.

Etymology

   Beladori (d. 892) quotes the story that the town was founded by 'Abbad
   bin Hosayn Khabethi, who established a garrison there during the
   governorship of Hajjaj in the Ummayad period. An Iranian etymology of
   the name (from the Persian word "ab" (water) and the root "pā" (guard,
   watch) thus "coastguard station"), was suggested by B. Farahvashi.
   Supporting evidence is the name "Apphana" which Ptolemy applies to an
   island off the mouth of the Tigris. The Persian version of the name had
   begun to come into general use before it was adopted by official decree
   in 1935. The geographer Marcian also renders the name "Apphadana" in
   his writings.

History

   Darkhuien oil field behind Abadan.
   Darkhuien oil field behind Abadan.

   Abadan is thought to have originally developed as a port city under the
   Abbasids' rule. Legendarily, it was founded by a holy man, 'Abbad. In
   this time period, it was a commercial source of salt and woven mats.
   The siltation of the river delta forced the town further away from
   water; Ibn Battutah described Abadan as a small city in a flat salty
   plain. Politically, Abadan was often the subject of dispute between the
   nearby states; in 1847, Persia acquired it, in which state Abadan has
   remained since. From the 17th century onward, the island of Abadan was
   part of the lands of the Arab Ka'ab ( Bani Kaab) tribe. One section of
   this tribe, Mohaysen, had its headquarters at Mohammara(present-day
   Khorramshahr), until the removal of Shaikh Khaz'al Khan in 1924.

   It was not until the 20th century that rich oil fields were discovered
   in the area. In 1910, the population had been around 400. The
   Anglo-Persian Oil Company built their first pipeline terminus oil
   refinery in Abadan, starting in 1909 and completing it in 1913. By
   1938, it was the largest in the world. To this day it remains a vast
   facility for refining petroleum. The facilities necessitated an equally
   vast population: more than 220,000 people in 1956.

   Only a low 9% of managers (of the oil company) were from Khuzestan. The
   proportion of natives of Tehran, the Caspian, Azarbaijan and Kurdistan
   rose from 4% of blue collar workers to 22% of white collar workers to
   45% of managers. Thus while Arabic speakers were concentrated on the
   lower rungs of the work force, managers tended to be brought in from
   some distance.

   On August 19, 1978-the anniversary of the US backed pro-Shah coup
   d'etat which overthrew the nationalists and popular Iranian prime
   minister, Dr. Mohammed Mossadegh — the Cinema Rex, a movie theatre in
   Abadan, Iran, was set ablaze by four Islamic Revolution sympathizers in
   an attempt to help the cause of Iran's Islamic Revolution. The local
   Abadan police had taken notice, and became suspicious of Hossein
   Takbali-zadeh and his accomplices, and had started following the
   arsonists as they were entering Cinema Rex. The police decided to
   continue their surveillance and track the group after they left the
   movie theatre. This incident ended up causing the Cinema Rex Fire,
   where over 350 people perished. At the trial, Hossein Takbali-zadeh
   stated that his three accomplices by the names of Faraj, Falah, and
   Yadollah had all burned in the fire.

   In September 1980, Abadan was almost overrun during a surprise attack
   on Khuzestan by Iraq, marking the beginning of the Iran-Iraq War. For
   18 months Abadan was besieged, but never captured, by Iraqi forces.
   Much of the city, including the oil refinery which was the world's
   largest refinery with capacity of 680,000 barrels per day, was badly
   damaged or destroyed by the siege and by bombing. Previous to the war,
   the city's civilian population was about 300,000, but before it was
   over, most of the populous had sought refuge elsewhere in Iran.

   After the war, the biggest concern was the rebuilding of Abadan's oil
   refinery. In 1993, the refinery began limited operation & and the port
   reopened. By 1997, the refinery reached the same rate of production it
   was at before the war.

Recent events

   To honour the 100th anniversary of the refining of oil in Abadan, city
   officials are planning an "oil museum"

Places of interest

   Taj cinema in Abadan
   Taj cinema in Abadan

   The Abadan Institute of Technology was established in Abadan in 1939.
   The school specialized in engineering and petroleum chemistry, and was
   designed to train staff for the refinery in town. The school's name has
   since changed several times, but since 1989 has been considered a
   branch campus of the Petroleum University of Technology, centered in
   Tehran.

   There is an international airport in Abadan. It is represented by the
   IATA airport code ABD.

Trivia

     * The Abadan oil refinery was featured on the reverse side of Iran's
       100-rial banknotes printed in 1965 and from 1971 to 1973.

   Retrieved from " http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abadan"
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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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