Kharg Island

Kharg Island, also known as Khark, is a coral island formed in the Persian Gulf. It is located thirty-eight kilometres from Bandar Genabveh, about seventy kilometres west of Bushehr. This historical island is eight kilometres long and four kilometres wide and is positioned in the heart of the sea. Today about eight thousand local people live there. Takht Mountain is located in the north of Kharg Island, and Gardan Shotor Mountain in its south. The mountains of Lashkari and Dideban can be seen on its west side. There is also a smaller Island in its north that is known as Kharago.  

In terms of economics, Kharg Island is one of the centres of production and processing of oil in Iran. This is the reason that more than ninety per cent of the land of Kharg has been assigned to oil companies and their terminals. Aside to oil, the pearls of Kharg have always been famous, as well. There are also water springs, Qanats, stone pools and conservation areas located in this island.

There is a stone relief in Kharg Island, written in cuneiform alphabets, that belongs to Achaemenid dynasty or Elam Empire. Unfortunately, this artefact was damaged and destroyed in 1387 SH, but it was decoded and read before its destruction. In some part of its text, it has been written that “This land was dry and not irrigated. By my efforts… from wells… it became irrigated.”

There is another historical incident belonging to the reign of Darius the Great: After the conquest of India, he ordered for a base to be built in Kharg to expand his Persian navy in Indus River. Some of the historical monuments of Kharg Island are Achaemenid Ossuaries, Nestorian Church from Sassanid dynasty, Poseidon Temple, stone rails, The Dutch Fortress, many gardens and finally the remains of a burnt oil tanker. There were two ancient rocks as old as three thousand years old named Do Khaharun, literally meaning two sisters. Today they do not exist anymore, but local people still tell stories about them.

Two battles of Mir Mehna between Iranian army and generals from Zand dynasty and the Dutch, British and Portuguese armies took place in the middle of the eighteenth century in Kharg Island. By the victory of the Iranian army, the Island was liberated and the foreign forces left the land of Iran.

Gazelles, hawksbill sea turtles, green sea turtles, goats, large white-headed seagulls, ospreys, house crow and migratory birds are some of the animals that inhabit Kharg Island. Aquatic animals like fish, crabs, shrimps, leopard shark form another part of the unique animal life of this island.

Bread-leaved Banyan tree, mesquites, jujubes, palms and lavender trees are an example of plant species that grow in Kharg Island.