Bushehr Province (Persian: استان بوشهر)[a] is one of the 31 provinces of Iran. It is in the south of the country, with a long coastline on the Persian Gulf. Its capital is the city of Bushehr.[7]
The province was made a part of Region 2 upon the division of the provinces into five regions, solely for coordination and development purposes, on 22 June 2014.[3]
The Greeks knew of Bushehr by Mezambria during the battles of Nearchus. A French excavating team however in 1913 determined the origin of Bushehr to date back to the Elamite Empire. A city there, known as Lyan, contained a temple that was designed to protect the compound from naval attacks. Its remains can still be seen today 10 kilometers south of the present city of Bushehr.
Marco Polo describes this region as part of the Persian province of Shabankareh. It contains the village of Saba, Iran where are buried (he was told) the three Magi which visited the Christ Child.
A key turning point in the history of Bor event of significance is known to have taken place in this region until the arrival of the European colonialists in the 16th century.
The Portuguese invaded the city of Bushehr in 1506 and remained there until Shah Abbas Safavi defeated and liberated the Persian Gulf region of their presence. By 1734, Bushehr had once again risen to prominence due to Nader Shah of the Afsharid dynasty, and his military policies in the Persian Gulf.
Political map showing different local tribal regions and alliances in the Bushehr area, 1915
Bushehr was selected by Nader to be the central base of Nader's Naval fleet in the Persian Gulf. He thus changed the name of the city to Bandar e Naderiyeh (Nader's Port). He hired an Englishman by the name of John Elton to help build his fleet. Dutch accounts report his naval fleet to have amounted to 8000-10000 personnel as well as several ship construction installations.
After Nader's death, the Dutch continued to have good commercial relations in Bushehr, until the British made their debut in Bushehr in 1763 by a contract they signed with Karim Khan of the Zand dynasty. By then, the city of Bushehr had become Iran's major port city in the Persian Gulf. By the Qajar era, Britain, Norway, Russia, Italy, France, Germany, and the Ottomans had diplomatic and commercial offices there, with Britain steadily gaining a foothold in the area. Close to 100 British ships are reported to have docked at the port city every year during the Qajar era.
A strong earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter magnitude scale struck the town of Shonbeh and villages of Shonbeh and Tasuj District in Dashti County of Bushehr province on 9 April 2013, killing at least 37 people.[8]
During the Safavid period, some people from the KurdishZanganeh tribe moved from Kermanshah to the villages between Ahram and Borazjan and formed a local government in this area, and from that time until the beginning of Qajar, this part of Bushehr province was called Zanganeh bloc.[11] The Zangeneh tribe have largely been assimilated and have adopted the local Persian and Turkic languages and are city-dwellers.
The vast majority of Bushehr's population are Shia Muslims, with a minority of Sunnis comprising 8.5% of the province's population.[13]
Population
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the province's population was 886,490 in 188,762 households.[14] The following census in 2011 counted 1,032,949 people in 246,742 households.[15] The 2016 census measured the population of the province as 1,163,400 inhabitants in 321,826 households.[4]
Administrative divisions
The population history and structural changes of Bushehr province's administrative divisions over three consecutive censuses are shown in the following table.
The coast in Bushehr by the Persian Gulf.Topological and bathmetery map of Bushehr province
Aside from the revived port city of Bushehr, which is the second main naval port of Iran after Bandar Abbas, Bushehr also has come back recently in the spotlight for three main reasons:
During the Iran-Iraq war, Iran's major petroleum exporting ports in Khuzestan sustained damages so severe that a second port in Kharg Island was selected to carry on the major responsibility of Iran's petroleum exports, though even Kharg was not immune from Iraqi air raids.[citation needed]As of March 2026[update], during the 2026 Iran War, Kharg Island continues to be of great strategic significance, carrying up to 90 per cent of Iran's oil exports through its terminal.[17]
The Bushehr Light water PWR Nuclear Reactor, designed by Siemens, built by the Russians, is Iran's first Nuclear Power Plant reactor.
The industrial corridor of Asaluyeh
As many as 70,000 foreign engineers and technicians are currently working in this industrial zone 270 kilometers south of the provincial capital. This zone is where the nearby famous South Pars Gas field is located, where Iran has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastructure. The South Pars Gas field is the world's largest natural gas field.
Shahin is one of the oldest soccer team in Iran which has found in 1942. Shahin is one of the most popular teams in current Iranian football league just like Tractor-Sazi from Tabriz.
Sajjad Gharibi (born 19 December 1991) is an Iranian bodybuilder.[18][19] He was born on Khozestan, Ahwaz, and has lived in Bushehr. He has become famous in world because of his special physique. His musculus volume is extraordinary for his height, 186cm (6'2" tall), and weight, 180kg (390lb). He has looked like The Incredible Hulk character, because of his size, his Iranian fans have called him Iranian Hulk.[20]
Literature
Bushehr has been home to some famous poets. Among them are Faiez Dashti (Dashtestani) (1830–1919) and Manouchehr Atashi. Faiez poems, and Dashti(or Dashtestani) literature in general, resemble Baba Taher's works. Sadeq Chubak, Najaf Daryabandari, and Moniro Ravanipour are among the most prominent writers in the literature of Bushehr.
Attractions
Bandar Gonaveh
The city of Bushehr has 3-star hotels, an airport, and modern amenities. The Cultural Heritage Organization of Iran lists up to 45 sites of historical and cultural significance in the province. Some are listed below:
1234سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1395: استان بوشهر[General Population and Housing Census 2016: Bushehr Province]. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran] (in Persian). Archived from the original(Excel) on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
↑Habibi, Hassan (12 September 1990) [تاریخ تصویب (Approval date) 1369/06/21 (Iranian Jalali calendar)]. تصویب سازمان و سلسله تابعیت عناصر و واحدهای تقسیمات کشوری استان بوشهر به مرکزیت شهر بوشهر[Approval of the organization and the hierarchy of citizenship of the elements and units of the national divisions of Bushehr province with the city of Bushehr as its capital]. لام تا کام [Lam ta Kam] (in Persian). وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior]. کمیسیون سیاسی دفاعی هیأت دولت [Political Defense Commission of the Government Board]. شناسه [ID] 51E6AB17-6790-42EF-804B-D38845E50FAD. شماره دوره [Course number] 69, شماره جلد [Volume number] 3. Archived from the original on 12 June 2025. Retrieved 13 June 2025.
↑Anonby, Erik & Taheri-Ardali, Mortaza, et al. (eds.). 2015–2022. Atlas of the Languages of Iran (ALI). Ottawa: Geomatics & Cartographic Research Centre, Carleton University. (http://iranatlas.net/) (Accessed 2022-04-27).
12سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1385: استان بوشهر[General Population and Housing Census 2006: Bushehr Province]. مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran] (in Persian). Archived from the original(Excel) on 20 September 2011. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
12سرشماري عمومي نفوس و مسكن 1390: استان بوشهر[General Population and Housing Census 2011: Bushehr Province]. Iran Data Portal—Syracuse University (in Persian). مرکز آمار ایران [Statistical Centre of Iran]. Archived from the original(Excel) on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 18 June 2025.
↑Rahimi, Mohammad Reza (1 January 2013) [تاریخ ابلاغ (Notification date) 1391/10/12 (Iranian Jalali calendar)]. تصویب نامه درخصوص تقسیمات کشوری در استان بوشهر وزارت کشور[Resolution on national divisions in Bushehr province]. مرکز پژوهشهای مجلس شورای اسلامی ایران [Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly of Iran] (in Persian). وزارت کشور [Ministry of the Interior]. هیات وزیران [Council of Ministers]. شماره ابلاغیه [Notification Number] 200653/T46432H. Archived from the original on 10 January 2013. Retrieved 14 June 2025.
