Persian Gulf

“ Clearly, no longer can a dictator count on East-West confrontation to stymie concerted United Nations action against aggression.
A new partnership of nations has begun, and we stand today at a unique and extraordinary moment. The crisis in the Persian Gulf, as grave as it is, also offers a rare opportunity to move toward an historic period of cooperation. Out of these troubled times, our fifth objective—a new world order—can emerge: A new era—freer from the threat of terror, stronger in the pursuit of justice and more secure in the quest for peace. ”

“ Persia was a small, rocky, hilly, arid country about three hundred miles long by two hundred and fifty wide, situated south of Media, having the Persian Gulf as its southern boundary, the Zagros Mountains on the west separating it from Babylonia, and a great and almost impassable desert on the east, so that it was easily defended. Its population was composed of hardy, warlike, and religious people, condemned to poverty and incessant toil by the difficulty of getting a living on sterile and unproductive hills, except in a few favored localities. ”

“ The prevailing winds throughout Persia and the Persian Gulf are the north-west and south-east owing partly to the position of the Black Sea and Mediterranean and of the Arabian Sea, and partly to the bearing of the axes of the great mountain chains. ”

“ Almost from time immemorial a border warfare has been carried on between the Koordish tribes on the confines of Turkey and Persia, in the mountainous country beginning at Mount Ararat toward the north, and continuing southward to the low lands, where the Shat al Arab, the name of the mighty river formed by the junction of the Tigris and the Euphrates, pours those great volumes of water into the Persian Gulf. ”

“ Past Mosul and Bagdad they went, through Persia, where brocades are woven and merchants bring caravan after caravan of treasures, to Hormuz, on the Persian Gulf, into which port put the ships from India, laden with spices, drugs, scented woods, and jewels, gold tissues and elephants' teeth. Here they meant to take ship, but they desisted, perhaps because they feared to trust themselves to the flimsy nailless vessels in which the Arabs braved the dangers of the Indian Ocean. So they turned north again and prepared to make the journey by land. ”

“ The Persian Gulf is an inlet of the Indian Ocean, and is enclosed between Persia and Arabia. The island of Bahrein on the Arabian coast is well known; it is under British protection, and here in summer and autumn pearl fishing is carried on, the annual export of these beautiful precious stones being now about £900,000. As many as a thousand boats, with crews of thirty thousand men, are engaged in the industry. The owner of each boat engages a number of divers, who work for him, and he sells his pearls to the Indian markets. ”

“ Beyond the great river,—Persia, India, and China, form the southern 'Oriens.' Persia is properly to be conceived as reaching from the Persian Gulf to the mountain chains which flank and feed the Indus; and is the true vital power of the East in the days of Marathon: but it has no influence on Christian history except through Arabia; while, of the northern Asiatic tribes, Mede, Bactrian, Parthian, and Scythian, changing into Turk and Tartar, we need take no heed until they invade us in our own historic territory. ”

“ In the early days of Babylonian civilization they both flowed into the Persian Gulf. But salt marshes already existed at their mouths, and as time went on the marshes extended further and further to the south. What had once been sea became dry land, the silt brought down by the rivers forming an ever-increasing delta in the north of the Gulf. ”

“ The first part of Persis which lies along the Persian Gulf is hot, sandy and barren and only the date palm thrives there. The other part comprehends inner Persis lying northwards; it enjoys a pleasant climate and has fertile and well-watered plains, gardens with trees of all kinds, rich pasturages and forests abounding with game ”

“ Owing to the increased market value, the average output in the last five years has amounted to approximately four million dollars annually. This refers to the local value only, which is greatly increased by the time the pearls leave the markets in Bombay and Bagdad.
The Persian Gulf is nearly 600 miles long, with an average width of somewhat more than 100 miles. The Strait of Ormus—thirty to sixty miles wide—connects it with the Gulf of Oman, which opens directly into the Arabian Sea. The depth of water rarely exceeds thirty fathoms. ”

“ Twelve thousand men were to sail and row the newly-built ships along the coast of the Arabian Sea, through the Straits of Hormuz, and along the northern coast of the Persian Gulf to the mouth of the Euphrates. ”

“ General Malcolm was despatched to the Persian Gulf in the year 1808; but on being requested to address himself to the prince-governor of Fars, and not to advance nearer to the capital, he at once returned to India to receive instructions from the Governor-General as to the measures which it would be necessary to adopt for the purpose of compelling the Persian Government to adhere to its treaty engagements. At the same time that General Malcolm had been sent to Persia from the Government of India, an ambassador had been despatched to that country direct from the court of St. ”

“ As for his second project, of inducing the caravans and merchants of Lahore and Agra, who are in use to travel by Candahar into Persia, to come by the river Indus and to go by sea in our ships to Jasques or the Persian gulf it is a mere dream. Some men may approve of it in conversation, but it will never be adopted in practice. The river Indus is but indifferently navigable downwards, and its mouth is already occupied by the Portuguese; while its navigation upwards, against the stream, is very difficult. Finally, we must warrant their goods, which cannot be done by a fleet ”

“ One striking peculiarity of Persia, is, that a kingdom of such extent contains not a single navigable river, to impart fertility to the country and to facilitate the communication between different provinces. All the mountains, excepting those which run parallel to the Gulf and the Caspian Sea, are destitute of trees, the hills exhibiting nothing but bare and dreary crags. In summer no refreshing dew gives moisture to vegetation, no vapour veils the face of heaven, no fog hovers over the hills. ”

“ On the east lies the Gulf of Persia, which, by the river Euphrates, reaches the heart of Western Asia; while the island of Ormus forms a stepping-stone from its coast to that of India.
On the west the Red Sea protects it from the invasion of the Ethiopian nations; placing it in communication with Egypt and Abyssinia: while on the south the continent of Africa, at the straits of Bab-el-Mandeb, visibly invites the natives of Arabia to visit its coasts. ”

“ Baghdad is busy and noisy with traffic. Great quantities of British goods pass through it to Persia, avoiding by doing so the horrible rock ladders between Bushire and Isfahan. The water transit from England and India, only involving the inconvenience of transhipment at Basrah, makes Baghdad practically into a seaport, with something of the bustle and vivacity of a seaport, and caravans numbering from 20,000 to 26,000 laden mules are employed in the carriage of goods to and from the Persian cities. A duty of one per cent is levied on goods in transit to Persia. ”

“ We ourselves, our small dog “Pip” in a cage, and our canaries—almost unknown in Persia—and seventy-two tiny “avadavats” (bought at Kurrachee for three rupees) , left in a boat for Sheif, on an estuary of the gulf, thus avoiding the Macheelah plain, a dreadful march of mud and water, and shortening the journey to Shiraz by two stages. ”

“ Persian prestige required the subjugation and absorption of a country which, though belonging geographically to Africa, was politically and commercially an integral part of that Western Asia over which Persia claimed a complete and absolute supremacy.
The march upon Egypt implied and required the occupation of the Mediterranean seaboard. No armies of any considerable size have ever attempted to traverse the almost waterless desert which separates the Lower Euphrates valley from the delta of the Nile. ”