DAŠTĪ (subprovince)

 

DAŠTĪšahrestān (subprovince) on the Persian Gulf in Būšehr province, corresponding approximately to the area referred to as Māndestān and Sīf Āl Moẓaffar in early sources (Ebn al-Balḵī, p. 152; Yāqūt, Boldān III, p. 217). It is bounded on the north and west by the šahrestāns of Daštestān and Tangestān, on the east by the šahrestān of Fīrūzābād, and on the south by the šahrestāns of Dayyer and Kangān. The administrative center is Ḵormūj, located at 60 m above sea level 82 km from Būšehr. According to the census of 1365 Š./1986, the population of Daštī was 51,409, 36 percent of which lived in urban, the remainder in rural areas; the average population density was thus 8.47 people per km2 (Natāyej, p. 8). The šahrestān of Daštī is 6,065 km2 and comprises two districts. The central Ḵormūj district, 3,903 km2, comprises the administrative center and two rural subdistricts (dehestāns), Ḵormūj and Šanba, with 105 villages. Kākī district, 1,151 km2, encompasses the dehestāns of Čāḡāpūr and Kākī, with a total of forty-four villages.

The climate is hot and humid near the coast, hot and dry inland, and more temperate in the highlands. Water for irrigation comes from springs, wells, qanāts (underground aqueducts), and the river Mond. Dry farming (deym) is practiced in Kākī; the main products are cereals, dates (see DATE PALM), tobacco, and small quantities of rice (see BERENJ). Persian limes (see CITRUS FRUITS) are produced in Šanba. Most of the population of the šahrestān is engaged in agriculture or retail trade; handicrafts include rug weaving.

There are a number of fortresses, rock-cut tombs, and ruined settlements in the šahrestān (Eqtedārī, pp. 213 ff., 265-323). In ancient times there were a number of ports in Daštī, reflecting its strategic location near the coast and on the main roads to Fārs and Ḵūzestān. According to Nozhat al-qolūb (ed. Le Strange, p. 119), in the 14th century the area was a desert 180 km2 beside the sea, with no rivers or qanāts. It produced only cereals and cotton.

It is not clear from the written sources when the name Daštī was first adopted, but it can be surmised that the šahrestāns of Daštī and Daštestān were once part of a single geographical unit. Only from the period of Nāder Shah (1148-60/1736-47) and later is there specific mention of people from Daštī; they were employed as musketeers by the shahs and fought against the British in 1273/1856, 1333/1914, and 1336/1917. They enjoy a reputation as courageous and patriotic people.

In the Qajar period Ḵormūj was a center of learning and the home of several writers and poets, foremost among them Mīrzā Jaʿfar Ḥaqāyeqnegār Ḵormūjī (1225-1301/1810-83), author of Ḥaqāyeq al-aḵbār-e nāṣerī (a history of the reign of Nāṣer-al-Dīn Shah, 1264-1313/1848-96) and Āṯār-e jaʿfarī (a geography of the world, with special attention to Fārs). The fortress of the hereditary chief Moḥammad Khan Daštī (d. 1299/1881-82), now a ruin, is located in the town of Ḵormūj (Afšār Sīstānī, II, p. 882; Eqtedārī, pp. 213-27).

 

Bibliography:

Ī. Afšār Sīstānī, Negāh-ī be Būšehr, Tehran, 1369 Š./1990, pp. 15, 35, 139, 295; II, pp. 611, 619, 643, 652, 665, 723, 726, 746, 773, 881, 886.

A. Eqtedārī, Āṯār-e šahrhā-ye bāstānī-e sawāḥel wa jazāyer-e ḵalīj-e Fārs wa daryā-ye ʿOmān, Tehran, 1338 Š./1959.

M.-Ḥ. Eʿtemād-al-Salṭana, Merʾat al-boldān, ed. ʿA.-Ḥ Navāʾī, II-IV, Tehran, 1367 Š./1988.

ʿA.-A. Farrāšbandī, Gūša-ī az tārīḵ-e enqelāb-e mosallaḥāna-ye mardom-e mobārez-e Tangestān, Daštī, wa Daštestān bar ʿalayh-e esteʿmār, Tehran, 1362 Š./1983.

Fasāʾī, ed. Rastgār, II, pp. 1334-43.

Natāyej-e sar-šomarī-e ʿomūmī-e nofūs wa maskan, Mehr-māh-e 1365, šahrestān-e Būšehr, Tehran, 1365 Š./1986 (?).

Razmārā, Farhang VII, p. 102.

Safar-nāma-ye banāder-e ḵalīj-e Fārs az mohandesī nāšanāḵta az sālhā-ye 1250-64, ed. M. Sotūda, Tehran, 1367 Š./1988.

(Jamšīd Ṣadāqat-Kīš)

Originally Published: December 15, 1994

Last Updated: November 18, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 1, pp. 106-107