One of the traditional centers in the Middle East for the refining of petroleum and the shipment of petroleum products was Abadan. The city of Abadan is located approximately 33 miles (53 kilometers) from the Persian Gulf on an island in the Shatt al-?Arab, a stream formed by the junction of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. The Abadan area was acquired by Persia in a treaty with Turkey in 1847. The island was a barren mudflat with only a few groves of date palms. The city's development dates from 1909, when it became the site of the huge petroleum refinery erected by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, nationalized in 1951 as the National Iranian Oil Company. In 1980, during severe border warfare between Iran and Iraq, much of the city of Abadan and the entire refinery complex were left in ruins by systematic Iraqi bombardments. By the time the Iran-Iraq War concluded in 1988, the town had been evacuated. Included in the refinery complex had been several compounds for the oil company's staff, which stood in sharp contrast to the lively local bazaar and poor housing quarters for immigrants. The city was rebuilt after the war. (See also Iran.) Population (1996 census), 206,073. |