Masjed-Soleyman

Masjed Soleyman ( fa, مسجدسلیمان, also Romanized as Masjedsoleimān, Masjed-e Soleymān, Masjed Soleiman, and Masjid-i-Sulaiman) is a city and capital of Masjed Soleyman County, Khuzestan Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 206,121, in 51,530 families.

People

The city of Masjed Soleyman is home to a large Bakhtiyari population of the Haft-lang tribe. The Bakhtiaris occupy the mountain tract in South-West Persia lying roughly between longitudes 31 to 34 N and 48 40' to 51 E, bound on the south by the plains of Khuzistan and on the north by the districts of Chahar Mahal, Faridan, and Khonsar where the central Iranian Plateau blends into the great southern mountain range. Bakhtiaris were semi-nomadic and their livelihood depended on the survival of their herds of sheep, cattle, and horses. The four main tribal divisions of Haft Lang are Duraki, Babadi, Bakhtiarwand, and Dinaruni whom are then divided into lesser clans.

Climate

At Masjed-Soleyman, the summers are long, sweltering, arid, and clear and the winters are cool, dry, and mostly clear. Over the course of the year, the temperature typically varies from 45°F to 112°F and is rarely below 38°F or above 117°F. The best time of year to visit Masjed-Soleyman is from mid September to late October. Masjed Soleyman is classified as having a hot semi-arid climate (Köppen climate classification: ''BSh'').

History

The city of Masjid Soleyman is among the ancient cities of the early Mesopotamian empire of Elam which was originally known as Assak, but was changed to Parsomash by the early Achemenids. In 1955, Roman Ghirshman discovered evidence of human inhabitation dating to 10,000 years ago in Pepdeh cave in vicinity of the current city of Lali, making it one of the oldest inhabited sites in the Khuzestan plain. Ghirshman's excavations in the area of Masjed Soleyman lead him to believe that Parsomash (present-day Masjed Soleyman) was the oldest capital of the Achaemenid Kingdom. The remains of an ancient fire-temple known locally as Sar-masjid and attributed to the legendary pre-historic king Houshang, and the ruins of an Achaemenid palace known locally as Bard- Neshandeh which is known as the birthplace of Teispes, grandfather of Cyrus the Great are among the archaeological ruins in this city. Under the Seleucids and Ashkanians the city of Masjid Solieman remained an important city. During the Sassanid period canals and weir-bridges were built, resulting into the cultivation of tobacco and cereals in the region. The ruins of such edifices can be seen in the Tembi region, Godar Landar and Dow-Paloon region (near Izeh). ; however, following the Muslim conquest of Iran, many of the ancient monolithic structures of the region were demolished and the region was ruled by rulers imposed by the Umayyad Caliphs and remained relatively obscure, until the Qajar era when it became a center for the tar trade and its name was changed to Tol-Ghor, with its borders being limited from the Karun river's Western bank to the tar springs; however, with the advent of the discovery of oil in the region, this city was named Jahangiri, but after the first oil well began production it was renamed Maydan-Nafton. In 1924, the National Council of Iran through an edict from Mohammad Reza Pahlavi officially changed the city's name to Masjid Soleiman.

Masjid Soleyman in the 20th Century

Masjed Soleyman regained importance with the discovery of oil and the erecting of the first oil well in the middle east by D'Arcy's concession. In 1900, he agreed to fund a search for oil and minerals in Persia headed by Wolff, Ketabchee and Cotte, although D'Arcy never visited Persia himself. Negotiations with the reigning monarch Mozaffar al-Din Shah Qajar began in 1901, and with the offer of £20,000 (£ million today), for a sixty-year concession to explore for oil— later, the D'Arcy concession —was secured in May, covering , and stipulated that D'Arcy would have the oil rights to the entire country except for five provinces in Northern Iran. In exchange, the Iranian government was given 16% of the oil company's annual profits, an agreement that would remain in effect until the Iranian Revolution. After the D'Arcy concession, the British government became much more concerned with the stability of Iran because of their reliance on the country's vast oil reserves.

The Constitutional Revolution

Ḥossain Qolī Khan Haft Lang was appointed superintendent (nāẓem) of the Baḵtīārīs by the Shah in 1862 and head of the tribe (īlḵān) in 1867. He was the first recipient of this title, and in the tribe he became known by the surname Īlḵānī. In 1882 the Shah caused him to be murdered and replaced by his brother Emām Qolī Khan, surnamed Ḥājī Īlḵānī. From then almost without interruption until the abolition of the title khan in 1956, the successive heads of the tribe were descendants of one or the other of the two brothers. The Haft Lang tribe played a significant role; particularly during the advent of the country's Constitutional Revolution (1905–1907). This event largely succeeded as a result of the Bakhtari tribal coalition military campaign lead by Ali-Gholi Khan, Sardar Asaad II, a chieftain of the Haft-lang tribe and his brother Najaf Qoli Khan Bakhtiari- Saad ad-Daula (also referred to as Samsam-os Saltane) whom in 1909 marched up to the gates of Tehran, and eventually deposed Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1907–1909).
This event led to the abdication of Mohammad Ali Shah Qajar (r. 1907–1909) in 1909, and his exile to Russia. This incident secured Saad ad-Daula the position of Prime Minister in the period that followed the abdication of the Qajar Shah. Nonetheless, with Russian backing, the Shah would attempt to regain his throne in 1911 by landing with a coalition of forces at Astarabad . p. 285-286 However, his efforts to reclaim his throne would bear no fruit. In this sense, the Bakhtiaris played a critical role in saving the revolution from the Qajar forces.

The Pahlavi Era

With the expansion of Bakhtiari influence, influential policy makers (particularly in Tehran) began to worry regarding the potential Bakhtiari takeover of Persia's affairs. Prior to this point, the Bakhtiari had largely remained within their own territorial boundaries.In February 1921, the said policy makers instigated a coup by which Reza Pahlavi the commander of the entire Cossack Brigade which was based in Qazvinordered his troops to march towards Tehran and seized the capital. He forced the dissolution of the government and installed Zia ol Din Tabatabaee as the new prime minister.In 1925, Reza Pahlavi was appointed as the legal monarch of Iran by the decision of Iran's constituent assembly. The assembly deposed Ahmad Shah Qajar, the last Shah of the Qajar dynasty, and amended Iran's 1906 constitution to allow selection of Reza Pahlavi as the Shah of Iran. The Bakhtiari influence in Iranian politics thus waned but they would continue to play an important role within the early 20th century politics of Iran. Reza Shah Pahlavi (r. 1925–1941) made the destruction of the Bakhtiari influence his mission. ; moreover , the existence of oil on Bakhtiari territory further motivated the Pahlavi monarch to undermine the autonomy of the tribe, and force its population to adhere to the commands of the central government. Reza Shah Pahlavi would eventually execute a few noteworthy tribal leaders to crush Bakhtiari autonomy and maintain control over the tribe. Amongst the executed Khans was Mohammad Reza Khan (Sardar-e-Fateh), whose son later became the Pahlavi Prime Minister Shapour Bakhtiar. The latter event was a turning point for Bakhtiari and their rise within Iranian politics.

The discovery of oil in the early 20th Century

In the late 19th century Britain’s Royal Navy, under the leadership of Sir Winston Churchill decided to shift its fuel source from coal to oil; therefore the British admiralty and the War office became the de facto force behind the British government's quest for oil. During the 1890s, research and reports were collected by the British foreign office indicating that Persia had great oil potential. The British Foreign office selected William Knox D'Arcy, a millionaire investor, and provided him with the reports, promising him greater wealth and governmental support if he invested in the excavation of oil. D'Arcy agreed and sent out representatives to Tehran to win a concession that would give him the exclusive rights to prospect for oil in Persia. On 16 April 1901 negotiations commenced between D'Arcy's representatives and the Qajar monarch Mozzafar al-Din Shah over a potential oil concession. On 28 May 1901, Shah Mozzafar al-Din signed an 18 article concession which exclusively gave D'Arcy the rights to prospect, explore, exploit, transport and sell natural gas, petroleum, asphalt and mineral waxes in Persia. This concession also granted D'Arcy these rights for a 60-year period and it covered an area of 1,242,000 square kilometers. or roughly three quarters of the country. In 1902,a drilling team under George B. Reynolds was sent to Chiah Surkh near the current Iran-Iraq border and in 1904 discovered oil; however he and his team suffered much hardship and the venture had put a strain on D'arcy's funds in as such that he had already spent £160,000, and was overdrawn at Lloyds Bank by £177,000. In 1905, the British Admiralty fearing the possible selling of the concessio