The Persian Gulf, 1623

The Persian Gulf, as we know it today, consists of the following countries' coastlines - Iran, Saudia Arabia, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar and Bahrain. But these are modern nations constructed (their present versions) only in the 20th century. The Middle East in medieval and colonial eras had different cartography than we understand today. 

For most of history, the Ottoman Empire dominated today's West Asia apart from the predominant Iranian dynasties. Hence, all the pre-modern era's European maps show a highly distorted and ambiguous political geography of the region with no clear demarcations of cities or royal provinces. This post shall try deciphering a 1623 dated map of the Persian Gulf. 

The Gulf itself had several names throughout history. One would find alternatives translated to as the Arabian Gulf, Mare de Balsera / Golfo de Bassora (Sea of Basra), Mare di Mesendin (Sea of Mesendin or Musandan), Sinus Persicus (Persian Sea) etc. Basra is the most prominent Iraqi harbour, and Mesendin or Musandan is the Omani peninsula, marking the topmost point separating the Persian Gulf and the Sea of Oman. 

The Ottoman provincial divisions kept changing with time, and by the 17th century, it had reached the borders of today's Qatar, starting with the entire coastline from Iraq. Specific names we can identify with today's names such as Balsera (Basra), Baharem (Bahrain) and Ormus (Hormuz). In contrast, others are slightly more complicated than expected as they are mostly mispronunciation by European cartographers and not really former names. For example, even the word Persia is a corruption of the original Iranian word Fars (and the language Farsi), which is still in use. The current names of these ports are difficult to decipher, although here is a list of some of them. 

• Baharem (Bahrain)
• Comahaque / Kurack (Kharg island, Iran)
• Alaxa / Ahsa (Al Ahsa, Saudi Arabia)
• Calba (Kalba, Oman)
• Quexumo (Qeshm island, Iran)
• Ormus (Hormuz, Iran)
• Lar (in Iran; not precisely a port but a significant opening to the Gulf)
• Carit (Sarif, in Iran)
• Razer / Bender Richer (Bandar-e-Bushehr, in Iran)
• Balsera / Bassora (Basra, in Iraq)

In conclusion, the ports of Basra, Hormuz and Sarif were the major ones during the colonial era that connected trade routes majorly to India. The merchants would later proceed on their journey to Chinese ports. Although the Gulf is attached to both Iran and Arabia, the Iranians exploited the waterbody majorly; hence, one could find more Iranian ports than Arab. It is only in today's times when countries like UAE, Oman and Bahrain have major ports that connect to the trade in Asia and the entire world. 

The complicated names of towns and ports on these post-medieval maps improved with time, and a 1719 dated Dutch map provides much clearer data. The significant provinces or countries marked on both these maps are mentioned as Cusistan (the country of Susistan derived from the ancient port of Susa, Iran), Ayaman olim Arabia fœlix (referring to Arabia Fœlix, which technically should be South Arabia or Yemen, but is incorrectly referred to central Saudi Arabia), Farsi Persia (the Fars region of Iran) and Chirman (Kerman, Iran). 

The controversy over the actual name of the Persian Gulf still floats, and there are even versions such as the Muslim Gulf or Islamic Gulf attached to its nomenclature. But on this map, it's Mare di Msendini, the explanation of which is already mentioned above. Also, on another map, one would find the name Isle de Chader, which arguably is the origin of Kuwait. 

Below is a recreated version of the 1623 map of the Gulf, created initially by Hendrik Hondius, Jodocus Jondius and Gerhard Mercator in various editions.