Palms and Dates of Fars in the Early Islamic Centuries from the Perspective of Historical Geography

Mostafa Ebrahimi, Ali Nazemianfard, Mohamad taqi Imanpour
2021 پژوهش های تاریخی  
Abstract: Palm cultivation and date production were considered as the main occupations of farmers and gardeners of the tropical regions of Fars Province during the early Islamic centuries. The present study was conducted from the perspective of historical geography based on human interaction with its surroundings. Therefore, palm cultivation, date production, and various areas depending on palm-related livelihoods were studied in Fars Province during the mentioned period. This research was a
more » ... criptive-analytical study performed by referring to library resources and conducting a field study in some areas of the province cultivating palm trees with palm irrigation structures. In the early Islamic centuries, various regions of the province were regarded as tropical regions where palm trees were of great importance. Some references have considered this province, especially Khark Island, as the origin of all palm trees in the world. Persian books have reported "palm" under the name of "khormabon," but the southern Iranian people have used to call palm trees "Mokh", "Mogh", and "Mog", which are some words rooted in the Pahlavi language. Resistance against drought, adaptation to warm climate, and high fruiting rate are the important natural features of this tree. Historical and geographical sources, as well as the remaining old palm gardens, suggested interaction of people living in Fars Province with their surrounding geography and their attempts to establish many palm gardens. In old Fars Province, there were settlements called "Moghistan", "Mokhdan", and "Moghdan", indicating that people planted palm trees and had palm gardens. Moreover, the rise of gardens in this region mainly meant that palm trees were planted here as well. ­­­­­­­­ In the tropical regions of Fars Province, people used all parts of a palm tree in their lives. In fact, many of the livelihood patterns of people in this area were taken from the palm tree. Palm played an important role in the architecture of houses as the trunk of this tree was used [...]
doi:10.22108/jhr.2021.129209.2216 doaj:2edaf22817dd40a19524343b996fd21a fatcat:ezjkbazwfrhxvngmox2gvafxnq