page_title: Bandar Abbas
section_title: Portuguese period
hierarchical_section_title: Bandar Abbas / History / Portuguese period
caption_attribution_description: English: Gombroon, or Bander-Abbas.--Struys, Voyages en Moscovie, Tartarie, et Perse,&amp;c., 1681. Illustration for A Comprehensive History of India by Henry Beveridge (Blackie, 1862). Bandar Abbas, formerly known as Cambarão and Porto Comorão to Portuguese traders, as Gombroon to English traders and as Gamrun or Gumrun to Dutch merchants, is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on the southern coast of Iran, on the Persian Gulf.
context_page_description: Bandar Abbas or Bandar-e ‘Abbās is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on the southern coast of Iran, on the Persian Gulf. The city occupies a strategic position on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, and it is the location of the main base of the Iranian Navy. Bandar Abbas is also the capital and largest city of Bandar Abbas County. At the 2016 census, its population was 526,648.
context_section_description: By the 16th century, Bandar Abbas was known as Gamrūn to the Persians. In 1565, a European navigator called it Bamdel Gombruc (that is, Bandar Gümrük, or "Customhouse Port"), citing this as the Persian and Turkish name. Bandar Abbas was conquered by the Portuguese in 1514, and was an important location to protect their commerce in the Persian Gulf and India. They named the city Comorão, due to the presence of lobsters and crabs on its shores.
  In 1614, Comorão was taken by ‘Abbās the Great from the Portuguese and renamed Bandar-e ‘Abbās ("Port of ‘Abbās"). Backed by the English navy, ‘Abbās developed the city (known to the English-speaking world as Gombraun) into a major port. By 1622, the Portuguese and English names had been officially combined to form Combrù or Combu, although the inhabitants still called it Bandar-e ‘Abbās. Sir Thomas Herbert said the official English name was Gumbrown, but pronounced [gŏmrōōn]. He wrote in 1630 that "some (but I commend them not) write it Gamrou, others Gomrow, and othersome Cummeroon." By the 1670s, the city was known as Gameroon.
  In 1622 CE Shah Abbas defeated Portuguese troops with the help of British troops and Iranian commander Imam Quli Khan. In honor of this victory Gumbroon was renamed Bandar Abbas Port. In the current division of Bandar Abbas in Hormozgan province and one of the most important strategic and commercial center is in the vicinity of the Persian Gulf and Oman Sea.
caption: "Gombroon, or Bender-Abbas", illustration from 1862
exif: {}