Although Hormozgan is known to have been settled during the
Achaemenid era when
Nearchus passed through the region, recorded history of the main
port of Hormozgan (Bandar‑e Hormoz) begins with
Ardashir I of Persia of the
Sassanid empire. The province is said to have been particularly prosperous between 241 BC and 211 BC, but retained a lack of significance with the beginning of the Islamic era.
Marco Polo visited the port of
Bandar Abbas in 1272 and 1293. He reported trading in Persian jewelry,
ivory and
silk of
Indochina, and
pearls from
Bahrain in the bazaar of the port of Hormuz. In 1497 Europeans landed in the region for the first time, headed by
Vasco da Gama. In 1508 the
Portuguese, led by
Afonso de Albuquerque anchored in the area with seven warships, as part of protecting their interests in
Egypt and
Venice. The fishing port of Hormuz at the time was considered strategically positioned for commercial interests in the
Persian Gulf.
Ismail I who was trying to counter the
Ottoman Empire to the west, was unable to save the port from the Portuguese, until
Shah Abbas I was finally able to drive them out of the Persian Gulf with the aid of the British. The name of
Bandar Abbas comes directly from the name of Shah
Abbas I. The British, meanwhile, were competing for influence in the region with Dutch colonialists, who developed
Qeshm Island and dispatched warships to
Bandar Abbas to get wet during the final years of Shah Abbas' reign. The British government was unable to defend itself against this attack. With the souring of British and Dutch relations, military tensions grew further in the region. The Dutch finally resorted to moving their base up to
Kharg Island. The
Amir of
Kharg, Mir Mahna Baloch and
Mir Hammal Kalmati with
Baloch army expelled the Europeans from
Bander Abbas to
Karachi, so with the Dutch and other forces at Kharg, the British were firmly in charge of the entire region. Soon Britain took control over the entire Persian Gulf via the British
East India Company. The British adopted policy encouraging local autonomy throughout the Persian Gulf to in order to prevent a formidable unified force from threatening their establishments in the gulf. The Omani Emirate of Hormuz later joined a federated Persia. The strategic importance of the Persian Gulf further increased after
World War I with the discovery of oil in the region. ==Demographics==