Bastak
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Bastak بستك |
|
|---|---|
| city | |
 Bastak
|
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| Coordinates: 27°11′57″N 54°22′00″E / 27.19917°N 54.36667°ECoordinates: 27°11′57″N 54°22′00″E / 27.19917°N 54.36667°E | |
| Country |
 Iran
|
| Province | Hormozgan |
| County | Bastak |
| Bakhsh | Central |
| Population (2006) | |
| • Total | 8,376 |
| Time zone | IRST (UTC+3:30) |
| • Summer (DST) | IRDT (UTC+4:30) |
Bastak (Persian: بستک; also known as Bustak) is a city in and the capital of Bastak County, Hormozgan Province, Iran. Bastak was traditionally part of the region of Larestan. Bastak's inhabitants are Larestani people. Bastak's inhabitants speak Bastaki, a dialect of Larestani.
At the 2006 census, its population was 8,376, in 1,765 families.
The history of Bastak can be traced back to the Safavids era. When the Safavids under Ismail I decided to convert everyone residing in current day Iran from Sunni to Shiite Islam in 1501, they started arranged attacks and massacres against the Sunni Persians who refused to convert. As a result, many Sunni Persians left their hometowns for the Zagros Mountains. After the Battle of Chaldiran where the Safavids lost to the Ottoman the Sunni Persians descended from the mountains to begin a new life in the land they named "Bastak", meaning barrier or backstop signifying barrier from Shiite Safavids' attacks and influences.
Eventually, they pledged loyalty to the Abbasids, a Muslim dynasty that left Baghdad after the Moghol invasion towards the southern mountains of Persia. The rulers of Shiraz at the time, the Atabak, gave them protection to pass through their lands as they fled from the Mongols. Later on the Abbasids they took permission from Atabak to establish a state of their own and rule Bastak and the surrounding villages and islands. It was said that a few Hashimites (descendants of Prophet Mohammed) moved to Bastak from Khonj where they had settled after leaving Iraq towards Persia. The Abbasids carried on the expansion of Bastak's rule until it included more than 60 villages and many islands in the Persian Gulf. Many alliances were formed between the Bastaki Persians and the Arab rulers in the current day UAE.
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Wikipedia