The Persian Gulf Encyclopaedia

Despite all the efforts made so far to study the Persian Gulf and its historical-cultural region, there is still no accurate and adequately documented scientific work about it in Iran. A comprehensive work should be compiled without prejudice that can be universally accepted and remain an authentic document to introduce this significant region. However, so far, books have been written or translated about the Persian Gulf, some of which deserve much attention, such as the published collection of historical maps of the Persian Gulf. Nevertheless, none of them has filled the void of a scientific and specialized encyclopedia about the Persian Gulf. The various aspects of the necessity of compiling such a work in the Islamic Republic of Iran are apparent. This encyclopedia is not limited to the northern coasts of the Persian Gulf. Still, it is designed as a historical-cultural, socio-economic, and political profile of this imperative region. It has been designed comprehensively in all the fields historically related to the Persian Gulf region, including environmental, biological, cultural, social, political, economic, and other fields.

The compilation of The Persian Gulf Encyclopaedia is a time-consuming task. Still, considering the previous experiences of the Centre for the Great Islamic Encyclopaedia, including The Comprehensive History of Iran and The Comprehensive Geography of Iran, this task can be pursued and completed appropriately.

According to the nature of the contents and entries related to it, The Persian Gulf Encyclopaedia project has been started into two main sections and eight volumes:

The first section (including four volumes), based on the general characteristics, includes these topics: study and review of the sources; environmental-biological features; land structure and topographical relief; weather characteristics (climate); water supply sources; soil characteristics; flora and fauna of the region; valuable environmental areas and landscapes; environmental issues; geographical-historical and ethno-cultural characteristics; political zoning of countries in the region; islands; historical position in trade and commodity exchange; ethnic composition of the inhabitants of the coasts and islands; language groups and variety of dialects; the historical customs of human life; the history of settlement on the coasts and islands; the demographic characteristics of the region; political-legal features; political events; countries, borders and political systems; relations between the countries of the region; judicial systems and laws; education; health system and social security; national prosperity and income; means of global communication; settlement systems in the region; economic systems in the region; energy and oil and gas industries; sea lanes and transportation; land road network and transport; and trade and commerce.

The second section (including four volumes) is developed based on various entries, such as places, personalities, events, treaties, countries, etc. The topics of the entries are extracted to start their compilation and other tasks.