ABADAN (Persia), an island situated in the delta of the Shatt al 'Arab (q.v.), 4o miles in length, from 2 to 12 miles in breadth, bounded on the north and east by the Karun river (q.v.) and its tributary, the Bahmishir, on the west by the Shatt al 'Arab, and on the south by the Persian gulf. It is known to Arabs as Jazirat-ul-Khidhr from a tomb situated on the Bahmishir dedi cated to the saint of that name. Abadan is referred to by the historian Nasir Khusrau, writing in the 13th century, as the most southerly settlement of Mesopotamia, and it is not improbable that it is identical with the site of the port Charax mentioned by Herodotus. The possession of this island was long in dispute between Persia and Turkey. It was definitely allotted to Persia by the Treaty of Erzerum, 1847, the Turks however retaining control of the whole of the Shatt al 'Arab whilst ensuring to Persia freedom of navigation.
In 1909 the Anglo-Persian Oil Company, Ltd. (q.v.), under a lease agreement with the local overlord, the sheikh of Moham merah, established its pipe-line terminus and refinery on the island between the hamlets of Braim and Bawardah, and this settlement, now known as Abadan (lat. 3o° 21' N. long. 48° 17' E.), has developed into a town of 30,00o people organized by the Persian Government as a municipality. Fifteen deep-water jetties have been built along the foreshore to facilitate the loading of tankers and the unloading of machinery, etc. Exports of oil during 1927 from Abadan totalled nearly 4,500,000 tons. During the same period imports of machinery, etc., unloaded at Abadan totalled about ioo,000 tons. Over soo tankers were loaded and some 4o merchant vessels unloaded, whilst miscellaneous local imports of building material totalled about ioo,000 tons. The distance along the pipe-line from Masjid Suleiman to Abadan is about 137 miles. Communication exists by roads passable by motor cars from Abadan to Mohammerah, 9 miles ; from Abadan to Ahwaz up the pipe-line, 78 miles, and thence to Masjid Suleiman a further 68 miles. A motor road also exists from Basrah (q.v.)* to Sibah, opposite Abadan, on the right bank of the Shatt al 'Arab.
See J. W. Williamson, In a Persian Oil Field (1927).