Bushire/ Bushehr and Postage Stamps

 

Bushehr, Booshehr or Bushire, previously Antiochia in Persis, is the capital of Bushehr Province, Iran and a port city in southern Iran. During the Sassanian era (224-651 AD), the name of the city was Ram Ardashir and later became Reyshahr, eventually to Bushehr, which is the current name.

                             

10 Kr, rose and bistre-brown, with overprint

To the south of the present city, at Reeshire, are the remains of an earlier Elamite (3000 BC) settlement. During the Greek Macedonian Seleucid dynasty, the city was refounded as ''Antiochia in Persis'' by Seleucus Nicator (358-281 BC). It was one of the most important ports of the Sasanian navy.

                                            

          Location of Bushehr

The strategic location of the city has been the reason for establishment of the port of Bushehr

                                           

        Persian Gulf Coast of Bushehr

In the 5th century AD, Bushehr was the seat of the Nestorian Christian expansion into southern Iran.

In 1734 AD, Nader Shah of the Afsharid dynasty chose it as the site for an Iranian naval base. In 1737 AD, the Dutch East India Company opened a trading post in Bushehr, which lasted until 1753 AD. In 1763 AD, the Arab governor of Bushehr granted the British East India Company the right to build a base and trading post there. It was used as a base by the British Royal Navy in the late 18th century. In the 19th century, Bushehr became an important commercial port. It was occupied by British forces in 1856, during the Anglo-Persian War, when they won over the Persian Gulf coast.

                                           

Bandar Bushehr, drawing by Eugene Flandin, 1840
 

In 1913, the Iranians won the long battle. Britain moved its diplomatic and commercial center across the Persian Gulf to Bahrein in 1946. In 1975 the government began a nuclear power plant at Bushehr. The facility was only partially completed when it was bombed by Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988). When Germany declined to complete it after the war, in 1995 Russia signed an agreement to complete the plant.

                                           

Aerial view of Bushehr, 1925, photo by Walter Mittelholzer, ETH-Bibliothek

Postage Stamps Bushire. These have been of interest to stamp collectors, since their 1915 occupation by the British. The occupation lasted from 08 August to 16 October, when it was terminated by an agreement with the Persian government. The first stamps issued were overprints of Persian stamps of 1911 reading BUSHIRE/ Under British / Occupation, issued on 15 August. The same overprint was applied in September, to the series of Persian stamps issued in 1915. All of these overprints are uncommon. 

                                         

1915 stamp of Persia overprint for use in Bushire, 3 Tomans, red, crimson and gold
     

                                                 

1 Ch, orange and green, and 2 Ch, septa and carmine with overprint
 

                                           

3 Tomans, red, crimson and gold and 1 Toman, black, violet and gold, 1914, with overprint, 

                                          

 2 Kr, Carmine, slate and silver, 3Kr Sepia, dull lilac and silver and 5 Kr Slate, sepia and silver, 1914

                                           

1 Kr , Carmine and blue, with overprint
 

                                                   

1 Kr, Carmine and blue and 10 Kr, rose and bistre-brown with overprint 

Bushire/ Bushehr

Postage stamps of Bushire/ Bushehr with overprint