Sign In

- Or use -
Forgot Password Create Account
This item has been sold, but you can enter your email address to be notified if another example becomes available.
Description

Gamron / Bandar-Abbas in the Straits of Hormuz

Fine early view of the city of Bandar-Abbas, published by Van der Aa in Leiden.

The view shows this important port in the Persian Empire. In the foreground are ships in the Straits of Hormuz.

Bandar-Abas / Gamron

The earliest record of Bandar Abbas is during the reign of Darius the Great (between 522 and 486 BCE). Darius's commander, Silacus, embarked from Bandar Abbas to India and the Red Sea. During Alexander's conquest of the Persian Empire, Bandar Abbas was known under the name of Hormirzad.

By the 16th century, Bandar Abbas was known as Gamrūn to the Persians. In 1565, a European navigator called it Bamdel Gombruc (that is, Bandar Gümrük, or "Customhouse Port"). The city was conquered by the Portuguese in 1514 and thereafter was an important center of commerce in the Persian Gulf and India. The city became known as Comorão, due to the presence of lobsters and crabs on its shores.

In 1614, Comorão was conquered by ‘Abbas the Great from the Portuguese and renamed Bandar-e ‘Abbās ("Port of ‘Abbas"). Supported by the British navy, Abbas (known to the English-speaking world as Gombraun) a major port.  Sir Thomas Herbert said the official English name was Gumbrown. By the 1670s, the city was known as Gameroon.

In 1625 a combined Anglo-Dutch fleet attacked the Portuguese at Bandar Abbas and took control of the trade posts. From 1654, the Dutch East India Companywas in complete control of the local spice and silk trade until 1765.  

Pieter van der Aa Biography

Pieter van der Aa (1659-1733) was a Dutch mapmaker and publisher who printed pirated editions of foreign bestsellers and illustrated books, but is best known for his voluminous output of maps and atlases. Van der Aa was born to a German stonecutter from Holstein. Interestingly, all three van der Aa sons came to be involved in the printing business. Hildebrand was a copper engraver and Boudewyn was a printer.