“Unity and Friendship: A Look at 500 Years of Historical Relations Between Iran and Portugal” was launched in a special ceremony at the National Archive of Torre do Tombo in Lisbon, the Embassy of Iran in the Portuguese capital announced in a press release on Thursday.
The book (“Liga e Amizade: Um olhar sobre os 500 anos de relacoes historicas entre o Irao e Portugal”) has been compiled by Morteza Damanpak-Jami, the ambassador of Iran to Lisbon.
It was rendered into Portuguese by the Iranian translator Shahin Alaqebandan.
The book carries articles offered during a seminar of the same title, which was organized on October 8 and 9, 2020, at the National Archive of Torre do Tombo with contributions from the Embassy of Iran.
Iran-Portugal relations commenced when Hormoz Island in the Persian Gulf was attacked by the Portuguese under Alfonso de Albuquerque in 1507 during the reign of the Safavid Dynasty (1502–1736). They captured the island in 1514 and began construction of a castle, whose ruins still remain.
The fact that such an important place was in foreign hands was so galling to Safavid king Shah Abbas I (1587-1629) that he eventually convinced the British East India Company to allow its ships to cooperate with his land forces and wrested the island from the Portuguese in 1622.
They also attacked another Persian Gulf island, Qeshm, which was mentioned by Marco Polo, and later marked out for colonial potential by the Portuguese navigator Vasco da Gama in 1507. The Portuguese also built a castle in eastern Qeshm during their occupation of Hormoz.
The Portuguese also left two other castles on the Iranian island of Larak and in the port of Kong as legacies of their colonialism in the Persian Gulf.
Iran annually celebrates the Persian Gulf National Day, which marks the anniversary of the expulsion of colonial and foreign forces from the strategic water body in 1622, on the 10th of Ordibehesht, the second month on the Iranian calendar, which fell on April 30 this year.
Source:Tehran Times