Online Encyclopedia
Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.
KARUN
Online EncyclopediaEncyclopedia Home :: JUN-KHA
del.icio.us it!
|
KARUN , an important See also:river of See also:Persia. Its See also:head-See also:waters are in the See also:mountain cluster known since at least the 14th See also:century as Zardeh Kuh (13,000 ft.) and situated in the See also:Bakhtiari See also:country about 115 M. W. of See also:Isfahan. In its upper course until it reaches See also:Shushter it is called Ab i Kurang.(also Kurand and Kuran), and in the Bundahish, an old cosmographical See also:work in See also:Pahlavi, it is named Kharhe 1 From the junction of the two See also:principal See also:sources in the Zardeh Kuh at an See also:altitude of about 8000 ft., the Ab i Kurang is a powerful stream, full, deep and flowing with See also:great velocity for most of its upper course between precipices varying in height from See also:rood to 3000 ft. The steepness and height of its See also:banks make it in See also:general useless for See also:irrigation purposes. From its principal sources to Shushter the distance as the See also:crow flies is only about 75 m., but the course of the river is so tortuous that it travels 250, M. before it reaches that See also:city. Besides being fed on its See also:journey through the Bakhtiari country by many mountain-See also:side streams, fresh-See also:water and See also:salt, it receives various tributaries, the most important being the Ab i Bazuft from the right and the Ab i Barz from the See also:left. At Shushter it divides into two branches, one the " Gerger," an artificial channel cut in olden times and flowing See also:east of the 1 The real principal source of the river has been correctly located at ten See also:miles above the reputed principal source, but the name Kurang has been erroneously explained as See also:standing for Kuh i rang and has been given to the mountain with the real principal source. . Kuh i rang has been wrongly explained as meaning the "variegated mountain." city, the other the " Shutait " flowing See also:west. These two branches, which are navigable to within a few miles below Shushter, unite after a run of about 50 M. at See also:Band i Kir, 24 M. S. of Shushter, and there also take up the Ab i Diz (river of See also:Dizful). From Band i Kir to a point two miles above See also:Muhamrah the river is called Karun (Rio Carom of the Portuguese writers of the 16th and 17th centuries) and is navigable all the way with the exception of about two miles at See also:Ahvaz, where a See also:series of cliffs and rocky shelves See also:cross the river and cause rapids. Between Ahvaz and Band i Kir (46 m. by river, 24 M. by road) the river has an See also:average See also:depth of about 20 ft., but below Ahvaz down to a few miles above Muhamrah it is in places very shallow, and vessels with a See also:draught exceeding 3 ft. are liable to ground. About 12 M. above Muhamrah and branching off to the left is a choked-up river See also:bed called the " See also:blind Karun," by which the Karun found its way to the See also:sea in former days. Ten miles farther a See also:part of the river branches off to the left and due S. by a channel called Bahmashir (from Bahman-See also:Ardashir, the name of the See also:district in the See also:early See also:middle ages) which is navigable to the sea for vessels of little draught. The principal river, here about a See also:quarter of a mile broad and 20 to 30 ft. deep, now flows west, and after passing Muhamrah enters into the Shatt el Arab about 20 M. below See also:Basra. This part of the river, from the Bahmashir to the Shatt, is a Iittle over three miles in length and, as its name, Hafar (" dug ") implies, an artificial channel. It was dug c. A.D. 980 by Azud ed-Dowleh to facilitate communication by water between Basra and Ahvaz, as related by the Arab geographer Mukaddasi A.D. 986. The See also:total length of the river is 460 to 470 M. while the distance from the sources to its junction with the Shatt el Arab is only 16o m. as the crow flies. The Karun up to Ahvaz was opened to See also:international See also:navigation on the 3oth of See also:October 1888, and Messrs See also:Lynch of See also:London established a fortnightly steamer service on it immediately after. To increase the water See also:supply of Isfahan Shah Tahmasp I. (1524-1576) and some of his successors, notably Shah Abbas I. (1587-1629), undertook some See also:works for diverting the Kurang into a valley which drains into the Zayendeh-rud, the river of Isfahan, by tunnelling, or cutting through a narrow rocky See also:ridge separating the two river systems. The result of many years' work, a cleft 300 yds. See also:long, 15 broad and 18 deep, cut into the See also:rock, probably amounting to no more than one-twentieth of the necessary work, can be seen at the junction of the two principal sources of the Kurang. On the upper Karun see Mrs See also:Bishop, Journeys in Persia and See also:Kurdistan (London, 1891); See also:Lord Curzon, Persia and the See also:Persian Question (London, 1892) ; Lieut.-See also:Colonel H. A. See also:Sawyer, " The Bakhtiari Mountains and Upper See also:Elam," Geog. See also:Journal (Dec. 1894). (A. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML. Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide. |
|
|
[back] KARTIKEYA |
[next] KARWAR, or CARWAR |