'Abbādān

Abadan lies on an island at the head of the Persian Gulf, among the channels of the Tigris, Euphrates and Karun delta. Medieval writers knew it as Abbadan, a small settlement near the point where river traffic met the sea. Its inhabitants made woven mats from the reeds of the saline marshes and supplied salt to towns upstream. Wooden beacons in the channel helped guide vessels approaching the river mouth.

Abbadan was also known for an early community of ascetics established by followers of Abd al-Wahid ibn Zayd in the eighth century. Pilgrims continued to visit the island's religious sites; Ibn Battuta came here in the fourteenth century and saw the remains of the old retreat. By the end of the Middle Ages the settlement had lost much of its importance as the coastline shifted and other ports grew. From the seventeenth century the island formed part of the lands of the Arab Banu Kab.