Darz

Darz is a village in Larestan, in the dry interior of southern Fars, Iran. It lies in country where settlement depends on wells, springs, qanats and careful management of occasional runoff. Small irrigated plots beside larger stretches of sparse pasture are characteristic of the region’s rural economy, and villages like Darz are compact clusters of houses grouped around fields and water.

Larestan was long ruled by the local Miladian dynasty, until a Safavid invasion in 1602 led by Allahverdi Khan brought it under direct Safavid control. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the town of Lar was a major stop on the road from the Persian Gulf coast to the Iranian interior, and in the early seventeenth century many Larestanis migrated to the Arab shores of the Gulf. Routes between the coast and the interior crossed dry mountains and basins here, giving even small villages a link to trade and travel.