Kīsh

Kish, known to Arab writers as Qays, is a low island off the Persian coast of the Gulf. Its palm gardens and cisterns stood beside a harbour whose merchants dealt with ships travelling between India, Yemen, Persia and Iraq. At Harira on the northern shore, the remains of houses, a mosque and landing places recall a prosperous maritime town. Imported Chinese ceramics testify to the reach of its commerce.

In the twelfth century Kish was powerful enough for its ruler to send a fleet against Aden, though the attack failed. Hormuz conquered the island in 1229, but Kish prospered again under Jamal al-Din Ibrahim Tibi, the Ilkhanid governor of Fars who died in 1306. It became the centre of a commercial enterprise, possessed a mint and drew revenue from trade. The fourteenth-century geographer Hamdallah Mustawfi still counted it a great emporium, while accounts from the period also mention its flourishing pearl fishery.