Ormuz

Ormuz, or HORMUZ, a small town on the island of Jerun (12 miles in circuit), in the strait of Ormuz, at the entrance of the Persian Gulf, 4 miles S. of the Persian coast. Three centuries before the Christian era there existed on the mainland, 12 miles east of the island, a city Ormuz; this in the 13th century was the headquarters of the Persian trade with India. But about the end of the century its ruler transferred his people to the site of the present town, to escape the Mongols. The new city maintained its commercial supremacy even after it passed into the hands of the Portuguese, through Albuquerque's capture of it in 1507. It was taken from the Portuguese in 1622 by an English fleet (Baffin, the Arctic navigator, being killed in the action), and given to Shah Abbas of Persia, who transferred the trade to his port of Bandar Abbas, 12 miles north-west on the mainland. The Portuguese fort still stands, but the town of Ormuz is a ruin. The island yields salt and sulphur.