Masjed Soleiman

Masjed-e Soleiman مسجدسلیمان|Masjed/Masjid-e Soleimān, or Masjed/Masjid Soleymān is a provincial town of the Khuzestan in the south-east of the Iran. The first modern oil well of the the Middle East was discovered and dug in this sector near the city. Masjed-e Soleiman is populated in majority of members of the tribe of the Bakhtiaris.

It is supposed that the name of the city has its origin of a conviction of the local inhabitants who call the ruins of a palate Achéménide Masjed-e-Soleiman , which means " Mosque of Salomon."

The city was founded 100 years ago with the development of oil industry in the Middle East; after the first negotiations on the establishment of Anglo-Persian Oil Company between William Knox D' Arcy and the chiefs of the tribe Bakhtiaris (Khans Bakhtiari).

The first oil drilling of the Middle East was made in the zone of Naftoon in the center of the city in 1908. The 100ème birthday of drilling in the Middle East will be celebrated in 2008 in this city.

Famous people of Masjed Soleiman

Mehran Karimi Nasseri, an Iranian refugee who lived in Terminal 1 of the Aéroport Roissy-Charles de Gaulle between 1988 and 2006, was born in Masjed-e Soleymān.
the current secretary of the the Council of understanding, Mohsen Rezaee, was born in Masjed-e Soleimān.

External bonds

photo Gallery of Masjed Soleiman coming from the site of the province of Khuzestan

the discovery of the first oil well to the Middle-East

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