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The historians and the geographers indicated in the past that once Abadan was famous for tourism and navigability. Ibn Battutah described Abadan a small city in a flat salty plain, adding that it never rained and there was no land being cultivated .so, the agriculture never flourished in Abadan.. there are indications that Abadan was a big city in the past and was not similar to big cities of its times .the author of HODOD- AL ALAM described abadan a small city lying on the shore of the sea where the abadani and samani's woven mats come from and salt of Basra and Waset come through this city. By the way, Shams-Al Dien Mohammad Ansari and Ibn Battutah described Abadan as the last village by the sea and a small citadel by the sea respectively. Geographers in the past located this city on the north –western end of the Persian Gulf and at the confluence of the Tigris and the Euphrates.
The ancients attributed the construction of Abadan to the Ardashir , the successor of Esfandiyar son of Geshtasb who built it by the Tigris or Koureh Bahman shir . Abadan was famous mainly for its Inns (Caravanserai), Monastery and numerous mosques as well as Al-khazr' s mausoleum ( who set foot on this island many centuries ago)on the shore of the Bahmanshir in the early hijrat centuries . Ibn Battutah quotes a story about meeting a pious man who retired to one of these monasteries. The mausoleum of khazr, the messenger, is still in place. That's why Abadan was being called the island of Khazr among Arabs not long ago. YAGHOUT named some of the well-known pious men as the Abbaddan (worshippers). Abadan reduced to a state of ruin gradually from centuries 13th and 14th onward. because , most of the Abadan' surface was covered by sea , at the same time , the development of Basra and Khorramshahr caused this town to lose its commercial reputation at that time and turned into a village .
This town started to flourish, when the oil was first discovered in Masjed-e-Soli-eiman )1908AD) and the Abadan refinery was subsequently constructed. A large crowd of people as experts and laborers came in flocks to this newly-based center from remote and nearby areas .consequently, a new society appeared with cultural, ethical and thinking of different backgrounds and changed the economic situation rapidly. Abadan was gradually populated from 100000 in 1943 to 226000 in 1955 as the oil industry developed. And the situation grow much better in Abadan .
The development of Abadan was fully dependent on the oil industry. By 1945 AD, this refinery was the biggest among the world's oil refineries and the oil- exporting centers in the northern hemi-sphere and continued to be the same by the start of Iraq – imposed war .and the petrochemical industry progressed well into a new stage between 1960 and 1970. But, this stopped by war.
By the war, Abadan was, undoubtedly, regarded as the most advanced and developed city in Iran from the modern civilization viewpoint. Thanks to the oil industry development, there were unique architectural style of houses, streets, jetties, oil terminals, international airport, parks, Cinemas, clubs and modern super markets, etc. the Abadan refinery covered a vast expand area of the city and the Quarters were built for the personnel according to the act of surveying and positions of the people working for the refinery and the personnel could achieve the urban and welfare services according to their ranks and positions. The policy of the Iranian – England Oil Company to accommodate their laborers was that it attached great importance to the ranking, position and social classes. This continued in this way when the oil industry was nationalized in 1950 AD. That is to say, NIOC separated the city into two parts and different classes of people began to appear there. for instance , Brim neighborhood ( by the Arvand river ) and the green areas surrounding it with expanse and luxurious houses inhabited by the NIOC' high ranking managers and Bowardeh neighborhood with its relatively luxurious houses for second – class managers and the Bahman shir , Farhabad and Jamshid Abad were specialized for juniors .the areas excluding the NIOC' neighborhoods , with a style of Islamic architectural tradition , did not enjoy the well-arranged facilities the same as NIOC' neighborhoods and in some part of Ahmad abad where densely populated ( 80000 ) , was considered one of the poorest areas . The effects of discriminatory policies including the unjust distribution of facilities became more obvious which resulted in facial inharmonious situation in Abadan and overshadowed other aspects of the society including social and spiritual ones. For example, the illiteracy rate was estimated to be 49% in Ahmad abad and the quarters for laborers 35% in 1956. Whereas, this rate reduced to 3% in Brim and Bowardeh neighborhoods. Among the skilled and unskilled laborers, 45% and 55% were illiterate respectively.
The distinction between the people enjoying the social welfare and those not , resulted in different interests and social behaviors .since NIOC' laborers and other hard-working masses clung to their religious beliefs and national customs , the well-off people became less determined about their religious inclinations duo to their interaction with foreign people and imitating the western culture and values . Shortly, a big gap created among the people by the oil industry that has never been seen in any Iranian city. The Bazaar (market) was the only powerful factor helped the people to interact with one another in the society. In addition, the traditions of Bazaar never acted in conformity with NIOC' style and its related community.
Abadan used to be called the city of opposites or white and black city. The white part was west European - like and the black part was like an eastern European underdeveloped city.
Although Abadan pretended to be a calm city during the 60 years of ruling American – British policies. But, the unhappy people and poverty gradually gathered together and added fuel to the flames of first Islamic revolution movement and the unhappy people of Abadan joined the other Iranian masses in revolution. NIOC' workers played a key role in this regard .because the vital part of national economy was at their disposal. Despite the government's efforts to bring the workers back on work, these workers went on strike to make the government give up and this continued till the victory of Islamic revolution on Bahaman 1978.
When the Iraqi – imposed war started on 31 shahrivar , 1980 , this city was attacked by the Iraqi – air and ground forces and suffered heavy losses and was badly damaged . This war did a lot of damage to the refinery, oil installations, harbors, Airport, the economic & industrial centers, water supply, power stations and buildings. so, the people were forced to evacuate the city and the oil production , to some extent , brought to a standstill . Abadan was besieged by the Iraqi-forces for 1 year. After the siege ended, this city was bombarded for a while.
The losses incurred on the oil & petrochemical installations in Abadan were estimated to be 113 and 280 billions rials respectively. By the end of shahrivar , 1982,a vast area of parks and trees were demolished due to the bombardments and droughts and this was very detrimental to a city with hot weather . In addition, this city was contaminated after the Iraqi armed forces used chemical weapons which caused more people to flee the city.
The government and national groups were united to re-build the city of Abadan , along with other war- stricken areas . The great developmental plans were executed for rebuilding the ruins of war.
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