Kingdom, tributary to Kerman · Persia and the Eastern Islamic World · as at first light, 1 January 1200

The kings of Old Hormuz

A mainland port-kingdom on the creek of the Minab river, a few miles from the open sea, founded in the eleventh century as a dependency of Kerman by a dynasty from Oman.

Old Hormuz is Kerman's harbour: Arabian horses go out to India, Indian goods come in and go up through Jiroft. From about the eleventh century the Hormuzians levied a fixed toll on shipping in the strait. The island lords of Kish are its rivals: in 589/1193 Malik Dinar negotiated with the ruler of Kish over Kish's designs on Hormuz. The move of the town to the island of Jarun (about 1300) and the great age of Hormuz lie a century ahead.

Who rules

Name
Not pinned (a king of the line of Muhammad Dirhamkub)
Title
Malik of Hormuz
Since
Not pinned
Born
Not pinned
Family
The dynasty founded in the eleventh century by Muhammad Dirhamkub ('the dirham-striker'), an emigrant from Oman
Confidence
low

English Wikipedia after Floor, Aubin and Piacentini; Bosworth, EIr 'Dinar, Malek'. The king list before Rukn al-Din Mahmud Qalhati (1249-1286) comes from the late chronicle of Turanshah and is not dated.

Overlord

Tributary to the master of Kerman: Malik Dinar received presents from Hormuz; on 1 January 1200 presumably the Khwarazmian governor of Kerman (not pinned).

What the realm holds

  • Old Hormuz and the Minab valley
  • The coast from the Bandar Abbas shore to Sirik
  • Rudan and the routes up to Jiroft
  • Claims on the opposite islands (Jarun, Qeshm) not pinned

How it was acquired

Founded by Muhammad Dirhamkub in the eleventh century; hereditary since.

Allies and rivals

Rivals: the lords of Kish. Overlords: the masters of Kerman. The Salghurids' overlordship of Hormuz is later.

The realm that morning

Ruled by its own king, paying tribute to Kerman's master; Kish's pressure since the 1190s.

Wealth

The horse trade to India, the transit trade to Kerman and Khurasan, dates, the toll on the strait.

Military

Town troops and ships; no figures.

Threats

  • Kish
  • Ghuzz or Baluch raids from the hinterland
  • Kerman's disorder

What the year holds

What happened next, if nothing in play changes it. Each event carries what it depends on and what would stop it.

  1. 626 AH (1229)The ruler of Hormuz conquers Kish (Piacentini); in November 1230 Kish passes to the Salghurid Abu Bakr.Depends on: Not applicable (outside 1200) Stopped by: Not applicable

Where the sources disagree

Evidence: No king of Hormuz is named in a dated source for 1199-1200.

On the map: The extent of the kingdom on the mainland is a rough guess round Minab and the coast.

Primary sources for this realm

Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.

  • Annals of Oman, from the Kashf al-ghumma, Sirhan ibn Sa'id ibn Sirhan (compiler), from earlier Ibadi chronicles (about 1728, from earlier Ibadi sources). The Ibadi imamate of Oman has no contemporary chronicle for 1200; the later Omani compilations (the Kashf al-ghumma and al-Salimi's Tuhfat al-a'yan) preserve a list of imams and the tradition of the Nabhani maliks who ruled the interior from the 12th century, with Hormuz and Kish pressing on the coast. Read online
  • Dictionary of Countries, Yaqut al-Hamawi (1224 to 1228, at Aleppo). An alphabetical gazetteer of every place Yaqut had read of or seen: he travelled as a bookseller's agent through Syria, Iraq, Persia, Khurasan and Khwarazm (about 1213 to 1220) and settled in Aleppo. Read online

Sources and studies

  1. 'Kingdom of Ormus', English Wikipedia (after Floor, EIr 'Hormuz ii'; Aubin; Piacentini; Vosoughi)
  2. C. E. Bosworth, 'Dinar, Malek', Encyclopaedia Iranica (after Afzal al-Din Kirmani, 'Iqd al-ula, and Muhammad b. Ibrahim, Tarikh-i Saljuqiyan-i Kirman)
  3. C. E. Bosworth, 'The Political and Dynastic History of the Iranian World (A.D. 1000-1217)', Cambridge History of Iran 5 (1968), pp. 167-175, 184-185
  4. G. Le Strange, The Lands of the Eastern Caliphate (1905), chapters XVII-XXIV (Fars, Kirman, Makran) after Istakhri, Muqaddasi, Ibn al-Balkhi, Yaqut and Mustawfi

Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.