Hengam Island

Iran / Hormozgan / Qeshm /

Hengam Island (also Hangam, Persian: جزیره هنگام) is an island-village of Qeshm county, Hormuzgan Province of Iran. It is one of the foursome of islands that traditionally have comprised the offshore dependencies of Bandar Abbas, on the northern littoral of the Strait of Hormuz. The others are Qeshm, Hormuz, and Larak islands.

Hengam is located two kilometers off Qeshm's southern coast, across a channel that is on the average about eight fathoms deep. It is 9.5 kilometers long and five kilometers wide. Geologically, it is a salt plug, just like Hormuz, Larak, and Abu Musa islands: It has a rocky topography that is dominated by multiple hills and pocked by caves and salt-pits; the highest elevation, about 105 meters, obtains toward the northern end of the island at Tappeh Mitra (also Tappeh Miz, lit., "Table Hill").

The toponymic origin Hengam is not clear. In Persian, the word hengam/angam refers to "time" and "season;" bi-hangam means "out of season" or "not good at any time." Both concepts could have applied to an island which, as reported in modern times, has been noted for being habitable only for a part of the year due to humidity, heat, and pesky insects, a variety of which could have been the same as the hangami insects, which are called such because of appearing and disappearing quickly.
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Coordinates:   26°38'54"N   55°52'46"E
This article was last modified 15 years ago