Colonial Oil Extraction in Iran: The 1908 Discovery and Its Legacy of Defeat
By
akbarnama
An everything bagel for the brain. Substantive, layered, well-seasoned.
Summary
The article explores the concept of 'defeat as method' through the historical lens of oil discovery in Iran. It examines how the 1908 discovery of oil by the Anglo-Persian Oil Company in Bakhtiari lands represents a colonial imposition that transformed indigenous spaces into extractive zones. The piece connects this historical event to broader themes of colonial violence, resource extraction, and the erasure of indigenous knowledge and sovereignty, framing defeat not as an endpoint but as a methodological approach to understanding power dynamics and resistance.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledThe Anglo-Persian Oil Company's first well in Iran struck oil on the morning of 26 May 1908.
William Knox D'Arcy, backed by the British government, started to drill in the lands of Bakhtiari nomads.
The Bakhtiari had for a long time been regarded as a 'savage race,' not only by Europeans but also by the Iranian rulers.
A savage race is a waste race, and their habitat a waste land.
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