The Strait of Hormuz (تنگه هرمز in Persian) is a relatively narrow stretch of ocean between the Gulf of Oman in the southeast and the Persian Gulf in the southwest.
On the north coast is Iran and on the south coast is the United Arab Emirates and an exclave of Oman.
On July 3, 1988, the Strait of Hormuz was site of one of the most controversial tragedies in aviation history: Iran Air Flight 655, an Airbus A300 medium-sized passenger jet was shot down by the United States Navy guided missile cruiser, USS Vincennes.
The name Hormuz is derived by some from that of the Persian god Hormuzd (Ormazd), but it is more likely that the original etymology was connected with khurrna, a date ; for the meaning of Moghistan the modern name of the territory Harmozia is the region of date-palms.
About the year 1300 Hormuz was so severely and repeatedly harassed by raids of Tatar horsemen that the king and his people abandoned their city on the mainland and transferred themselves to the island of Jerun (Organa of Nearchus), about 12 m.
For more than a century Hormuz remained practically in the dominions of Portugal, though the hereditary prince, paying from his revenues a tribute to Portugal (in lieu of which eventually the latter took the whole of the customs collections), continued to be the instrument of government.
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