The historic village of old Seffin, located in the northern part of Kish Island, is the oldest village remained from the old Kish enjoying the unique traditional local architecture. The village is currently the place of residence to the Island indigenous people.
The features of the village
Area: 17 hectares
Age: about 350 years
The race of the village indigenous people: Dravidian, Sumerian, Nordic, Sami, blacks, whites.
The indigenous people native language: Arabic
The former occupations of the indigenous people: pearl fishing, fishing, seafaring, trade, agriculture and animal husbandry
The current occupations: fishing, trade, marine services
Reputation in the past: sailing, having high quality pearls and skilled scuba divers, the center for purchase and sale of pearls, thriving animal husbandry and agriculture (onion exports to the Persian Gulf countries)
The main occupation of the indigenous people of the Island, especially the old Seffin inhabitants, had been pearl fishing until 40 years ago. There were a number of factors such as a variety of shells around the Island, the Kish Island scuba divers special skills in the extraction of the shells from the sea, the global reputation of pearls around the Kish Island, trade boom in the Island due to its strategic location, making the Island the center for pearl fishing and trade in the region, to which many merchants and their clientele (pearl purchasers) used to travel. The pearls in the Kish Island were often exported to India and Europe, where they were used in the jewelry industry. The flourishing trade of cultured pearls (Japanese) due to their low cost compared to natural pearls, resulted in loss of the industry in the Kish Island as well as in the other regions of the Persian Gulf.