Bandar Abbas is formerly known as Cambarão and Porto Comorão to Portuguese traders, as Gombroon to English traders and as Gamrun or Gumrun to Dutch merchants, is a port city and capital of Hormozgān Province on the southern coast of Iran, on the Persian Gulf. The city occupies a strategic position on the narrow Strait of Hormuz, and it is the location of the main base of the Iranian Navy. Bandar Abbas is also the capital and largest city of Bandar Abbas County. At the 2006 census, its population was 367,508, with 89,404 families.
Bandar Abbas is situated on flat ground with an average altitude of 9 metres (30 ft) above sea level. The nearest elevated areas are Mt. Geno, 17 kilometres (11 mi) to the north, and Mt. Pooladi, 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) to the northwest of the city. The closest river to Bandar Abbas is the River Shoor, which rises on Mt. Geno and flows into the Persian Gulf, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) east of the city. South of the city is the island of Qeshm.
Bandar Abbas has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification BWh). Maximum temperature in summers can reach 49 °C (120 °F) while in winters the minimum temperature may drop to 5 °C (41 °F). The annual rainfall is around 170 millimetres (6.7 in) and the average relative humidity is 65%.
In the summer, Bandar Abbas sees some of the highest average dew points of any city in the world, averaging 27 °C (81 °F) and frequently exceeding 30 °C (86 °F). As a result, heat indices generally top 50 °C (122 °F) for most days during the summer. This immense humidity causes summer diurnal ranges to be lower than in most desert climates, and is a result of air flow from the warm waters of the Persian Gulf.
Original Bandaris (residents of Bandar Abbas) speak Bandari (بندری), a dialect of Persian. Bandari has loanwords from various European languages (e.g. tawāl, “towel”) and some from Arabic (e.g. atā [اتى], “to come”), Persian and Balochi.