## Southern coastal provinces  
Together, the provinces of Hormozgan and Bushehr have Iran's longest coastline along the Persian Gulf, and this is where the greatest number of enslaved Africans disembarked until the mid-nineteenth century. Although most were engaged in the fishing industry, others were involved in the agricultural sector and domestic service.  
The southern ports region has long been characterized as multi-ethnic and pluralistic. Moreover, while it is a predominantly Shi'a area, about one-fifth of the region's inhabitants are members of the Sunni sect, of which some 96 per cent belong to the Shafi'i denomination. Given the range of beliefs and ethnicities, groups tended to congregate in quarters. For example, in Bandar Abbas, Sunnis were concentrated in the Ozi, Soro and Shagho quarters, while the descendants of Africans had their own Islamic centre to perform rituals and lived in areas called Blacks' Quarter, Blacks' Pulpit and Behind the City (Kababi 1368 SH, pp. 157, 162, 158).