Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia

The Eastern Province (Arabic: المنطقة الشرقية‎, romanized: al-Mintaqah ash-Sharqīyah), also known as the Eastern Region, is a province in Saudi Arabia. It is the nation's largest province by area and the third most populous after Riyadh and Mecca provinces. As of 2022, the population is 5,125,254. Its name reflects its location in the eastern part of the country.

More than a third of the population is concentrated in the Dammam metropolitan area. With an estimated population of 1.53 million as of 2022, Dammam, the seat of the province, is the fourth most populous city in the kingdom. Other populous cities in the province include Qatif, Hofuf, Hafar al-Batin, Jubail and Khobar. The region is extremely popular among tourists for its beaches on the Persian Gulf (also known as the Arabian Gulf) and proximity to the other countries of the eastern Arab world, such as the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Bahrain, with the latter being linked to the province via the 25 km (15 mi) long King Fahd Causeway. The Province also shares a border with Oman, Yemen, Kuwait and Iraq. The province is bordered to the west, from north to south, by the provinces of the Northern Borders, Hail, Al-Qassim, Riyadh and Najran.

The Eastern Province encompasses the entire east coast of Saudi Arabia and acts as a major platform for most of the kingdom's oil production and exports. Oil was first found in the country in the Eastern Province, at the Prosperity Well site (formerly known as Dammam No.7). The Ghawar oil field, located in the Al-Ahsa Governorate, measuring 8,400 sq.km. (3,240 sq.mi.) is the largest oil field in the world, and accounts for roughly a third of the kingdom's oil production. The Safaniya oil field, located off the coast of the province, is the largest offshore oil field in the world. The Jubail Industrial City, part of the city of Jubail, the fifth most populous in the province, is the largest industrial city in the world.

The Province was home to the Dilmun civilization which was an ancient Semitic–speaking polity in Eastern Arabia. Founded in the late 4th millennium BC and lasting until approximately 538 BC it is regarded as one of the oldest civilizations in the world. Dilmun was an important and prosperous trading centre for millennia with well-developed and long-standing trading, commercial and cultural ties with nearby Mesopotamia in particular and the Indus Valley Civilisation.

A number of scholars have suggested that Dilmun originally designated the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, notably linked with the major Dilmunite settlements of Umm an-Nussi and Umm ar-Ramadh in the interior and Tarout Island on the coast.

Geography

thumb|248x248px|The [[Rub' al Khali|Rub' al-Khali or Empty Quarter, comprises more than a third of the Eastern Province]]

Approximately two-thirds of the province is desert, comprising, from south to north, the Rub' al Khali, Dahna and Nafud deserts, with the Rub' al-Khali alone making up more than half of the area of the province. Areas such as Hafr al-Batin and the Al-Ahsa Oasis have become important sites for desert farming due to the advancements made during the Green Revolution in farming and irrigation techniques.

The entire eastern coast of the kingdom lies in the Eastern Province. The region borders, from north to south, the countries of Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen.

History

thumb|335x335px|The [[Rashidun Caliphate expanded the Muslim world into three continents within 20 years of the death of Muhammad]]

The Eastern Province was home to the Dilmun civilization for several millennia which was an important trading center from the late 4th millennium BC to 800 BC. At the height of its power, Dilmun controlled the Persian Gulf trading routes. Dilmun was very prosperous during the first 300 years of the second millennium.

The Dilmun civilization was the centre of commercial activities linking traditional agriculture of the land—then utterly fertile due to artesian wells that have dried since, and due to a much wetter climate—with maritime trade between diverse regions such as the Meluhha (suspected to be Indus Valley Civilisation), Magan (Oman), and Mesopotamia.

The great commercial and trading connections between Mesopotamia and Dilmun were strong and profound to the point where Dilmun was a central figure to the Sumerian creation myth. Dilmun was described in the saga of Enki and Ninhursag as pre-existing in paradisiacal state, where predators don't kill, pain and diseases are absent, and people do not get old.

Dilmun's commercial power began to decline between 1000 BC and 800 BC because piracy flourished in the Persian Gulf. The most recent reference to Dilmun came during the Neo-Babylonian Empire. Neo-Babylonian administrative records, dated 567 BC, stated that Dilmun was controlled by the king of Babylon. The name of Dilmun fell from use after the collapse of Babylon in 538 BC.

The northern part of the Eastern Province later became inhabited by the Arab Lakhmids around 300 AD, with the coastal regions claimed by the Sasanians but governed by the Lakhmids. The entire Arabian Peninsula fell into Muslim hands during the Rashidun Caliphate and the Muslim conquest of Persia, after Muhammad's death. The region stayed stable during the first three Islamic caliphates.

thumb|[[Ibn Saud|King Ibn Saud is largely accepted to be the founder of present-day Saudi Arabia, also known as the Third Saudi State]]During the Abbasid Caliphate, the region was taken over by the Qarmatians, a Shia group of the Isma'ili branch, around 899 AD. The Qarmatians attacked Mecca and Medina in 930 AD and held the Black Stone to ransom in Ain Al Kuayba, Qatif. The region was ruled by the Qaramatians until 976 AD, when after losing to the Abbasids, they were reduced to the status of a local power. After Bahrain and Qatif seceded from Qarmatian rule around 1058 AD, they retreated to the Al-Ahsa Oasis, to which Abdullah bin Ali Al Uyuni laid siege and invaded in 1076 AD, ending the rule of Qarmatians in Ahsa and founding the Uyunid Emirate. Dammam is the most populous city in the province and the sixth most populous city in the country. The governorate with the largest population is the Al-Ahsa Governorate. It is also the largest governorate in terms of land area. The province had the lowest dependency ratio in the kingdom at around 36%, as of 2016. The sex ratio for Saudis was 109 males per 100 females and 150 males per 100 females for non-Saudis, yielding a common sex ratio of 151 males per 100 females. similar to the urban Najdi spoken in Riyadh, but influenced by other dialects local to the Eastern Province. Other dialects spoken natively in the Eastern Province include:

Gulf Arabic dialects, spoken by approximately 2 million people, including Hasawi variants, Bahraini variants, and others.
Baharna dialects spoken in Qatif.
Najdi-type dialects spoken among settled bedouin tribes. This includes Central Najdi dialects such as the dialects of Bani Khalid, Southern dialects such as the dialects of Al Murrah and Ajman, and Mixed Northern-Central Najdi dialects such as dialects of Al-Dhafeer.

There are also many dialects spoken by Saudis who have immigrated from elsewhere, such as other Najdi dialects, South Arabian dialects, and Hejazi dialects. The Mehri language is also spoken by Mehri Saudis. Saudi Sign Language is the principal language of the deaf community.

The large expatriate communities also speak their own languages, the most numerous of which are some of the Indian languages, Filipino/Tagalog, Bengali, Urdu, as well as Arabic dialects such as Egyptian, Levantine, and Yemeni.

Education

As of 2016, of the 1,264,687 male residents aged over 10, 88.78%—representing 1,122,738 individuals—had received some form of formal education. Among females, 80.77% of the 1,161,677 residents over the age of 10—equivalent to 938,233 individuals—were formally educated.

thumb|226x226px|[[Saudi Arabian Saga'i dates]]

The kingdom's main oil and gas fields are located in the Eastern Province with sites such as the Ghawar Field, the largest onshore oil field in the world and the Safaniya oil field, the largest Offshore drilling field in the world. Petroleum is refined in various refineries spread across the kingdom and shipped to dozens of countries from port cities such as Ras Tanura. The East–West pipeline enables efficient transport of oil from the eastern oil fields and refineries to the western refineries and ports, such as Rabigh and Jeddah.

Saudi Arabia's largest agricultural product, dates, also forms a large part of the province's economy. Every year thousands of tonnes of dates are harvested from the date palms in the giant oasis of Al-Ahsa Oasis to be sold in and around the kingdom.

Transportation

Air

thumb|224x224px|Inside [[King Fahd International Airport]]

thumb|225x225px|A [[Saudi Aramco aircraft at Shaybah Airport in Shaybah]]

Dammam's King Fahd International Airport, operating since October 1999, the largest airport in the world in terms of land area, serves as the primary hub for the entirety of the Eastern Province. The port receives more than 15,000 ships carrying more than 13 million containers or 532 million tons of cargo annually. Umrah and Hajj shuttle services are also provided to residents of the kingdom by private contractors. Shuttle services also connect the Dammam metropolitan area to the Bahrain International Airport, northeast of Manama in Bahrain.

Railway

There is two lines in the Eastern Province, the Dammam–Riyadh line a passenger line, which runs from Dammam to Riyadh via Abqaiq and Hofuf, and the other freight, which runs directly from Dammam to Riyadh, are managed by Saudi Arabia Railways.

Metro

A plan to build a Metro in Dammam was also in the works, but its current status is unknown.

Governorates

The Eastern Province consists of 12 governorates classified into two categories: 5 governorates in Category A and 7 in Category B. These categories are based primarily on the level of services and infrastructure available in each governorate. With Dammam serving as the seat city of the province, Dammam had a population of 1,386,671 as of 2022.

{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;"

! # !! Governorate !! 2010 Population !! 2022 Population

| – || style="background-color: silver; font-weight:bold;"| Dammam || – || 1,386,671

| 1 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Al-Ahsa || – || 1,104,267

| 2 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Khobar || 573,671 || 658,550

| 3 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Qatif || 524,417 || 552,442

| 4 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Jubail || 392,948 || 505,162

| 5 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Hafar al-Batin || 387,102 || 467,007

| 6 || style="background-color: #cedff2;"| Khafji || 77,328 || 84,316

| 7 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Ras Tanura || 62,069 || 62,314

| 8 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Nariyah || 52,403 || 52,340

| 9 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Abqaiq || 52,849 || 45,032

| 10 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Qaryat al-Ulya || 25,062 || 24,634

| 11 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Al-Udeid || – || 8,635

| 12 || style="background-color: #FBCEB1;"| Al-Bayda || – || N/A

List of governors

{| class="wikitable"

! Name !! Term of Office !! Monarch(s)

| colspan="3" style="text-align:center;" | Office established

| Abdullah bin Jalawi || 1913 – 1938 || Abdulaziz

| Saud bin Abdullah || 1938 – 1967 || Abdulaziz, Saud, Faisal

| Abdul Mohsen bin Abdullah || 1967 – 1985 || Faisal, Khalid, Fahd

| Muhammad bin Fahd || 1985 – 2013 || Fahd, Abdullah

| Saud bin Nayef || 2013 – present || Abdullah, Salman

References

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