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Eastern Province (Arabic: ??????? Ash-Sharqiyah?) is the largest province of Saudi Arabia, located in the east of the country on the Persian Gulf coast, and has land borders with Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, and Yemen. It has an area of 710,000 km² and a population of 3,360,157 (2004 census). Its capital is Dammam, and its governor is Prince Mohammed bin Fahd bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud.
Geography
Adjacent to Dammam is Al-Khobar, a commercial center and a vibrant seaport. The King Fahd Causeway, completed in the 1980s, links the Eastern Province to neighbouring island state of Bahrain.
The southern part of the province, with more than half of the area, belongs to the largely uninhabited Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter) desert.
History
The Eastern Province was conquered by the Saudis in 1914 from the Ottoman Empire. The inhabited areas had been known as Al-Ahsa (???????) under Ottoman rule, and the entire region was mostly known as Bahrain (???????) from pre-islamic times until 1521. Many Saudi history books/articles call the Eastern Province Hasa and Qatif (??????? ? ??????) because The most famous ancient cities in it are Qatif and Al-Hasa. Most other cities—notably Dammam and Khobar—were built in the 20th century and did not exist before Saudi Arabia's oil production.
Economy
Saudi Aramco, the state-owned oil producing company of Saudi Arabia, is based in Dhahran, which is located in the Eastern Province, and most decisions on oil policy and production that affect the global economy are made there. The kingdom's main oil and gas fields are mostly located in the Eastern Province, onshore and offshore. Notable among these are the Qatif oilfield and the largest crude increment in the world, the Qatif project. Petroleum from the fields is shipped to dozens of countries from the oil port of Ras Tanura and is also used as feedstock in numerous industrial plants in Jubail.
Saudi Arabia's second major product, dates, also forms a large part of Eastern Province's economy. Every year thousands of tonnes of dates are harvested from the date palms in the giant oases of Al-Ahsa and Qatif.
Administrative divisions
[] List of counties
Major cities
- Dammam: Capital of Eastern Province, the third largest city of Saudi Arabia (after Riyadh and Jeddah), and the main seaport
- Al-Ahsa : Largest oasis in the world
- Khobar: Major center for commerce
- Dhahran: Oil industry center, site of Saudi Aramco headquarters. Its home to a major base of Royal Saudi Air Force and the most prestigious Saudi university, KFUPM.
- Qatif: Large oasis on the coast of the Persian Gulf, largest fishing center in the kingdom and the Persian gulf region, and major oilfield. Most, if not all, its residents are Shia Muslims.
- Jubail: One of two major industrial cities in Saudi Arabia
- Abqaiq: Home for major and largest oil and gas processing plants
- Ras Tanura: Major petroleum refining center, home for the largest oil refinery in the world, and many offshore oil platforms. Also main oil exporting seaport
- Udhayliyah: Major oil producing and processing plants
- Shayba in the Rub' al Khali (Empty Quarter), close to the border with the United Arab Emirates
- Khafji: Main industrial city, very close to the border with Kuwait. Occupied by the Iraqi forces during the Gulf War. Saudi Forces aided by United States Marines victoriously engaged in the Battle of Khafji during Operation Desert Storm to free it from Iraqis
- Hafar Al-Batin: The largest city in the North-East of Saudi Arabia, it is 90 km near Kuwait and it has more than 35 villages. King Khalid Military City is 60 km South to it.
See also
External links
Coordinates: 22°30'N, 51°00'E
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