Difference between revisions of "Persian Gulf" - New World Encyclopedia

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{{Infobox Ocean
 
| Ocean_name = Persian Gulf
 
| image_Ocean =PersianGulf vue satellite du golfe persique.jpg
 
| caption_Ocean = Persian Gulf from space
 
| image_bathymetry =
 
| caption_bathymetry=
 
| location = Southwest Asia
 
| coords =
 
| type =Gulf
 
| inflow = Sea of Oman
 
| outflow =
 
| catchment =
 
| basin_countries = Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates and Oman (exclave of Musandam)
 
| length =989 km
 
| width = 56 km (min)
 
| area =251,000 km2
 
| depth =50 m
 
| max-depth =90 m
 
}}
 
The '''Persian Gulf''', in the [[Southwest Asia]]n region, is an extension of the [[Indian Ocean]] located between [[Iran]] and the [[Arabian Peninsula]]. Historically and commonly known as the Persian Gulf, this body of water is sometimes controversially referred to as the ''Arabian Gulf'' by certain [[Arab]] countries or simply ''The Gulf'', although neither of the latter two terms is recognized internationally.
 
  
The Persian Gulf was a focus of the 1980-1988 [[Iraq-Iran War]], in which each side attacked the other's [[petroleum|oil]] [[tanker]]s. In 1991, the gulf gave its name to the U.S.-led ejection of [[Iraq]]i forces from [[Kuwait]], called the Persian Gulf War or the [[Gulf War]] even though most of the action took place on land.
 
 
The Persian Gulf is rich with good [[fishing]] grounds, extensive [[coral]] reefs, and abundant [[pearl]] [[oyster]]s, but its [[ecology]] has come under pressure from industrialization, in particular, repeated petroleum spillages during recent wars.
 
 
==Geography==
 
This inland sea of some 251,000 km² is connected to the [[Gulf of Oman]] in the east by the [[Strait of Hormuz]]. Its western end is marked by the major [[river]] [[delta]] of the [[Shatt al-Arab]], which carries the waters of the [[Euphrates River|Euphrates]] and [[Tigris River|Tigris]] rivers. Its length is 989 kilometers, with [[Iran]] occupying most of the northern coast and [[Saudi Arabia]] most of the southern coast. The gulf is about 56 kilometers wide at its narrowest, in the Strait of Hormuz. The waters are overall very shallow, with a maximum depth of 90 meters and an average depth of 50 meters.
 
 
Countries with a coastline on the Persian Gulf are (clockwise, from the north): Iran, [[Oman]] (exclave of Musandam), [[United Arab Emirates]], Saudi Arabia, [[Qatar]] on a [[peninsula]] off the Saudi coast, [[Bahrain]] on an [[island]], [[Kuwait]] and [[Iraq]] in the northwest. Various small islands lie within the Persian Gulf, some of which are subject to territorial disputes by the states of the region.
 
===Wildlife===
 
[[Mangrove]]s in the Persian Gulf are nurseries for [[crabs]], small [[fish]] and [[insect]]s, as well as the [[bird]]s that eat them. Hundreds of thousands of birds stop in Arabian mangroves while migrating between [[Africa]] and [[Asia]]. But the mangroves and other critical wildlife habitats such as sea grasses, beaches, and [[coral]] reefs are threatened by the [[construction]] boom in [[Oman]] and [[Dubai]]. Oman's beaches are some of the world's most important nesting grounds for the green and loggerhead [[turtle]]s.
 
 
"These are some of the world's great nesting areas. If you start taking their habitat and food resources, it can affect not just individual birds but the entire population," said David Aubrey, chief executive of the Woods Hole Group, a U.S. environmental survey firm working in Saudi Arabia. "It takes a high level of diligence and planning to retain mangroves, and those aren't features you associate with the rapid development along the UAE coast."<ref>[http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2006/07/03/gulfwildlife_pla.html?category=earth&guid=20060703160030 Discovery Channel website Retrieved January 8, 2009]</ref>
 
 
==Oil and gas==
 
The Persian Gulf and its coastal areas are the world's largest single source of crude oil and related industries dominate the region. Al-Safaniya, the world's largest offshore [[oilfield]], is located in the Persian Gulf. Large gas finds have also been made, with Qatar and Iran sharing a giant field across the territorial median line (North Field in the Qatari sector; South Pars Field in the Iranian sector). Using this gas, Qatar has built up a substantial [[liquified natural gas]] (LNG) and petrochemical industry.
 
 
The oil-rich countries (excluding [[Iraq]]) that have a coastline on the Persian Gulf are referred to as the ''Persian Gulf States''. Iraq's egress to the gulf is narrow and easily blockaded, consisting of the [[marsh]]y [[river]] [[delta]] of the [[Shatt al-Arab]], which carries the waters of the [[Euphrates River|Euphrates]] and [[Tigris River]]s, where the left (east) bank is held by Iran.
 
 
==Etymology==
 
[[Image:Persian Gulf map.png|300px|right|thumb|Map of the Persian Gulf. The [[Gulf of Oman]] leads to the [[Arabian Sea]]. Detail from [[:Image:MiddleEast.png|larger map of the Middle East]].]]
 
In 330 B.C.E., the [[Achaemenid Empire]] established the first Persian Empire in Pars (''Persis'', or modern ''Fars'') in the southwestern region of the Iranian [[plateau]]. Consequently in the Greek sources, the body of water that bordered this province came to be known as the Persian Gulf.
 
 
Considering the historical background of the name Persian Gulf, Sir Arnold Wilson mentions in a book published in 1928 that:
 
{{cquote|No water channel has been so significant as Persian Gulf to the geologists, archaeologists, geographers, merchants, politicians, excursionists, and scholars whether in past or in present. This water channel which separates the Iran Plateau from the Arabia Plate, has enjoyed an Iranian Identity since at least 2200 years ago.<ref>Working Paper No. 61, ''UNITED NATIONS GROUP OF EXPERTS ON GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES'', dated March 28, April 4, 2006 ([http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/gegn23wp61.pdf]); accessed February 09, 2007</ref>|cquote}}
 
 
No written deed has remained since the era before the Persian Empire, but in the oral history and culture, the Iranians have called the southern waters: "Jam Sea," "Iran Sea," or "Pars Sea."
 
 
During the years 550 to 330 B.C.E., coinciding with sovereignty of the first [[Persian Empire]] in the [[Middle East]], the name of "Pars Sea" was widely written in the compiled texts. when referring to  the whole part of the Persian Gulf and some parts of the [[Arabian Peninsula]].
 
 
In the travel account of [[Pythagoras]], several chapters are related to description of his travels accompanied by [[Darius the Great]], to [[Susa]] and [[Persepolis]], and the area is described. From among the writings of others in the same period, there is an inscription and engraving of Darius the Great in which he named the Persian Gulf water channel ''Pars Sea''.
 
 
===Naming dispute===
 
[[Image:Persian-gulf-dubai-mus.JPG|thumb|300px|A historical map of the Persian Gulf in a Dubai museum, [[United Arab Emirates]] with the word ''Persian'' removed.]]
 
With the rise of [[Arab]] [[nationalism]] ([[Pan-Arabism]]) in the 1960s, some Arab states of the region started adopting the term "Arabian Gulf"  to refer to the waterway. However, this usage has not found much acceptance outside the Arab world and is not recognized by the [[United Nations]] or any other international organization. The United Nations Secretariat on many occasions has requested that only "Persian Gulf" be used as the official and standard geographical designation for the body of water. At the same time, the historical veracity of the usage of "Persian Gulf" can be established from the works of many [[medieval]] historians.
 
 
== History==
 
===Deluge theory===
 
When sea levels were low, the combined [[Tigris]]-[[Euphrates]] river flowed through a wide flat marshy landscape. The [[Persian Gulf]] today has an average depth of only 35 m. During the most recent [[glacier|glaciation]], which ended 12,000 years ago, worldwide sea levels dropped 120 to 130 m, leaving the bed of the Persian Gulf well above [[sea level]] during the glacial maximum. It had to have been a swampy freshwater floodplain, where water was retained in all the hollows. High in the [[Taurus Mountains]] glaciation would have been extensive.
 
 
The drainage of the combined glacial-era Tigris-Euphrates made its way down the marshes of this proto-[[Shatt-al-Arab]] to the [[Strait of Hormuz]] and into the [[Arabian Sea]]. Reports of the exploration ship ''Meteor'' have confirmed that the Gulf was an entirely dry basin about 15,000 B.C.E. Close to the steeper Iranian side a deep channel apparently marks the course of the ancient extended Shatt al-Arab, called the "Ur-Schatt." A continuous shallow shelf across the top (north) of the Gulf and down the west side (at 20 m) suggests that this section was the last to be inundated. At the Straits of Hormuz the bathymetric profile indicates a division into two main channels that continue across the Bieban Shelf before dropping to a depth of about 400 m in the [[Gulf of Oman]]; the deeper parts of these channels may be due to delta deposits at the edge of the deep ocean collapsing in a succession of big underwater landslides, causing underwater erosion by the resulting turbidity currents.
 
 
In our time, [[mangrove]] edge habitat and [[coral reef]]s encrustation of fossil [[dunes]]<ref>Kennett, D.J., and J.P. Kennett. 2006. "Early State Formation in Southern Mesopotamia: Sea Levels, Shorelines, and Climate Change," ''Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology'' '''1''':67-99. With extensive bibliography.</ref> characterize the Persian Gulf. Mangroves recolonize easily from established mangrove fringe colonies elsewhere in the Arabian Sea. Artificial reefs are being established today along the coast of Iran. The present-day natural reef developments in the Persian Gulf, corals grow on [[hardground]] substrates but have not yet formed the massive calcium carbonate structures familiar from, say, [[Australia]]'s [[Great Barrier Reef]].<ref>G.F. Camoin, ed, ''Reefs and Carbonate Platforms in the Pacific and Indian Oceans'' (IAS International Workshop on reefs) held at Sydney 1995</ref>
 
 
The article ''Dive conditions described by Eric Bjornstrom'' found in 1999 in [[Dubai]] coral-encrusted sand barrier islands situated 32&nbsp;km off the coast of the [[Saudi]] city of [[Jubail]].<ref>[http://www.divernet.com/travel/arabia699.htm Dive conditions described by Eric Bjornstrom], ''Diver Magazine'' June 1999</ref> There lies a chain of five coral cays, barely above the tide. They appear to be formations called ''[[diapirs]]'' in which a mobile core containing minerals of low density such as salt, deforms under pressure. The core pushes upwards, deforming overlying rock to form a dome. An ancient diapir at [[Enorama]] formed an island in shallow seas, buoyed up by salt. There are similar examples today in the Persian Gulf.
 
 
In addition to this large scale flooding of the Persian Gulf there is confirmed evidence of relatively recent extended local flooding in this part of the world. Excavations in Iraq, for example, have shown evidence of a flood at [[Shuruppak]] around 2900-2750 B.C.E. which extended nearly as far as the city of [[Kish]] (whose king, [[Etana]], supposedly founded the first [[Sumer]]ian dynasty after the Deluge). Sir [[C. Leonard Woolley]]’s excavations at Ur south of Uruk in the 1920s found a more than 2.5 m thick homogeneous silty loam stratum that was void of artifacts, which Woolley in 1931<ref>Woolley, "Ur und die Sintflut"</ref> ascribed to Noah’s
 
Flood.
 
 
===Pre-Islamic era===
 
For most of the history of human settlement in the Persian Gulf the southern side was ruled by nomadic tribes. At the end of the fourth millennium B.C.E. the southern part of the Persian Gulf was dominated by the [[Dilmun]] civilization.
 
 
In a 1981 ''Journal of Cuneiform Studies'' article, "The Tangible Evidence for the Earliest Dilmun," Theresa Howard-Carter espoused her theory identifying Dilmun with Qurna, an island at the Strait of Hormuz. Her scenario put the original mouths of the Tigris-Euphrates rivers, which she thought should be the site of the primeval Dilmun, at or even beyond the Straits of Hormuz.
 
 
For a long time the most important settlement on the southern coast was Gerrha. In the second century the Lakhum tribe, who lived in [[Yemen]], migrated north and founded the Lakhmid Kingdom along the southern coast. During the seventh century the [[Sassanid Empire]] conquered the whole Persian Gulf region.
 
 
Between 625 B.C.E. and 226 C.E. the northern side was dominated by the [[Median Empire|Median]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]], [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] and [[Parthian Empire]]s. After the fall of the Parthian Empire, the Sassanid empire ruled the northern half and at times the southern half of the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf, along with the [[Silk Road]], was very important to trade in the Sassanid empire. Siraf was an ancient Sassanid port that was located on the north shore of the Persian Gulf in what is now the Iranian province of Bushehr.
 
 
===Colonial era===
 
[[Portugal|Portuguese]] expansion into the [[Indian Ocean]] in the early sixteenth century, following [[Vasco da Gama]]'s voyages of exploration, saw them battle the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] up the coast of the Persian Gulf. In 1521, a Portuguese force invaded [[Bahrain]] to take control of the wealth created by its [[pearl]] industry. In 1602, Shāh ‘Abbās expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain. With the support of the British fleet, in 1622 'Abbās took the island of [[Hormuz]] from the Portuguese; much of the trade was diverted to the town of [[Bandar Abbas|Bandar 'Abbās]], which he had taken from the Portuguese in 1615 and had named after himself. The Persian Gulf was therefore opened to a flourishing commerce with Portuguese, [[Netherlands|Dutch]], [[France|French]], [[Spain|Spanish]], and [[Britain|British]] merchants, who were granted particular privileges.
 
 
From 1763 until 1971, the [[British Empire]] maintained varying degrees of political control over some Persian Gulf states, including the [[United Arab Emirates]] and at various times Bahrain, [[Kuwait]], [[Oman]], and [[Qatar]].
 
 
The [[United Kingdom]] maintains a high profile in the region; in 2006, over one million Britons visited [[Dubai]] alone.
 
 
==References==
 
{{reflist}}
 
 
==External links==
 
*[http://www.persiangulfonline.org Persian Gulf Studies website]
 
*[http://www.thepersiangulf.org The Persian Gulf], Information, history and resources of the Persian Gulf
 
*[http://www.colonialvoyage.com/hormuz.html The Portuguese in the Arabian peninsula and in the Persian Gulf]
 
*[http://www.parstimes.com/PG.html Persian Gulf Region]
 
*[http://www.payvand.com/news/05/sep/1099.html Publication of Historical Maps of the Persian Gulf in Tehran]
 
*[http://www.persiangulfonline.org/maps.htm Persian Gulf maps]
 
*[http://web.mit.edu/isg/persiangulffactsheet.pdf Factsheet on the Legal and Historical Usage of the "Persian Gulf" - ISG MIT]
 
*[http://thearabiangulf.net/Persian_Gulf_bro-scrn.pdf The Persian Gulf: The Politics of Geographic Renaming]
 
*[http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/gegn23wp61.pdf UN GEGN – Historical, Geographical and Legal Validity of the Name: Persian Gulf]
 
*[http://gooliof.persianblog.ir/post/830/ Persian Gulf Picture Gallery]
 
{{Credit|261882296}}
 
[[Category:Bodies of water]]
 
[[Category:Geography]]
 

Revision as of 22:36, 3 February 2009