Восточная провинция Саудовской Аравии

Administrative region of Saudi Arabia

The Eastern Province (المنطقة الشرقية ), also known as the Eastern Region, is the easternmost of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia. It is the nation's largest province by area and the third most populous after the Riyadh and Mecca provinces. In 2017, the population was 4,900,325. Of these, 3,140,362 were Saudi citizens and 1,759,963 were foreign nationals The province accounts for 15.05% of the entire population of Saudi Arabia The region is extremely popular among tourists for its beaches on the Persian 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 region also shares a border with Oman. The province is bordered to the west, from north to south, by the provinces of the Northern Borders, Ha'il, 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 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 region 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.

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 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 and Oman.

The Eastern Province was home to the Dilmun civilization for several millennia which was an important trading center from the late fourth 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. During the Abbasid Caliphate, the region was taken over by the Qarmatians, a Shi'ite group of the Isma'ili branch, around 899 AD. The Qarmatians attacked Makkah and Madinah 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 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 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. The local Saudi population is entirely Muslim, with the majority being Sunni Muslims. Shia constitute a large minority, concentrated especially in Qatif and Ahsa governorates.

The official language of Saudi Arabia is Arabic. The standard spoken dialect in the Eastern Province is a variant of Najdi Arabic, 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.

From 1,264,687 male residents who were above the age of 10, 88.78%, representing 1,122,738 persons had some form of formal education. As for females, from the 1,161,677 residents above the age of 10, 80.77% or 938,233 persons were formally educated. 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 oil 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 Ra's 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 Ahsa to be sold in and around the kingdom.

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. The Saudi Arabian railways are managed by two separate organizations, the Saudi Railways Organization and Saudi Railway Company. The lines in the Eastern Province, two lines, one passenger, which runs from Dammam to Riyadh via Abqaiq an Hofuf, and the other freight, which runs directly from Dammam to Riyadh, are managed by the Saudi Railways Organization (SRO). A plan to build a metro in Dammam was also in the works, but its current status is unknown.

The Eastern Province is one of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia (مناطق إدارية; manātiq idāriyya, sing. منطقة إدارية; mintaqah idāriyya). The region is further subdivided into 11 governorates (محافظات; muhāfazāt, sing. محافظة; muhāfazah). The governorates are further subdivided into sub governorates (مراكز; marākiz, sing. مركز; markaz). The Eastern Province's capital city of Dammam has special status. Like the other 12 regional capitals, Dammam is not included within any governorate but is instead simply known as the City of Dammam, in Arabic, the word أمانة (amānah) is used and the city is headed by a mayor (أمين; amīn). The Ahsa Governorate, which includes the traditional oasis of Ahsa and the Rub' al Khali desert, which comprises more than half of the governorate itself, is the largest governorate in Saudi Arabia in terms of area.

+Governorates of the Eastern Province with 2010 04 28 Census populationsNameArabic NameCapitalAreakm²Population2010 04 28PopulationDensityAhsa Governorateمحافظة الأحساءHofuf412,3401,067,6912.6City of Dammamأمانة الدمامDammam1,386914,493659.8Khobar Governorateمحافظة الخبرKhobar613.6573,671935.0Qatif Governorateمحافظة القطيفQatif604.7524,417867.2Hafr Al Batin Governorateمحافظة حفر الباطنHafar al Batin42,290387,1029.2Jubail Governorateمحافظة الجبيلJubail6,111392,94864.3Khafji Governorateمحافظة الخفجيKhafji8,43277,3289.2Ra's Tanura Governorateمحافظة رأس تنورةRahimah?256.462,069242.1Abqaiq Governorateمحافظة بقيقAbqaiq6,39252,8498.3Na'iriyah Governorateمحافظة النعيريةNariyah16,45952,4032.9Qaryat Al Ulya Governorateمحافظة قرية العلياQaryat al Ulya28,46825,0620.9