Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf خلیجفارس|khalij-e fārs , sometimes called Arabian Gulf (Arab: dir=rtl rear الخليجالعربي, Al khalij Al arabi ) by the Arabs, is a Mer épicontinentale of the Indian Ocean. It separates the peninsula Arabique from the Iran (Perse), and extends on a surface from approximately 200 000 km ².

The countries which border the Persian Gulf are:

the Iran in the North-East
the Iraq, the Kuwait, the Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the Qatar and the United Arab Emirates in the west and the south.
Oman, or more precisely the exclave of Madha, has a few kilometers of coast there.

It communicates to the east with the Mer of Oman by the Détroit of Ormuz.

Sea with strong Salinity, the depth of its water seldom exceeds the 100 meters.

The Persian Gulf draws its name from the Perse (the Iran). It has the following characteristics:

surface: 233000 km ²
maximum depth: 90 m
average depth: 50 m

The name of this gulf

For a few years a controversy has existed between the Arab Iran and countries about the name of this gulf. The Iranians consider that the Persian Gulf is the historical name employed since Antiquity: Limen Persikos of the Greeks, Sine Persicus of Latin, Bahr-Al-Farsi of the medieval Arab geographers.

The Arabs name it the Arab Gulf and recall that it was a long time called the gulf of Bassora (Arab city of Iraq). An airline company financed by the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Oman was called Gulfair . Since the Years 1970, the Saudi Arabia, followed by the other Arab States, indicates it like the Arabian Gulf. The Western mediums use in turn the Persian Gulf, the Gulf or the Arabo-Persique gulf with the liking of the situations.

Let us note that, from the historical point of view, the sea (or the gulf) Arabic indicated the Red Sea which gives access to what were the most populated areas of Arabia, Hedjaz, the 'Assir and Yemen…

History

The history of the Persian Gulf was always animated many conflicts which decreased its influence in the connections between the Orient and the Occident and made Red Sea, more in the west, the way of preferred relation.

At the 13th century, the Mongolian establish their influence there. A sea route, borrowed by Marco Polo, connects it to the China. At the 16th century, the Persian Gulf is controlled by the Portugal, which is dislodged by it by the Iran Séfévide. At the 19th century, the Britanniques are established there under pretext of fight piracy. Those keep of it control until the Second world war, and the creation of the United Arab Emirates.

More recently, the Persian Gulf was still agitated frequent conflicts:

War Iran-Iraq (1980 - 1988)
invasion of Kuwait by Iraq in 1990 and intervention of an international coalition for its release in 1991.
invasion of Iraq by the United States in 2003

The strait of Ormuz is controlled today by the Iran which has three islands there.

Economy

The quasi-exclusive resource of the Persian Gulf is the Pétrole. The largest countries of the Persian Gulf are gathered in the Organization of the oil exporting countries (OPEC) and control the routing thanks to the Pétrolier S giants, or by Oléoduc S in connection with the the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, making it possible to avoid the passage by the Détroit of Ormuz and the Suez Canal.

The Cooperation Council of the Gulf Persique was created on May 25th, 1985 with Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates. Six countries are members:

United Arab Emirates,
Bahrain,
Saudi Arabia,
Oman,
Kuwait and
Qatar

The Council aims to support the co-operation and coordination between the Member States in various fields like the economy, finances, the trade, the customs, tourism and research.

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