Eastern Province
History
and Development:
The history of settling in the
Eastern Province of the Kingdom refer back to 5000
years ago , the region natural location which
extended 700 km on the coast of the Arabian Gulf,
this location has a grate effect in attracting the
attention especially as it a connecting circle
between the world and the other near regions.
The cemetery which found in the
Eastern Province gives a clear evidence that human
settling operations in addition to the commercial
works existed since thousands of years, while the
region took a long period of time for the
civilization continuity , the debris of the
building and cities and potteries and sculptured
handcrafts and others confirm that high degree
achievements are performed at that time by the
settlers and inhabitants , also theses excavation
proofed that the region located at crossroads
between several civilizations and activities.
The
region is mainly affected by several cultures
( from 3000 to 2000 B.C) ,
Between the two rivers civilization , Sind Basin ,
Greek and Persian , in the modern history affected
by Ottomans , the Portuguese built their fortresses
in Tarout as an evidence of their interesting on
this part of the world ,they concentrated themselves
in spite of their short stay in the region compared
with the other , these civilization waves kept
their silent existence through the golden ornament
and semi precious stones , stone structures ,
statues and historical monuments and others , the
Ottomans came to the region in 960 H ( 1553 AD )
till the region returned under Bani Khalid control
for a period then again returned under the Ottomans
control till the First Saudi State in the early of
the 13th century of Hijra which continued
for a quarter of century enjoying security and
stability , till the Ottoman state directed a
military campaign by its governor in Egypt ;
Mohammed Ali Pasha who occupied Al Ahsa 1233H ( 1818
AD ) The region passed through different periods of
stability and instability , till Allah foreordained
His Majesty King Abdulaziz Bin Abdulrahman Al Saud
as he entered Al Ahsa on Monday midnight 25 Jamada I
1331 H ( May 8, 1913 ) the following day morning
the ottomani ruler and his garrison soldiers
yielded , King Abdulaziz offered them peace and
ordered to be departed through Al Aqeer , then King
Abdulaziz send a campaign to Qatif which had been
returned so the region being under the Saudi rule
so the other region joined this young Kingdom .
The Eastern Province is the
largest geographical province in the Kingdom , it
is desert plane extended from the Arabian Gulf
coast till Al Dahna Desert , its length is about
1200 kms , from the Kuwaiti border in the North to
the Empty Quarter Desert which is the largest sandy
desert in the world , as this desert occupied the
Southern part of the country , the Eastern Province
is about 77850 km , %26 of the Kingdom area , the
Eastern Province had a joint border with Kuwait at
North and Qatar and Bahrain , at the East , United
Arab Emirates and Oman at the South .The most
important cities in the Eastern Province are ;
Dammam , Dhahran , Al Khobar , Qatif , Hufuf , Al
Mubarz , Al Uyoun , Abqaiq, Ras Tanura , Jubail ,
Khafji , Hafr Al Batin and Al Niayryah .The Eastern
province climate generally is moderate, the weather
is clear with refreshing air , for the period
between May and August the temperature reaches 46
C , during which the weather is hot and humid , The
winter from November till February the
temperature reaches 8 C with some rain falling .
There
are 52 hotels in Eastern Province , with 4505
rooms , half of which in Al Khobar which includes
the large number of hotels ( 19) hotels , Dammam
urban area including Al Khobar 34 hotel with 3316
rooms, the average of the hotels occupation in the
Eastern Province reached %37 in 1423 H, the high
level hotels achieved a high percentage , no
available data base regarding tourists
distribution among the hotels during the seasons ,
the plane confirmed reclassification in accordance
with International standards in some classified
distinguished hotels, First Class are not in the
required standard .
The plan declared ; as
mentioned by Al Watan Newspaper , that there are
239 building containing furnished suits for rent ,
4722 suits of which is under ordering , also there
are many unregistered suites , the plan stated that
the furnished suites are the most used places by
Saudi visitors in Dammam and Al Ahsa , the
occupation average is un known but as in hotels it
is of low occupation percentage.
