A shallow body of water with many islands that is bordered by Oman and the United Arab Emirates on the south, by Qatar and Saudi Arabia to the west, by Kuwait and Iraq to the north, and by Iran to the east. The Tigris, Euphrates, Karun, and Karkheh Rivers empty into the gulf.
During ancient times, the waterways connected to the Persian Gulf were important for the movement of people and goods. The slow-moving current of the gulf allowed for safe passage around the region. Ancient civilizations such as the Sumerian, Assyrian, and Babylonian empires developed along the major rivers. The strategic location of the gulf on the trade routes between India and the Mediterranean Sea resulted in many wars and invasions. The Arabs, Persians, Turks, Mongols, and Europeans have all sought control of the area. Local trade consisted primarily of pearling and fishing.
During the early nineteenth century, the British, with their expansive empire, developed steamships that could move goods from India quicker than by sailing ships. Cotton, pepper, and other spices were shipped from India to the mouth of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, where the cargo was loaded onto smaller vessels and transported up the rivers through present-day Iraq and Turkey to the Mediterranean Sea. By utilizing this route, the British were able to eliminate the long and dangerous voyage around the Cape of Good Hope. By 1820, the route had become important enough for the British government to negotiate treaties with the Arab sheikhs who had been attacking British shipping. Truces were signed in 1820 and 1835, followed by the Perpetual Maritime Truce that ended all harassment of British ships. By 1907, the Trucial States had fallen under the British sphere of influence.
Although the significance of the Persian Gulf (or the Arabian Gulf) had been its waterways for centuries, in 1908 oil was discovered in the region and the area took on a more strategic im portance. During the 1930s, large oil deposits were discovered. The British continued to control the region throughout the 1930s and World War II. Oil from the Persian Gulf states provided west European countries and the United States with a steady source of crude. By the 1950s, geologists were estimating that 50 percent of the world’s oil was located in the Persian Gulf region. Major production facilities and harbors were constructed to handle the processing of the oil, while Arab sheikhs became wealthy. During the 1960s, the British turned control of the region over to several tribal families who established many of the present-day countries. From the 1970s, the United States has exercised influence over the region by establishing military bases in countries such as Bahrain. However, the Arab-Israeli conflicts of the 1960s and 1970s, coupled with the support of the United States for Israel, led many of the countries in the region to agree to an Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries oil embargo against the West. The reduction of oil supplies on the world market placed many European countries, as well as the United States, in a vulnerable position. A disruption of trade twice during the 1970s forced these countries to seek alternative sources of oil. Drilling in Alaska, Texas, off the coast of Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, and the North Sea would eventually reduce the dependency of the West on Persian Gulf oil, but the exploration and development of production facilities took years.
Meanwhile, within the region Arab-Persian tensions mounted over navigation rights. Iraq, under the leadership of Saddam Hussein, sought to control the Shatt al Arab and gain access to Iran’s major port and oil fields. The ensuing eight-year war (1980–1988) threatened the stability of the region, and on several occasions both countries attacked neutral oil tankers in the gulf. Oil became a cause for war again in 1990 when Hussein invaded Kuwait. The Kuwaiti royal family appealed to the United States for assistance. An international coalition helped restore the government of Kuwait in 1991 after defeating Iraq in the Persian Gulf War. Support for the effort stemmed from a desire by most participants to prevent Hussein from controlling too much of the region’s oil supply and thereby exercising undue control over supplies and prices. At the conclusion of the hostilities, the United Nations placed an embargo on Iraqi oil by restricting its sale for food, medicines, and other humanitarian reasons only. During the next decade, individual countries that continued to provide Hussein with weapons and other technology largely circumvented this policy. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the United States first attacked Afghanistan, where the terrorists trained, and then Iraq, toppling the government of Saddam Hussein. Although some people argue that the United States invaded the country for its oil, the stated goal of the Bush administration was to establish a stable democratic regime that will serve as a bulwark against terrorism.
Although oil remains the primary export for the Persian Gulf countries, the availability of oil from other sources has reduced the economic clout of the region. In 2002, the United States imported 19.7 million barrels of oil a day, but more than one-fourth of that oil came from its North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement partners (Canada and Mexico). Only Saudi Arabia ranked among the top suppliers of oil from the Persian Gulf region. As the power of these states to control the production and price of oil declines, several problems have emerged. Unemployment and the lack of a diverse economy are already creating troubles within the region. Terrorism and political instability have recently emerged as issues that will also need to be addressed.
Cynthia Clark Northrup
See also: British Empire; Oil; United States; Warfare.
Friedrich, Otto, ed. Desert Storm: The War in the Persian Gulf. Boston: Little, Brown, 1991.
Kumar, Ravinder. India and the Persian Gulf Region, 1858–1907: A Study in British Imperial Policy. New York: Asia Publishing House, 1965.
“Oil Dependency a Major Concern, Energy’s Abraham Says.” June 20, 2002 (www.usembassy.it/file2002_06/alia/a2062006.htm, accessed December 2003).
Schaffer, David. The Iran-Iraq War. San Diego: Lucent/Thomson Gale, 2003.