Al Qatif
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Qatif القطيف |
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 Qatif
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| Coordinates: 26°33′22″N 49°59′46″E / 26.556°N 49.996°ECoordinates: 26°33′22″N 49°59′46″E / 26.556°N 49.996°E | |
| Country | Saudi Arabia |
| Province | Eastern Province (Ash Sharqiyah) |
| Government | |
| • Governor | Saud bin Nayef |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 404,182 |
| Time zone | +3 GMT |
Qatif or Al-Qatif (Arabic: القطيف Al-Qaṭīf) is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown and many other smaller cities and towns.
Qatif is one of the oldest settlements in Eastern Arabia, its history going back to 3500 BC. Before the discovery of oil, Qatifi people used to work as merchants, farmers, and fishermen. However, in recent years, after the discovery of oil and establishment of Jubail Industrial City, most Qatifi people tend to work in the oil industry, public services, education and health-care sectors.
Qatif functioned for centuries as the most important trade port in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf. The term Qatif is derived from what translates to "harvest" or "grain", signifying the area's past agricultural history.
The historic oasis area shows its first archaeological evidence of settlement beginning about 3500 BC. It was known by other names, such as Al-Khatt (الخَطّ), immortalized in the poetry of `Antara ibn Shaddad, Tarafa ibn Al-`Abd, Bashar ibn Burd (in his famous Ba'yya), and others. The word "Khatty" became the preferred "kenning" for "spear" in traditional poetic writing until the dawn of the modern era, supposedly because the region was famous for spear making, just as "muhannad" ("of India") was the preferred kenning for "sword". The older name also survives as the eponym of several well-known local families ("Al-Khatti", spelled variously in English). Until the advent of Ottoman rule in the 18th century, Qatif belonged to the historical region known as the Province of Bahrain (more accurately, "Bahrân"), along with Al-Hasa and the present-day Bahrain islands.
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