Editing Persian Gulf (section)

===Ancient history===
The region of the Persian Gulf has been inhabited since the [[Paleolithic]].<ref name="Rose2010" /> During most of the [[Last Glacial Period]] (115,000–11,700 years [[Before Present]]), due to lowered sea levels (reaching around {{convert|125|metres|ft}} metres below present values during the [[Last Glacial Maximum]]) combined with the shallow depth of the Gulf (on average around {{convert|35|metres|ft}} and at max around {{convert|100|metres|ft}} metres depth) most of the Persian Gulf was exposed as dry land,<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Lambeck |first=Kurt |date=July 1996 |title=Shoreline reconstructions for the Persian Gulf since the last glacial maximum |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0012821X96000696 |journal=Earth and Planetary Science Letters |language=en |volume=142 |issue=1–2 |pages=43–57 |doi=10.1016/0012-821X(96)00069-6|bibcode=1996E&PSL.142...43L }}</ref> forming a flat [[floodplain]] where a number of rivers converged. This region may have served as an environmental refuge for early humans during periodic hyperarid climate oscillations. The modern marine Gulf was formed when sea level rose during the early [[Holocene]], from around 12,000 to 6,000 years ago. The flooding of the Gulf may have stimulated the development of [[Neolithic]] farming cultures in regions of the Middle East adjacent to the Gulf.<ref name="Rose2010">{{Cite journal |last=Rose |first=Jeffrey I. |date=December 2010 |title=New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/657397 |journal=Current Anthropology |language=en |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=849–883 |doi=10.1086/657397 |s2cid=144935980 |issn=0011-3204}}</ref>[[File:NE 565ad.jpg|upright=1.25|thumb|Map depicting extent of early civilizations around the Persian Gulf, including Lackhmids and Sassanids.]]
[[File:Map of the Achaemenid Empire.jpg|thumb|upright=1.25|Map depicting the [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid Persian empire]] in relation to the Persian Gulf.]]
[[File:Ras Al Khaimah by Charles Hamilton Smith.jpg|thumb|A painting depicting the [[Persian Gulf campaign of 1809|British Expeditionary Force]] off the coast of [[Ras Al Khaimah]] in 1809.]]
The world's oldest known civilization ([[Sumer]]) developed along the Persian Gulf and southern [[Mesopotamia]].<ref>{{cite journal |title=New Light on Human Prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf Oasis |journal=[[Current Anthropology]] |date=December 2010 |last=Rose |first=Jeffrey I. |volume=51 |issue=6 |pages=849–883 |doi=10.1086/657397 |s2cid=144935980 |url=https://zenodo.org/record/896327 }}</ref> The oldest evidence in the world for seagoing vessels has been found at [[H3 (Kuwait)|H3]] in Kuwait, dating to the mid-sixth millennium BC, when the Gulf was part of an extensive trade network that involved the [[Ubaid period|Ubaid]] settlements in Mesopotamia and communities along the entire Gulf coast.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Carter|first=Robert|date=2006|title=Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/antiquity/article/abs/boat-remains-and-maritime-trade-in-the-persian-gulf-during-the-sixth-and-fifth-millennia-bc/98224B03E778DE5C9D3EAA806A5ABCF8|journal=Antiquity|language=en|volume=80|issue=307|pages=52–63|doi=10.1017/S0003598X0009325X|s2cid=162674282 |issn=0003-598X}}</ref>

For most of the early history of the settlements in the Persian Gulf, the southern shores were ruled by a series of nomadic tribes. During the end of the [[fourth millennium BC]], the southern part of the Persian Gulf was dominated by the [[Dilmun]] civilization. For a long time, the most important settlement on the southern coast of the Persian Gulf was [[Gerrha]]. In the second century [[Lakhmids|the Lakhum tribe]], who lived in what is now Yemen, migrated north and founded the [[Lakhmid|Lakhmid Kingdom]] along the southern coast. Occasional ancient battles took place along the Persian Gulf coastlines, between the Sassanid Persian empire and the Lakhmid Kingdom, the most prominent of which was the invasion led by [[Shapur II]] against the Lakhmids, leading to Lakhmids' defeat, and advancement into Arabia, along the southern shorelines.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sP_hVmik-QYC&pg=PA179|title=E.J. Brill's first encyclopaedia of Islam 1913–1936 |author=M. Th. Houtsma|access-date=2010-11-26|isbn=978-90-04-09796-4|year=1993|publisher=BRILL }}</ref> During the seventh century the [[Sassanid Empire|Sassanid Persian empire]] conquered the whole of the Persian Gulf, including southern and northern shores.

Between 625 BC and 226 AD, the northern side was dominated by a succession of Persian empires including the [[Median Empire|Median]], [[Achaemenid Empire|Achaemenid]], [[Seleucid Empire|Seleucid]] and [[Parthian empire|Parthian]] empires. Under the leadership of the Achaemenid king [[Darius the Great]] (Darius I), Persian ships found their way to the Persian Gulf.<ref name=navy>{{cite book|title=Shadows in the desert: ancient Persia at war|author=Kaveh Farrokh|publisher=Osprey Publishing|year=2007|page=68 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=p7kltwf9yrwC&pg=PA68|isbn=978-1-84603-108-3}}</ref> Persians were not only stationed on islands of the Persian Gulf, but also had ships often of 100 to 200 capacity patrolling empire's various rivers including [[Shatt-al-Arab]], [[Tigris river|Tigris]], and the [[Nile]] in the west, as well as Sind waterway, in India.<ref name=navy/>

The Achaemenid high naval command had established major naval bases located along Shatt al-Arab river, Bahrain, Oman, and Yemen. The Persian fleet would soon not only be used for peacekeeping purposes along the Shatt al-Arab but would also open the door to trade with India via Persian Gulf.<ref name=navy/><ref>{{cite book|title=From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire|author=Pierre Briant|publisher=Eisenbrauns|year=2006|page=761|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lxQ9W6F1oSYC&pg=PA761|isbn=978-1-57506-120-7}}</ref>

Following the fall of Achaemenid Empire, and after the fall of the [[Parthian Empire]], the [[Sassanid Empire]] ruled the northern half and at times the southern half of the Persian Gulf. The Persian Gulf, along with the [[Silk Road]], were important trade routes in the Sassanid Empire. Many of the trading ports of the Persian empires were located in or around Persian Gulf. [[Siraf]], an ancient Sassanid port that was located on the northern shore of the Persian Gulf, located in what is now the Iranian province of [[Bushehr]], is an example of such commercial port. Siraf, was also significant in that it had a flourishing commercial trade with China by the fourth century, having first established connection with the far east in 185 AD.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bips.ac.uk/sites/siraf|title=Siraf|author=British Institute of Persian Studies|access-date=2010-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716111330/http://www.bips.ac.uk/sites/siraf|archive-date=2011-07-16|url-status=live}}</ref>