Editing Persian Gulf (section)

==History==
===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>

===Colonial era===
{{See also|Portuguese rule|Battle of the Gulf of Oman|Battle of the Strait of Hormuz (1553)|Battle off Hormuz (1625)|British residency of the Persian Gulf}}

Portuguese influence in the Persian Gulf lasted for 250 years;<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Mission of the Portuguese Augustinians to Persia and Beyond (1602–1747) Por John M. Flannery|isbn = 978-90-04-24382-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Nz5TO9BNFH8C&q=Portuguese+kong+persian+Gulf+1730&pg=PA108|last1 = Flannery|first1 = John M.|year = 2013| publisher=BRILL }}</ref> however, since the beginning of the 16th century, Portuguese dominance<ref>{{Cite web|title=THE AGE OF COLONIALISM Persian Gulf States Table of Contents|url=http://countrystudies.us/persian-gulf-states/11.htm}}</ref> contended with the local powers and the Ottoman Empire. Following the arrival of the English and the Dutch, the Safavid Empire allied with the newcomers to contest Portuguese dominance of the seas in the 17th century.<ref>{{Cite book|title=The Baloch and Balochistan: A Historical Account from the Beginning to the fall of Baloch state Por Naseer Dashti|isbn = 978-1-4669-5896-8|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xIjyLNpusbAC&q=Persian+gulf+portuguese+dominance&pg=PA154|last1 = Dashti|first1 = Naseer|date = October 2012| publisher=Trafford }}</ref>[[File:Hormuz fort-Correia.png|thumb|left|The [[Fort of Our Lady of the Conception|Portuguese Castle]] on Hormuz Island ([[Gaspar Correia]]. "''Lendas da Índia''", {{Circa|1556}})]]

[[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early 16th century following [[Vasco da Gama]]'s voyages of exploration saw them battle the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottomans]] up the coast of the Persian Gulf. In 1521, a Portuguese force led by commander [[Portuguese invasion of Bahrain|Antonio Correia invaded Bahrain]] to take control of the wealth created by its pearl industry. On 29 April 1602, [[Abbas the Great|Shāh Abbās]], the [[Persian people|Persian]] emperor of the [[Safavid Persian Empire]], expelled the Portuguese from Bahrain,<ref name="j163353">{{cite journal|author=Juan R. I. Cole|title=Rival Empires of Trade and Imami Shiism in Eastern Arabia, 1300–1800|jstor=163353|journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies|volume=19|issue= 2 |year=1987|pages= 177–203 [186]|doi=10.1017/s0020743800031834|s2cid=162702326 }}</ref> and that date is commemorated as [[Persian Gulf naming dispute#National Persian Gulf Day|National Persian Gulf day]] in [[Iran]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://english.irib.ir/news/political/item/60225-persian-gulf-national-day-in-foreign-ministry |title=Archived copy |access-date=5 February 2012 |archive-date=21 May 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130521171101/http://english.irib.ir/news/political/item/60225-persian-gulf-national-day-in-foreign-ministry |url-status=bot: unknown }}</ref> With the support of the British fleet, in 1622 'Abbās took the island of [[Hormuz Island|Hormuz]] from the Portuguese; much of the trade was diverted to the town of [[Bandar Abbas|Bandar 'Abbās]], which he had taken from the Portuguese in 1615 and had named after himself. The Persian Gulf was therefore opened to a flourishing commerce with the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Spanish and the British merchants, who were granted particular privileges. The [[Ottoman Empire]] reasserted itself into Eastern Arabia in 1871.<ref>Rahman 1979, pp. 138–139</ref> Under military and political pressure from the governor of the Ottoman [[Vilayet of Baghdad]], [[Midhat Pasha]], the ruling [[Al Thani]] tribe submitted peacefully to Ottoman rule.<ref name="Rogan1199">{{cite journal |last1=Rogan|first1=Eugene|date=November 1999|title=Review of The Ottoman Gulf: The Creation of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Qatar by Frederick F. Anscombe; The Blood-Red Arab Flag: An Investigation into Qasimi Piracy, 1797–1820 by Charles E. Davies; The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia and the Gulf, 1745–1900 by Hala Fattah |journal=British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies |volume=26 |issue=2|pages=339–342|jstor=195948 |doi=10.1080/13530199908705688 |last2=Murphey |first2=Rhoads |last3=Masalha |first3=Nur |last4=Durac |first4=Vincent |last5=Hinnebusch |first5=Raymond}}</ref> The Ottomans were forced to withdraw from the area with the start of [[World War I]] and the need for troops in various other frontiers.<ref name="diwan">{{cite web|url=https://www.diwan.gov.qa/about-qatar/qatars-rulers/sheikh-abdullah-bin-jassim-al-thani?sc_lang=en|title=Shaikh Abdullah Bin Jassim Al Thani – Amiri Diwan|publisher=Amiri Diwan|access-date=7 March 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180307214352/https://www.diwan.gov.qa/about-qatar/qatars-rulers/sheikh-abdullah-bin-jassim-al-thani?sc_lang=en|archive-date=2018-03-07|url-status=live}}</ref> In [[World War II]], the [[Allies of World War II|Western Allies]] used Iran as a conduit to transport military and industrial supply to the USSR, through a pathway known historically as the "[[Persian Corridor]]". Britain utilized the Persian Gulf as the entry point for the supply chain in order to make use of the [[Trans-Iranian Railway]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Command Decisions|author1=Martin Blumenson |author2=Robert W. Coakley |author3=Stetson Conn |author4=Byron Fairchild |author5=Richard M. Leighton |author6=Charles V.P. von Luttichau |author7=Martin Blumenson |author8=Robert W. Coakley |author9=Stetson Conn |author10=Byron Fairchild |author11=Richard M. Leighton |author12=Charles V.P. von Luttichau |author13=Charles B. MacDonald |author14=Sidney T. Mathews |author15=Maurice Matloff |author16=Ralph S. Mavrogordato |author17=Leo J. Meyer |author18=John Miller, Jr. |author19=Louis Morton |author20=Forrest C. Pogue |author21=Roland G. Ruppenthal |author22=Robert Ross Smith |author23=Earl F. Ziemke |publisher=Government Printing Office |page=225 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XIxWWhu9ARoC&pg=PA225|year=1960 }}</ref> The Persian Gulf therefore became a critical maritime path through which the Allies transported equipment to Soviet Union against the [[Operation Barbarossa|Nazi invasion]].<ref>{{cite book|title=The Persian Corridor and aid to Russia, Volume 7, Part 1|author=T. H. Vail Motter|publisher=Office of the Chief of Military History, Dept. of the Army |year=1952 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t3QGAQAAIAAJ}}</ref> The [[piracy in the Persian Gulf]] was prevalent until the 19th century. Many of the most notable historical instances of piracy were perpetrated by the [[Al Qasimi]] tribe. This led to the British mounting the [[Persian Gulf campaign of 1819]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/nov/01/sheikh-saqr-bin-mohammed-al-qasimi|title=Sheikh Saqr bin Mohammed al-Qasimi obituary|work=The Guardian|date=1 November 2010}}</ref> The campaign led to the signing of the [[General Maritime Treaty of 1820]] between the British and the Sheikhs of what was then known as the '[[Pirate Coast]]'. From 1763 until 1971, the [[British Empire]] maintained varying degrees of political control over some of the Persian Gulf states, including the United Arab Emirates (originally called the [[Trucial States]])<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OnhCBuXmeWYC&pg=PA172|title= Trucial States|author=Donald Hawley |page=172 |access-date=2010-11-19 |isbn=978-0-04-953005-8 |year=1970|publisher= Ardent Media|author-link= Donald Hawley}}</ref> and at various times Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, and Qatar through the [[British Residency of the Persian Gulf]].

===Modern history===
[[File:USS Hawes (FFG-53), USS William H. Standley (CG-32) and USS Guadalcanal (LPH-7) escort tanker Gas King in the Persian Gullf on 21 October 1987 (6432283).jpg|thumb|[[Operation Earnest Will]]: Tanker convoy No. 12 under [[United States Navy|US Navy]] escort in October 1987]]
The Persian Gulf was a battlefield of the 1980–1988 [[Iran–Iraq War]], in which each side attacked the other's [[oil tanker]]s. It is the namesake of the 1991 [[Gulf War]], the largely air- and land-based conflict that followed [[Iraq]]'s invasion of [[Kuwait]]. The United States' role in the Persian Gulf grew in the second half of the 20th century.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncfIAAAAQBAJ|title=The Persian Gulf in History|last=Potter|first=L.|date=2009-01-05|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0-230-61845-9|language=en}}</ref> On 3 July 1988, [[Iran Air Flight 655]] was shot down by the U.S. military (which had mistaken the [[Airbus A300]] operating the flight for an Iranian [[Grumman F-14 Tomcat|F-14 Tomcat]]) while it was flying over the Persian Gulf, killing all 290 people on board.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19880703-0|title=ASN Aircraft accident Airbus A300B2-203 EP-IBU Qeshm Island|last=Ranter|first=Harro|website=www.aviation-safety.net|access-date=2020-01-11}}</ref> The United Kingdom maintains a profile in the region; in 2006 alone, over 1&nbsp;million British nationals visited [[Dubai]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/foreignpolicy.iran|title=Blair was dangerously off target in his condemnation of Iran|last=Beaumont|first=Peter|date=23 December 2006|work=[[The Guardian]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160730023813/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/24/foreignpolicy.iran|archive-date=2016-07-30|url-status=live|location=[[London]]|author-link=Peter Beaumont (journalist)}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-bahrain-britain-diplomacy/classified-document-on-bahrain-rankles-britain-decades-later-idUKKBN0O61YZ20150521|title=Classified document on Bahrain rankles Britain decades later|date=22 May 2015|access-date=22 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220130051916/https://www.reuters.com/article/uk-bahrain-britain-diplomacy/classified-document-on-bahrain-rankles-britain-decades-later-idUKKBN0O61YZ20150521|archive-date=2022-01-30|url-status=live|work=Reuters|quote=The case shows how alive the history of British colonial rule still is in the Gulf today}}</ref> In 2018, the UK opened a permanent military base, {{HMS|Jufair}}, in the Persian Gulf, the first since it withdrew from [[East of Suez]] in 1971 and is developing a support facility in Oman.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30355953|title=UK to establish £15m permanent Mid East military base|date=6 December 2014|access-date=2018-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171124233435/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-30355953|archive-date=2017-11-24|url-status=live|publisher=BBC}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/ORGDec14EastSuezWestHelmand_0.pdf|title=East of Suez, West from Helmand: British Expeditionary Force and the next SDSR|date=December 2014|publisher=Oxford Research Group|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150702074143/http://www.oxfordresearchgroup.org.uk/sites/default/files/ORGDec14EastSuezWestHelmand_0.pdf|archive-date=2 July 2015|access-date=22 May 2015|df=dmy-all}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/the-uk-in-oman-a-new-support-facility-for-the-british-armed-forces/|title=The UK in Oman – A new support facility for the British Armed Forces|last=Tossini|first=J. Vitor|date=2018-02-20|website=UK Defence Journal|language=en-GB|access-date=2019-04-10}}</ref>