Persian Gulf

By: Kaitlyn Trowbridge

The Persian Gulf

The Persian Gulf was historically named by the land Persia. The name has been disputed by Iran and other Arab countries since 1960s. The Arbaian Gulf has been used to name this body of water along with other names.
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This Gulf is about 96,912 square miles, 56 kilometers wide at its narrowest and 989 kilometers long. The western tip of this body of water has a major river delta, Shatt al-Arab, fromed from two major rivers Tigris and Euphrates. The Iran coastline takes up most of the northern part of the gulf and the Saudi Arabian coastline takes up most of the southern part.
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At one time, Britain had control of several states in the Persian Gulf, primarily for "commercial pursuit." They held political control of these states from 1763-1971. After Britain withdrew from the area, the border disputes and fears of Iranian revolution, Iran and Iraq went to war for eight years from 1980-1988. The war ended with the Resolution 598.
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Oil and gas

The Persian Gulf and its coast is the worlds largest single source of crude oil. In fact, in 2002, Bahrain, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE produced about 25% of the worlds oil, held two-thrids of the world's crude oil reserves and 35% of the worlds natural gas reserves. How dependent are we on these resources?
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Strait of Hormuz

The Strait of Hormuz is an important part of the Persian Gulf. It is its only entrance and exit by sea. This is very important in trade and transportation of oil and gases to far away countries. If Iran, the country in control and power of this body of water, close the Hormuz strait, there will be lots of conflict with the other countries bordering the Persian Gulf.
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There is a lot of marine wildlife living in the Persian waters. One of the most unique wildlife is the Dugong dugon, nicknamed the "sea cow" because of its grazing habits. There are also coral in the gulf that is vital to the environment and ecosystems that live there. Overall, the wildlife in the Persian Sea is very diverse.
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