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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 137.204.41.49 (talk) at 19:49, 18 June 2003 (Why the Persian Gulf cannot be called the "Arabian Gulf": I didn't eliminate the other view but rgued aganst it and showed why it is wrong.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

The Persian Gulf (sometimes Arabian Gulf, sometimes shortened to just the Gulf to avoid debate) is an extension of the Arabian Sea in between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. This inland sea of some 233,000 km² is connected to the Arabian Sea in the east by the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and its western end is marked by the major river delta of the Shatt al-Arab, called Arvand-Rood by Iranians, which carries the waters of the Euphrates and the Tigris.

Countries with a coastline on the Gulf are (clockwise, from the southeast): United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Qatar on a peninsula off the Saudi coast, Bahrain on an island, Kuwait and Iraq in the northwest, and Iran in the north. The Gulf and its coastal areas are the largest single source of crude oil and related industries dominates the region. Various small islands lie within the Gulf and some are contested between neighbouring states.

The Persian Gulf was among the scenes of the Iran-Iraq War that lasted from 1980 to 1988, as with each side attacking the other's oil tankers. In 1991 the Persian Gulf again was the background for a "Gulf War" as Iraq invaded Kuwait and was subsequently pushed back during what is now predominantly known as the (Persian) Gulf War, despite the fact that this conflict did not focus primarily on the Persian Gulf.

Some people, especially many Arabs, argue that the Persian Gulf should be called the "Arabian Gulf". They raise two "reasons" for this: One is that, according to them, most of the peoples living around it are Arab(?!). Secondly, they "claim" that "Persian Gulf" has become something of an anachronism; because, according to them, the two nations bordering the Gulf Persia and the Ottoman Empire (who ruled the Arabs in the area) do not exist anymore (!) They claim that because the Ottomans have gone, and the state of Persia is now called Iran, the "Persian Gulf" today represents no "obvious" connection to any of the adjacent lands(!).

The two claims above, however have nothing to with either international norms or simply the truth!

First of all, geographical names are determined by historical facts and documentation regarding the place in question, not by the and birth-rate of certain nations that happen to rise around it! Otherwise, we would have to change the Gulf of Mexico into the Gulf of the U.S.! And after all, the supporters of the "Arabian Gulf" would better not even bother to waiste their energy for the population of Iran alone exceeds the sum of all other Arab states around the Persian Gulf.

Secondly, the "Persian Gulf" does indicate an obvious connection to one of the nations living around it: the Iranians. While the name of the State of Persia has changed to Iran, the majority of Iranians belong to the Persian branch of the Aryan race and consider themselves as such; they speak Persian (the only official language of Iran), and the vast Iranian Province of Persia is still lying above the Persian Gulf. Iranians have called the Gulf beneath their feet the Persian Gulf for thousands of years, since their first ancient Persian Empire. (So have done the most prominent historians of ancient Greece.) All this said, if some people cannot see an obvious connection between the Persian Gulf and the Persian-speaking Iranians, that is their own problem (of lack of general knowledge)! It is like saying that the English Channel represents no obvious connection to the nation living above it because the state is called the U.K.! Iranians can be Iranian and Persian at the same time just as the English can be English and British simultaneously.