Dammam

About Dammam

Dammam (Arabic: الدمام, romanized: ad-Dammām) is an industrial port city and the seat of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Located on the coast of the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 1,386,166 as of 2022, making it the country's fifth-largest city after Riyadh, Jeddah, Mecca, and Medina. Dammam forms the core of the Dammam metropolitan area, also known as Greater Dammam, which includes the neighboring governorates of Khobar and Qatif. As of 2022, the metropolitan area's population was 2,743,318, making it the third-largest in the country.

The area that eventually became Dammam was settled by the Dawasir tribe around 1923, with permission from King Ibn Saud. The area was originally a fishing hamlet. It developed after the discovery of oil in the region, becoming a port city and an administrative center. Following the unification of Saudi Arabia, Dammam was made the capital of the newly formed Eastern Province.

Dammam is known for being a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry, contributing to the export volume of the city's King Abdulaziz Port. With a cargo capacity of 2,038,787 TEUs as of 2022, the port is the second-largest on the Persian Gulf...

Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.