Ad Dammam History, Saudi Arabia

Ad Damman has an oil dependent economy and one third of the world oil reserves are expected to be here. Historically it was a place of fishing and pearl production and Ad Damman was only a collection of small villages scattered here and there. It was formed as a full-fledged city when Saudi Arabia came into being as modern monarchy in 1932.

Looking back, Ad Dammam was the land of Al Dawasir tribe. A specified clan led by Sheikh Ahmed Ibn Abdullah Ibn Hassan Al Dawasary was given this piece of land to settle by His Royal Majesty (HRM) late King Abdulaziz. Sheikh Ahmed chose Al Dammam because it was close to Bahrain from where he came from, in an expectation to revert back soon. At that time the British ruled in Bahrain hence they were closely monitored and due to this, Sheikh Ahmed settled here in Ad Dammam seeing the better options. In the coming years, Sheikh Ahmed’s brother moved to Al Khobar and settled there. This was more in favor of Al Khobar and it made Al Dammam and Al Khobar deeply tied cities, in good relations.

Being a chief exporting port for oil and natural gas and home to the King Faisal University (opened in 1975), Ad Dammam is one of the fastest grown towns in the world. The changes seen by this town, when it became an oil exporting port after the 1930s, are the establishment of a residential and commercial complex.

It also has an international airport which became operational in 1999 named after King Fahd. There is an interesting fable about the name of Ad Dammam. Some believe it was named after the Drum sound “dam dam” which was used for signaling. Another point of view is that it was named after “Dawwama” which means whirlpool.