Dammam

Dammam (Arabic: الدمّام ad-Dammām) is the fourth-most populous city in Saudi Arabia after Riyadh, Jeddah, and Mecca. It is the capital of the Eastern Province. With a total population of 1,532,300 as of 2022. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province, in addition to the administrative offices of other minor governmental departments functioning within the province, are located in the city.[1] The word itself is generally used to refer to the city, but may also refer to its eponymous governorate. Dammam is known for being a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry. Dammam constitutes the core of the Dammam metropolitan area, also known as the Greater Dammam area, which comprises the 'Triplet Cities' of Dammam, Dhahran, and Khobar. The area has a population of 2,190,900 as of 2022[2] and is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties. The city is growing at an exceptionally fast rate of 12% a year[3] – the fastest in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and the Arab world.[3] As of 2016, Greater Dammam is the fourth largest metropolitan area by both area and population in the Gulf Cooperation Council. The area that eventually became Dammam was settled by the Dawasir tribe around 1923, with permission of King Ibn Saud. The area was originally a fishing hamlet and was developed into its current state within half a century soon after the discovery of oil in the region, both as a port city and an administrative center. With the unification of Saudi Arabia, Dammam was made the capital of the newly formed Eastern Province. The Dammam metropolitan area and the rest of the Eastern Province are served by the King Fahd International Airport (KFIA), the largest airport in the world in terms of land area (approximately 780 km2 [300 sq mi]), about 31 km (19 mi) northwest of the city. Dammam's King Abdul Aziz Sea Port is the largest on the Persian Gulf, its import-export traffic second only to the historic Jeddah Islamic Port in the Middle