Qatif's Heritage & Environment in the Last 50 Years: A Legacy of Devastation

Fifty years ago, Qatif's ancient Fortified City and its surrounding eco-system of palm-tree forests, mangrove wetlands and Tarout Island's Bay could have been assigned as Saudi Arabia's first World Heritage Site by the UNESCO, due to the Oasis' historical, cultural and archaeological significance along with its unique natural habitat and topography.

However, during the last five decades, the coastal oasis of Qatif was subject to systematic destruction of its Fortified City under the guise of urbanization, along with intensive deforestation of mangrove & palm-tree forests in the form of urban encroachment and land-reclamation. Such losses are at the heart of the grievances of the people of Qatif.

Just months before his death, Major Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger (known as Mubarak Bin London) expressed his deep sorrow on the modern transformation of Arabian life describing it as a "tragedy" and an "Arabian Nightmare". While he was complaining about the lack of variety and forced uniformity that modernity has brought to Arabia, he remarked that the "discovery of oil in Arabia is the biggest disaster that can happen" (Source). Some people would disagree, but many in Qatif couldn't agree more.

The Northern Walls of Qatif's Fortified City which bordered the palm-tree forest of "Shammasiya", as captured by Sir Wilfred Patrick Thesiger on May 8, 1945. (Source)

In the midst of World War II,  during his travels in the Middle East and before crossing the Empty Quarter to Oman, the world-renowned British Scholar Sir Wilfred Thesiger visited Qatif. During his visit, he captured the above view for the wall surrounding Qatif's Fortified City from the northern side where it bordered the "Shammasiya" palm-tree forest.

The images captured by Wilfred Thesiger (see image 1, image 2,  image 3) summarized the sustainable harmony between heritage, culture and the environment which existed for over 5000 years, but have been systematically extinguished during the past fifty years.

Qatif's Fortified City housed numerous buildings, and was surrounded by sea and palm-trees, as seen in top of the picture, which was taken inside Qatif's Fortified City. (source)

Aerial View of Satellite towns (Shuwaika, Kuwaikib, Dbeibiya..etc) South of the Qatif Fortified City(appearing in the top of the image). The picture was taken in 1955 from Aramco Archives (source).

Until the end of World War II, little changed in "Ottoman" Qatif. The discovery of the Qatif Oil Field just after World War II in 1946 accelerated the spread of what has been a slowly seeping influence of  Arabian American Oil Co. (or Aramco).

In particular, it was in the 1950's, after the death of the Kingdom's founder, king Abdulaziz (Ibn Saud), that the influence of modern Saudi Arabia has permeated Qatif. 

Agatha Voorbrood settles herself before her easel to paint a Safwa lake Scene (Ain Daroosh), December 11, 1957. Source: Saudi Aramco Digital Library.

An Aerial View of Qatif's Fortified City in the 1950's (Aramco Archive). Source

Changes in urban development, which included the destruction of the wall surrounding the fortified city in the 1960's, remained gradual until the 1970's.

Qatif's Fortified City before demolition. (Source)

Qatif Fortified City Seen captured from the City's Waterfront, which is surrounded by forests of Palm Trees, taken in 1970's. (Source)

As seen in the picture, Qatif's waterfront (marked by mangrove forests) remained only a few footsteps away from the fortified city until the end of the 1970's.

Qatif's Wetlands in the East of Saudi Arabia have been completely devastated and transformed into housing projects. This photo was taken in the 1970's, just before the desertification / urbanization of the land. (source)

Qatif's natural topography was completely devastated during -"oil boom" era, which started after the 1973 Energy Crisis. The era marked the most dramatic transfers of wealth in human history for the government of Saudi Arabia. The "explosive growth" and the shining glare of modern urban life was so shockingly fascinating that Qatif's society couldn't forsee the terrible consequences that rapid urbanization will have on their natural unique environment.

Only few building exist of what used to be called the Fortified City of Qatif (seen in the left side of the picture). Taken in 2013.

Under these circumstances, the Saudi government initiated a massive urbanization project that inadvertently resulted in the complete demolition of Qatif's Fortified City, in exchange for money.

Under the guise of modernization and urban allure, the government, encouraged by agents with special interests and a voracious appetite for money, participated in the destruction of Qatif's iconic ancient Fortified City replacing it with flat ugly deserts. For more than 20 years, the land remained a neglected desert until the government of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia decided to convert the deserted space to a public park (as seen below).

Most of Qatif's Fortified City has been converted to parking, roads and a small (underdeveloped) park. Taken in 2013.

On the other hand, as a result of intensive land reclamation projects, Qatif's ancient water -front (historically known as the Gulf of Qatif) has been completely reduced to small streams of water, transforming Tarout Island to a peninsula, as seen below.

The effect of land reclamation on Tarout Island and the Gulf of Qatif is unparalleled in Saudi Arabia.

Such aggressive systematic urban enroachment and land reclamation resulted in the loss of natural vegetation, causing massive  deforestation of mangrove along Qatif's shorelines and drastic reduction of Palm-tree forests, which used to surround the area.

A recent Satellite view of Tarout Bay in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. At the center of the picture is Tarout Island, right across of what used to be Qatif's Fortified City. The image was captured by NASA Earth Observatory (Source)

Urban enroachment and land reclamation are a wide-spread problem in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. However, Qatif was the region to be the most adversely effected area in the country and the Arabian Gulf in large. It resulted in stripping the ancient oasis of its identity: destruction of the oasis natural habitat and loss of topographical landmarks along with the loss of the city's most important archaeological sites.