Dammam (Also Ad Dammām) (Arabic: الدمام) is the capital of the Eastern Province in Saudi Arabia.

Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province; Dammam Port is one of the largest on the Persian Gulf. Its port for import-export traffic is second to Jeddah's port.

It is served by the new King Fahd International Airport, which was used by the US military during the Gulf War in 1991. Other cities that surround Dammam are Khobar, which is a thriving modern economic hub, and Dhahran, which is the headquarters for Saudi Aramco, the largest oil company in the world.

Together the cities have a population of around 2 million, of whom 750,000 live in the city of Dammam itself.
The local sports stadium is Prince Mohamed bin Fahd Stadium.

The city is located in eastern Saudi Arabia, with 690,000 inhabitants (2003 estimate). It is the capital of the Eastern Province with 3.3 million inhabitants (2003 estimate).
Dammam lies on tip of land stretching out into the Persian Gulf, forming a large metropolitan and industrial area, with about 1.2 million inhabitants, together with Khobar, Qatif and Dhahran.
Dammam is a major seaport, involved in a wide variety of export and import. It is a centre for petroleum and natural gas, but also the centre of all commerce in the eastern parts of the kingdom. There is some agriculture, largely dealing with livestock and dairy products.
Dhahran has excellent connections with other urban centres of Saudi Arabia by highways, and is also linked to Bahrain with a causeway. Dammam is also the terminus of the railroad to Riyadh. The King Fahd International Airport is shared by all the cities in the region.
Dammam is a modern city, but has seen less investments and fewer projects than Khobar.

The cities of Dammam, Al Khobar and Dhahran

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In the early 1980s Dammam, the capital of the Eastern Region, was a separate city but so close to Al Khobar and Dhahran that the traveler could pass from one to the other in a few minutes. Al Dammam was first inhabited by a clan (Al hassan) of Al Dawasir tribe in the early 1923 - 1342 H. part of the family led by Sheikh Ahmed ibn Adbullah ibn Hassan Al Dowsary migrated from Bahrain and was given the chance to choose a land where to settle by HRM the late King Abdulaziz. Al Dammam was immediately chosen for its vicinity to the island of Bahrain as the clan hoped to head back there soon, but the British rule in the region made it very hard for them to move in every sense (dividi et impera) so they finally realized they had to settle there for good.
Years later, Sheikh Ahmed's brother moved up north where he and his family settled in Al Khobar, which by that time was already inhabited. However this tiny episode gave to Khobar a population boost and close ties with the bigger city of Dammam.
the origins of the name "Dammam" is controversial, some say that it is onomatopoeic and it was given...