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Movement as Culture: Dance in the Middle East, North Africa, and the Diaspora

History of Oil in the Arabian Gulf

The development of the oil industry is an important piece to the narrative of labor migration to the Arabian Gulf region. Above, I've bulleted noteworthy time points in the history of oil discovery and development of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf that lead up to the 1973 oil boom, which sparked the first major wave of Indian migration to the Gulf Coast (Azhar, 103). The above events are useful for contextualizing Indian labor migration in terms of the rapid economic and political development of the Arabian Gulf that resulted from the discovery of oil in the region.

This timeline serves as an introduction to the socioeconomic development in the region and intends to offer background information for users completely unfamiliar with 20th century history of the Persian Gulf.

Navigation Instructions:

Scroll through the timeline for content, by clicking on the arrows on the timeline.
Clicking on a link provides more information on the topic or event described at that time point.
Return to this page to continue moving through the timeline.

Click through path below, to move through each event on the timeline in chronological order.

Sources:
Azhar, Muhammad. Indian migrant workers in GCC countries, Diaspora Studies, 9:2, 2016, 100-111, https://doi.org/10.1080/09739572.2016.1183890.

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