Eastern Arabia was historically known as Al-Bahrain until the 18th century. This region stretched from the south of Basra along the Persian Gulf coast and included the regions of:
- Ahwaz
- al-Hasa
- Bahrain
- Kuwait
- Northern Oman
- Qatar
- Qatif
- Southern Iraq
- United Arab Emirates
The entire coastal strip of Eastern Arabia was known as Bahrain for ten centuries. Until very recently, the whole of Eastern Arabia, from southern Iraq to the mountains of Oman, was a place where people moved around, settled and married unconcerned by national borders. The people of Eastern Arabia shared a culture based on the sea; they are seafaring peoples.
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are solely Eastern Arabia, the borders of the Arabic-speaking Gulf do not extend beyond Eastern Arabia. The modern-day states of Southern Iraq, Qatif and al-Hasa oases, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and UAE are the archetypal Gulf Arab states.
Saudi Arabia is often considered a Gulf Arab state although most of the country’s inhabitants do not live in Eastern Arabia with the exception of the Bahrani people who live in Qatif and al-Hasa oases and who historically inhabited the entire region of Eastern Arabia before the establishment of the modern day political borders.