Khaliji

The Khaliji, or Khaleeji, meaning of the Gulf, are Gulf-shore Arabs of Eastern Arabia, the coast once called Bahrain, from Kuwait south to Qatar. Pearl diving, fishing and long-distance trade shaped their sea-facing towns, and they speak Gulf Arabic, a dialect shared along the coast.

Their forebears include merchants of Dilmun, centered on Bahrain from the third millennium BC, and Nestorian Christians of pre-Islamic Beth Qatraye. After Islam the Qarmatians and dynasties ruled, ending with the Jabrids, whose chief Ajwad ibn Zamil held the coast until his death in 1507; a Portuguese invasion seized Bahrain in 1521.

The Bani Khalid then dominated the region, expelling an Ottoman garrison in 1670, until Saudi forces took Al-Ahsa in 1793. The Najdi Bani Yas settled Liwa oasis around 1700, founded Abu Dhabi in 1795 and took Dubai in 1822, building the later Gulf sheikhdoms.