page_title: Qatif
section_title: Portuguese
hierarchical_section_title: Qatif / Etymology and history / Portuguese
caption_attribution_description: English: panoramic view at the top of Tarout castle, Tarout island, Qatif, Saudi Arabia
context_page_description: Qatif or Al-Qatif is a governorate and urban area located in Eastern Province, Saudi Arabia. It extends from Ras Tanura and Jubail in the north to Dammam in the south, and from the Persian Gulf in the east to King Fahd International Airport in the west. This region has its own municipality and includes the Qatif downtown and many other smaller cities and towns.
  Qatif is one of the oldest settlements in Eastern Arabia, its history going back to 3500 BC. Before the discovery of oil, Qatifi people used to work as merchants, farmers, and fishermen. However, in recent years, after the discovery of oil and establishment of Jubail Industrial City, most Qatifi people tend to work in the oil industry, public services, education and health-care sectors.
context_section_description: In 1515 the Portuguese conquered Hormuz and sacked Qatif in 1520, killing the Jabrid ruler Muqrin ibn Zamil. The Portuguese invaded the island of Bahrain and stayed there for the next eighty years. The ruler of Basra extended his power to Qatif in 1524 but ultimately in 1549 the Ottomans took over , though they could not expel the Portuguese from the island of Bahrain. In 1551 The Portuguese conquered  Qatif maintaining  domain of the gulf allied whit the Pasha of Basra.
  In 1680 the Al Humayd of the Banu Khalid took the by now weak garrison of the Ottomans in Hofuf. In a battle at Ghuraymil, south of Qatif, the Banu Khalid lost their rule to the new "First Saudi State" in 1790. In 1818 the Saudi State was destroyed in the Ottoman-Saudi War and the commander of the mostly Egyptian troops, Ibrahim Pasha, took control of Hofuf, only to evacuate it the next year and return to the west coast. The Humayd regained control until the Banu Khalid were finally defeated in 1830 by the "Second Saudi State" who now took control of the whole region. The Ottomans moved in again in 1871 not to be expelled until 1913 when Ibn Saud finally established the Saudi rule in the Eastern Province.
caption: Panorama of Tarout old village on top of Tarout's castle.
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