"Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May" is a poem by Robert Herrick. This poem portrays our existence on earth, and that people age as life goes on, and everything becomes boundless. Herrick here urges people to take advantage of youth and energy while they may! The poem is in the genre of carpe diem, to seize the day.

Wednesday, April 30, 2008

The Arabian Gulf Vs. The Persian Gulf

As I am flipping through Al Qabas pages (yes I was actually scanning! Too tired to read thoroughly LOL) I came across this piece of news -page 83- showing some Iranian students protesting in front of UAE Embassy in Tehran for changing the Gulf's name!

The debate whether this gulf is Arabian or Persian is rather intriguing!
What makes more sense to you!? To refere it as Arabian because there are more Arabian countries on that gulf or Persian as its been called for thousands of years?

According to Wikipedia:

Since the 1960s with the rise of Arab nationalism (Pan-Arabism), starting with Gamal Abdel Nasser's Arab Republic of Egypt, some Arab countries, including the ones bordering the Persian Gulf, have adopted the term "Arabian Gulf" to refer to the waterway. This is controversial and not commonly used outside of the Arab world, nor is it recognized by the United Nations and other international organizations. The United Nations on many occasions has requested that only "Persian Gulf" be used as the official and standard geographical designation for the body of water. "Arabian Gulf" is also an ancient name for the Red Sea.Hecataeus (472 to 509 B.C.) can be stated where Persian Gulf and Arabian Gulf (Red Sea) have been clearly shown. Also a map has remained from Herodotus, the great Greek historian (425-484 B.C.) which introduces Red Sea as the Arabian Gulf.....

To read the further, click here.

17 comments:

Purgatory said...

I suggest calling it Iggy

Ansam said...

Purg-
Well I was thinking of a name too! Iggy!! hmmmm no! think again :-P

Purgatory said...

How about Doobie?

Big Pearls said...

nameless!

Anonymous said...

Never heard protests about naming

English Channel or La manche.
Lake Constanz or Bodensee.
Lake Geneva or Lake Léman.


How come name sensitive idiots only exist in our backward shithole neighborhood?

Ansam said...

Purg-
hmmmm! No!

Big Pearls-
No, be creative!

Anon-
LOL

Purgatory said...

we call it ansam, HAPPY!

;p

eshda3wa said...

how about the persian araibian gulf and let everyone go home happy

pablo-chiarpenello said...

We call it Persian Gulf. I didn't know the other name. It is 'Golfo Pérsico' in Spanish.

Ansam said...

Purg-
Not quiet! Queen Ansam! :-P

Eshda3wa-
eshda3wa??? hehehehehe

Pablo-
Si Si Señor

Grey said...

lol ! Doobie is better ! but Arabs have the "Arabian Sea" so whats in sharing few buckets in persian gulf eh?

Ansam said...

Grey-
So its the persian gulf that goes into Arabian Sea which is in the region of the Indian Ocean! YOU WIN! hehehehe

Anonymous said...

This is just ridiculous! Of course it is Persian Gulf! It's been Persian Gulf since for ever, just look through the history books. It's always referred to as the Persian Gulf!just look through all the United Nations docs and ull see it is Persian Gulf!
Here some links:
http://www.un.org/Depts/los/LEGISLATIONANDTREATIES/persian_gulf.htm
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/westasia.pdf
http://www.un.org/Depts/Cartographic/map/profile/iran.pdf
http://www.un.org/depts/dhl/maplib/docs/escwa.pdf

It has nothing to do with the arab surrounding countries. the name Persian Gulf, is a historical fact! All through history from herodotus to will durant, all of them referred to that gulf as the Persian Gulf.
I mean it's just such a ridiculous thing to even discuss! it's like saying "well, heres the arab countries and and there's the arabian sea. Since arabian sea is a part of the Indian ocean, lets change teh name of Indian ocean to arabian ocean from now on!"

Funny how the world works! 9/11 was triggered by the arabs (here are heaps of evidence for that: http://sonofcyrusthegreat.zzl.org/), it was arabs who celebrated the 9/11 tragic event, at the same time Iranians lit candles big groups of ppl walking in the streets condeming terrorism and sympithiesing with the victims, yet all the western world are supporting this outragous attempt of the arabs to steal an Iranian heritage, an Iranian identity factor!
More:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m4RQUYv6F0

Anonymous said...

To: National Geographic Society

December 1, 2004


Dear Sarah Clark,


I am writing to you as a professor of History at California State University, Fullerton. I have been a member of the National Geographic Society for the past two years and for reasons enumerated below, I will cancel my membership to your organization. This is not so much because of my personal and national loyalties, but rather due to the wrong and unprofessional decision by your committee to place the name of "Arabian Gulf" next to that of "Persian Gulf."


The body of water called "Arabian Gulf" already exists, and the name is reserved for another body of water, which I teach about in my ancient history courses. In essence, what you have done is to confuse the bodies of water for the students and general users alike. In antiquity the Greeks and Romans called the Red Sea the "Arabian Gulf" (Pomponius Mela, de Chorographia, passage 72). Am I to tell my students that the National Geographic Society has decided to relocate this body of water for us?


As for the nomenclature of the Persian Gulf, it is clear that it was known as Persicus sinus in Latin meaning "Persian Gulf," or the variant Persicum mare, meaning "Persian Sea" in the Classical Sources. In the Islamic period the Arabs themselves called this body of water bahr faris or "Sea of Fars." In the first half of the twentieth century it was known as khalij al-fars "Persian Gulf" by virtually all Arab countries. The Europeans who continued the Classical tradition employed such terms as Sino Persico and Sinus Persicus. Thus in the West and the Middle East this body of water has been known as the "Persian Gulf."


It was only with the recent appearance of Arab nationalism or so-called "Pan-Arabism", spear-headed by former Egyptian President Gamal Abd Al-Nasser, who was hostile to the late Shah of Iran, that the term al-khalij al-arabi or "Arabian Gulf" was coined. It simply did not exist before this period! How could we go about changing names of places so whimsically based on personal preferences? The Society states that since many institutions and people use an alternative name for the Persian Gulf, then "Arabian Gulf" must be mentioned.


By your logic, then Shatt al-Arab, which is the waterway bordering Iran and Iraq, known as Arvand Rud ("Arvand River") to the Iranians for several decades must also be mentioned. But this would be historically incorrect, and I would not support the changing of names based on nationalism. By the same logic if the Iranians begin calling the Sea of Oman or the Arabian Sea the "Sea of Iran," then the National Geographic would have to cave in and place such artificial names for these bodies of water as well. Even the island of Kish in your map is mentioned by it alternate Arabic name Qays which is almost never used in Iran and it belongs to Iran.


If personal (Directorate) or financial matters govern such decisions, then I must say that I am dismayed that such a reputable organization would be pushed to create false names as "acceptable alternatives" based on unscrupulous decisions. But again, we live in a world where even names can be bought or exchanged for money. I just did not expect that the National Geographic Society would do such a thing. Rest-assured, I will have this matter discussed in our department at Fullerton, and my fellow historians in other California State University campuses will also hear about this matter. I do ask you to please cancel my subscription.


Sincerely,

Touraj Daryaee

Associate Professor of Ancient History


RM/MA

END

Anonymous said...

You want the ANSWER??? Well, here is the ANSWER!!

Ansam said...

Thanks Anonymous(es) for your feedback :-)

Anonymous said...

Evidence for arabic nature of 911:
http://sonofcyrusthegreat.uuuq.com/

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