ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the establishment and development of the oil industry in the Persian Gulf region during the first half of the twentieth century, the growth of oil company employment, and the impact of the oil industry in restructuring the traditional urban systems of the Persian Gulf region. These changes were accompanied by the introduction of new urban planning models from the West and new architectural styles that expressed Western rather than Islamic values. The chapter shows that the scale of both direct and indirect employment generated by the oil industry, attracting labor from all parts of the gulf region while, in addition, there was an influx of foreign workers from states on the periphery of the region. The discovery of oil and its subsequent exploitation brought dramatic economic changes that transformed the Persian Gulf region during the first half of the twentieth century.
