Tarout Island

Tarout Island (Arabic: جزيرة تاروت), also spelled Tārūt, is an island in the Persian Gulf in the Qatif Governorate, located in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. Situated about six kilometers off Qatif mainland coast, the island is connected to Qatif City by three causeways. It stretches from Ras Tanura in the north to Qatif in the west and is the second-largest island in the Persian Gulf after Qeshm Island, covering an area of approximately 70 square kilometers. Tarout Island is home to several towns and villages, including Tārūt, Deyrah, and Darīn and Dasha.

History

Tarout Island is as one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the Persian Gulf. Archaeological finds provide evidence that human settlement on the island dates back more than 5,000 years. The island was an essential link between Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley Civilisation, and the Arabian Peninsula. Dilmun civilization)

The Island had a significant role in trade activity in the entire Persian Gulf region. It was a central point for trade between Mesopotamia and along the coastal areas in the east of the Arabian Peninsula. Its strong relationships with many of the urbanized areas along the region were well known.

Tarout was the heart of the Dilmun Kingdom and had a major role in the history of the region since 3000 BC. Human habitation in this area over the centuries was very large and archaeological discoveries were found until recently, which is rare in most parts of the world's archaeological sites.

The Christian practice that a marriage was only valid if blessed by a priest was first mandated by a synod of Christians living in the region held in Darin in 676 CE by Patriarch George I—chief bishop of the Church of the East, one of the two main churches of the Syriac Christian tradition.

The ancient Arabic name for the place was apparently 'Ishtarut (عشتروت); in the Greek Geographia of Ptolemy it is called Tharrō (θαρρώ); on a map Ptolemy’s Geographia published in Latin in 1578 it appears as Tharro.

In the Middle Ages the island was often called Dairin or Daryn, for one of its cities.; Darīn is actually the name of its main harbor, and there have also been more modern attempts to rename it Darīn. The Treaty of Darin was signed on the island in 1915 between Ibn Saud and the United Kingdom.