Dammam Corniche

Dammam Dammam (Arabic: الدمّام‎ ad-Dammām) is the capital of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia. The judicial and administrative bodies of the province, in addition to other minor governmental departments, are located in the city. Dammam is the largest city in the Eastern Province, and the sixth largest in Saudi Arabia.

Like the other twelve provincial capitals, Dammam is not included within any governorate; instead, it is simply referred to as a city; in Arabic, أمانة (amanah) and is governed by a mayor (Arabic: أمين‎; ameen). Dammam is known for being a major administrative center for the Saudi oil industry.

Dammam constitutes the core of the Dammam metropolitan area, also known as the Greater Dammam area, which comprises the 'Triplet Cities' of Dammam, Dhahran and Khobar. The area has an estimated population of 4,140,000 as of 2012 and is closely linked to the city through social, economic, and cultural ties.

The city is growing at an exceptionally fast rate of 12% a year – the fastest in Saudi Arabia, the GCC, and the Arab world. As of 2016, Greater Dammam is the 4th largest area in both size and population in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The area that eventually became Dammam was settled by members of the Dawasir tribe around 1923, with permission of King Ibn Saud.

The area was originally a fishing hamlet and was developed into its current state within half a century, both as a port city and an administrative center. With the Unification of Saudi Arabia, Dammam was made the capital of the newly-formed Eastern Province.

The Dammam metropolitan area and the rest of the Eastern Province are served by the King Fahd International Airport (KFIA), the largest airport in the world in terms of land area (approximately 780 km2), about 20 km to the northwest of the city. Dammam's King Abdul Aziz Sea Port is the largest on the Persian Gulf.

Its import-export traffic in is second only to Jeddah Seaport in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).