Persian Gulf Pearl Diving Industry

Type Object Region Persian Gulf Time -3000

The Persian Gulf pearl diving industry was a marine harvesting system lasting a thousand years along the eastern Arabian coast and gulf islands, with…

Timeline

800–1300Strait of Hormuz · HormuzFrom the Abbasid to Ilkhanate periods, the Persian Gulf pearl diving industry formed a seasonal diving season system; diving fleets were financed by boat owners, divers received a share of the catch, and pearls were transshipped via Hormuz to Indian Ocean and Mediterranean markets.
1331–1340Bahrain archipelago · BahrainIn the 1330s, the pearl diving season along the coasts of Bahrain and Qatar usually took place in summer; divers used weighted stones to descend to oyster beds to gather pearls, and the catch was distributed between boat owners and tribal chiefs; Ibn Battuta recorded the pearl diving villages and the graded pearl trade of the gulf.
1900–1950Dubai and the Trucial Coast · United Arab EmiratesAfter Japanese cultured pearl technology was commercialized in the early 20th century, natural pearl prices plummeted, the traditional Persian Gulf pearl diving industry declined sharply, and coastal economies gradually shifted to oil and modern fisheries.

Sources

The Travels of Ibn Battutah — Ibn Battuta (2002)
The Persian Gulf: A Political and Economic History of Five Port Cities, 1500-1730 — Rudi Matthee (2006)
Pearl Diving in the Persian Gulf: A Kuwaiti Memoir — Saif Marzooq al-Shamlan (2001)