Call to Action : Google Earth includes 'Arabian Gulf' on the map

It has come to our attention that Google Earth recently included the term "Arabian Gulf" on maps where the body of water, historically and contemporarily known as the Persian Gulf, is located. The Iranian Student Alliance in America (ISAA) stands unequivocally opposed to any misuse of accepted and accurate references to the aforementioned body of water, a practice which has proven throughout history to have been a tool for spreading dissention and encouraging instability in the region and beyond.

If you don't have Google Earth installed on you computer, you can view a screenshot of the software at ISAA's website here : http://isaa.berkeley.edu/actions/googleearth.jpg

We kindly ask our members to please take action by sending an email to press@google.com , contact Google Earth directly via their help center form located at http://earth.google.com/support/bin/request.py?&extra.customer=GEFree&contact_type=data

or sign the petition at http://www.petitiononline.com/sos02082/petition.html .

For your convenience you can use the following text which was forwarded to us by a member.

Dear Google,

This is in regards to the recent Google Earth Version where the incorrect and erroneous term Arabian gulf, was used to identify the Persian Gulf .

Please be advised that the internationally, historically and geographically correct name for the body of water situated south of Iran between Iran and Saudi Arabia is the Persian Gulf . The only body of water that can reasonably be called the "Arabian Gulf" is the " Red Sea ". The Persian Gulf has no other internationally recognized name.

The historically and geographically correct name of Persian Gulf has been endorsed by the United Nations on many occasions. The last UN Directive endorsing the name of the Persian Gulf was Directive reference ST/CS/SER.A/29/Add.2 on August 18th 1994.

There is no room for politics in the world of geography, nor should Google pander to any special group. I hope that you will take the necessary steps to correct the prejudiced and false name in the Google Earth Version.

I must now urge you to correct the mistake on Google Earth Version site as a matter of urgency. I shall wait your affirmative response.

Kind Regards,

For further information consult the following links:

http://unstats.un.org/unsd/geoinfo/gegn23wp61.pdf
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

The arrival of the following book is very timely especially when Google Earth fails to search the truth and chooses to call it Arabian Gulf.

The Persian Gulf : Its Past and Present which was in the making for nearly 8 years can also be a great resource to educate others.

You can help by ordering a copy for yourself, or for your local public or school library.

The Persian Gulf: Its Past and Present
http://www.mazdapublisher.com/BookDetails.aspx?BookID=191

By Prof. Svat Soucek

The Persian Gulf is a unique geographical phenomenon whose role in human affairs began in remote antiquity and has continued to our own day. Traditionally, this role was due to the place it occupies as an avenue of cultures and trade; today, as the site of a resource vital not only for the inhabitants of the countries along its shores but for much of the modem world. The Persian Gulf's unique geostrategic position further enhances its present importance.

A simple enumeration of the countries sharing the Persian Gulf's coasts and waters offers an evocative panorama of contemporary history: Iran, with the longest shoreline and some of the busiest ports along the northeastern coast; Iraq at the head of the Persian Gulf, then Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman. All these countries, in varying degrees, are blessed with vast oil reserves lying along the coasts both under the ground on land and below the sea bottom. It is this vital resource that has propelled the Persian Gulf into the limelight of world events, and the story of its discovery, development and struggle over its exploitation makes for fascinating reading. It began almost a century ago, when in 1908 British prospectors struck oil at the Persian site of Suleymaniye. For nearly two generations, until the early 1950s, the province of Khuzistan was the center of production, processing and exporting oil, and the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company had the lion's share of this lucrative business.

Geologists rightly suspected, however, that oil deposits might exist in many other parts of the Persian Gulf area. During the 1930s, a number of finds were made on the Arab side from Iraq all the way to Oman.

This time mainly American companies seized the initiative, but until World War II production remained relatively modest The war and the quickened pace of consumption in the industrial world, especially in the USA, led to further development of these sources, but the main stimulus for the sudden and vertiginous development of oil wells on the Arab side of the Persian Gulf was came from the drama of Iran's

attempt to acquire a fairer share of its wealth. Great Britain and the United States thwarted Dr. Mossadegh's heroic struggle, and in the process the production and export of oil from Iran was temporarily halted.

That in turn created a windfall for the companies exploiting the oil fields on the Arab side, and their prospectors discovered still more deposits whose yield has led to today's fabulous wealth of Saudi Arabia and the other principalities along the Persian Gulf.
This book hopes to offer a balanced version of the history of the Persian Gulf.

The story itself is presented in the natural and anthropological context of the subject.