Safwa City

Safwa is a city in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia situated on the Persian Gulf coast. It does not belong to the Qatif area. Safwa has a population of about 100,000 people. Safwa has all basic government departments, public utilities, educational institutions and health care centers. People in Safwa work in various sectors such as; education, health care, banking, mining, oil and gas, and commerce. The city includes one of the most organized neighborhoods in the eastern region, Al-Zahra neighborhood (Arouba), which has more than 1,200 residential units and an area of 336 hectares. The city has a history of 6500 years and was also known as Darius, after Darius III.HistoryThe city was named after Darius III, the king of Persia because he liked the city. There was a battle between Darius III and Alexander the Great in Safwa. Darius III won the war in 334 BC and Alexander the Great was defeated. Therefore, Safwa had been called Darius until the year 1945 "The Identity Year". In 1945, the Saudi government started to document the residents of the city and started documenting the demographics of the region. At that time the city was expanding, the old city there was called still Darius. However, Safwa became the popular name which was the word that people used to use for the pure water that came out form an old water spring, that spring also called Darius because Darius army was drinking water form it before the battle.