Over 20 researchers from the Gulf region and France are scheduled to take part in the first scientific symposium on the history of the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf contained in French documents covering the 17th and 18th centuries. The symposium will be held at Darat King Abdul Aziz in Riyadh Saturday, May 9. Dr. Fahd Al-Samari, Secretary General of Darat King Abdul Aziz, who is also Secretary General of Documents and Studies in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries said: “The symposium, which is being organized by the Darat in collaboration with the Secretariat General of the Document Center, Sorbonne University and Abu Dhabi, is part of three symposia planned by the Secretariat General, which will continue until the year 2013.” He said the scheme is meant to monitor the French references related to the history of the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf and documenting them. Al-Samari said the information he has shows that these documents cover more than three million historical items. The documents include correspondence, commercial records, traveler's books and French reports within and outside France such as the French archives in India, United States, Holland, Portugal, Spain, Denmark, Russia and Germany. In addition to this, they include the archives of the French colonies on the Indian subcontinent and Africa. They also include the memoirs of French presidents over the two centuries; and oriental studies written in this period.
