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This part of the Arabian Peninsula consits mostly of arid lowlands, which include salt flats (sabkhas). In the south is the fierce and trackless desert: the Empty Quarter (Rub al-Khali), which holds some tourist interest. This rises gradually into the plateau that characterizes the peninsula's center. Qatar is a peninsula jutting north into the Persian Gulf, and Bahrain, an island to its west.
A majority
The rest--mostly immigrants since the 20th century--speak a miscellany of langues; some of these are Sunni Moslems, a few are Shi'ites and some are Christians.
الدمام (Ad-Dammam) and الدوحة (ad-Dawḥah, also translitered as ad-Dawḥa, and called Doha in English), Qatar, are the only cities with a million people. الاحساع (al-Aḥsa' or Al-Hasa or Hasa) was historically important and المنامة (al-Manamah) is important today.
Important ports (but not significant urban areas) are at Ra's Tannūrah and Ra's al-Ju'aymah.
Important on-shore oil fields are Ghawar, Abqaiq, Berri (near Jubail) and, south of الكويت (al-Kuwayt or Kuwait): Safaniya-Khafji.
Semites or Proto-Semites arrived on the peninsula thousands of years ago, ultimately from Africa. Central Semites occupied the middle and north of the peninsula. By the classical period, the Central Semitic language of Arabic was written, and its dialects were already diverse. The change in religion in the seventh century wrought linguistic change. The prophet, Mohammed, elevated the deus otiosus, Allah, to monotheist status, eventually de-legitimizing the old god's three daughter-goddesses, who had been the old religion's focus. He spread his new religion throughout Arabia and beyond, and with it the dialect in which his holy book, the Qoran, was written. Classical Arabic is now a learned religious language and the normative model for 'correct' speaking. Mohammed not only overthrew the old indiginous religion, but also ended the peninsula's religious diversity, which had included Christians--orthodox and heterodox--and Jews.
north
northeast
east
south, from the southwest
west
1. Saudi Arabia in English.
2. Ash-Sharqīyah in transliterated Arabic. It is more literally translated as the East.
3. Bahrain in English.
4. The distribution of the two million newer immigrants through Saudi Arabia is not known to me, and probably varies over time. It is likely that most are in the vicinity of ad-Damman--in this area--and ar-Riyad and perhaps Jiddah. But is is reasonable to suppose that at least half a million are outside of the Eastern Province, which would leave the province plus the two countries with an Arabic majority.