91 Facts About Bahrain

Bahrain is situated between Qatar and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia, to which it is connected by the King Fahd Causeway.

Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to be influenced by Islam, during the lifetime of Muhammad in 628 CE.

Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared an Islamic constitutional monarchy in 2002.

Bahrain's ruling Sunni Muslim Al Khalifa royal family has been criticised for violating the human rights of groups including dissidents, political opposition figures, and its majority Shia Muslim population.

Bahrain developed the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf, the result of decades of investing in the banking and tourism sectors; many of the world's largest financial institutions have a presence in the country's capital.

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Bahrain is a member of the United Nations, Non-Aligned Movement, Arab League, Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council.

An alternative theory concerning Bahrain's toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, which suggests that the two seas were the Great Green Ocean and a peaceful lake on the Arabian mainland.

Until the late Middle Ages, "Bahrain" referred to the region of Eastern Arabia that included Southern Iraq, Kuwait, Al-Hasa, Qatif, and Bahrain.

Bahrain was home to Dilmun, an important Bronze Age trade centre linking Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley.

Some place names in Bahrain go back to the Tylos era; for instance the name of Arad, a residential suburb of Muharraq, is believed to originate from "Arados", the ancient Greek name for Muharraq.

Bahrain was the site of worship of an ox deity called Awal Worshipers built a large statue to Awal in Muharraq, although it has now been lost.

The sedentary people of pre-Islamic Bahrain were Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while Syriac functioned as a liturgical language.

Bahrain had received news that some tribes were assembling an army in Bahrain and preparing to attack the mainland, but the tribesmen retreated when they learned Muhammad was leading an army to do battle with them.

In 899, the Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect, seized Bahrain, seeking to create a utopian society based on reason and redistribution of property among initiates.

In 1783, Al-Madhkur lost the islands of Bahrain following his defeat by the Bani Utbah tribe at the 1782 Battle of Zubarah.

Bahrain was not new territory to the Bani Utbah; they had been a presence there since the 17th century.

Later, different Arab family clans and tribes from Qatar moved to Bahrain to settle after the fall of Nasr Al-Madhkur of Bushehr.

In 1816, the British political resident in the Persian Gulf, William Bruce, received a letter from the Sheikh of Bahrain who was concerned about a rumour that Britain would support an attack on the island by the Imam of Muscat.

Bahrain sailed to Bahrain to reassure the Sheikh that this was not the case and drew up an informal agreement assuring the Sheikh that Britain would remain a neutral party.

Unrest amongst the people of Bahrain began when Britain officially established complete dominance over the territory in 1892.

In 1903, German explorer, Hermann Burchardt, visited Bahrain and took many photographs of historical sites, including the old Qasr es-Sheikh, photos now stored at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

Britain's interest in Bahrain's development was motivated by concerns over Saudi and Iranian ambitions in the region.

Bahrain participated in the Second World War on the Allied side, joining on 10 September 1939.

On 15 August 1971, though the Shah of Iran was claiming historical sovereignty over Bahrain, he accepted a referendum held by the United Nations and eventually Bahrain declared independence and signed a new treaty of friendship with the United Kingdom.

Bahrain joined the United Nations and the Arab League later in the year.

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The country had already begun diversification of its economy and benefited further from the Lebanese Civil War in the 1970s and 1980s, when Bahrain replaced Beirut as the Middle East's financial hub after Lebanon's large banking sector was driven out of the country by the war.

Bahrain instituted elections for parliament, gave women the right to vote, and released all political prisoners.

Bahrain opposed the invasion of Iraq and had offered Saddam Hussein asylum in the days before the invasion.

Bahrain assailed the movement as an Iranian plot, and banned opposition parties, put civilians in front of military courts and jailed dozens of peaceful political opponents, eliciting harsh international criticism.

Bahrain remains militarily and financially dependent on Saudi Arabia and the UAE and there is little on the frontier of regime change.

Bahrain is a generally flat and arid archipelago in the Persian Gulf.

The agricultural and domestic sectors' over-utilisation of the Dammam Aquifer, the principal aquifer in Bahrain, has led to its salinisation by adjacent brackish and saline water bodies.

Four alternatives for the management of groundwater quality that are available to the water authorities in Bahrain are discussed and their priority areas are proposed, based on the type and extent of each salinisation source, in addition to groundwater use in that area.

The seas around Bahrain are very shallow, heating up quickly in the summer to produce very high humidity, especially at night.

The many islands and shallow seas of Bahrain are globally important for the breeding of the Socotra cormorant; up to 100, 000 pairs of these birds were recorded over the Hawar Islands.

In 2003, Bahrain banned the capture of sea cows, marine turtles and dolphins within its territorial waters.

Bahrain has five designated protected areas, four of which are marine environments.

Bahrain emits a lot of carbon dioxide per person compared to other countries, which is part of the reason for climate change in the Middle East and North Africa.

Bahrain under the Al Khalifa is a constitutional monarchy headed by the King, Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahrain has a bicameral National Assembly consisting of the Shura Council (Majlis Al-Shura) with 40 seats and the Council of Representatives (Majlis Al-Nuwab) with 40 seats.

Government of Bahrain has close relations with the United States, having signed a cooperative agreement with the United States Military and has provided the United States a base in Juffair since the early 1990s, although a US naval presence existed since 1948.

Bahrain participates in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh, who was deposed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

Bahrain plays a modest, moderating role in regional politics and adheres to the views of the Arab League on Middle East peace and Palestinian rights by supporting the two state solution.

Bahrain is one of the founding members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.

Relations with Iran tend to be tense as a result of a failed coup in 1981 which Bahrain blames Iran for and occasional claims of Iranian sovereignty over Bahrain by ultra-conservative elements in the Iranian public.

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In 2011, Bahrain was criticised for its crackdown on the Arab spring uprising.

On 11 July 2020, a government watchdog in Bahrain claimed that the confessions of two pro-democracy campaigners were extracted by torture.

Mohammed Ramadhan and Husain Moosa from Bahrain were leading figures in the pro-democracy protests of 2011.

On 13 July 2020, the highest Court in Bahrain overruled the previous judgment and upheld the death sentences for both men.

The Human Rights Watch said that Bahrain uses several repressive tools to silence and punish every person who dares to criticize the government.

Women in Bahrain acquired voting rights and the right to stand in national elections in the 2002 election.

When Bahrain was elected to head the United Nations General Assembly in 2006 it appointed lawyer and women's rights activist Haya bint Rashid Al Khalifa President of the United Nations General Assembly, only the third woman in history to head the world body.

The US State Department's 2021 report on human rights violations in Bahrain mentioned violence against women in Bahrain, which is very common.

Radio Bahrain is a long-running English language radio station and Your FM is a radio station serving the large expatriate population from the Indian subcontinent living in the country.

In 1960, Bahrain comprised four municipalities: Manama, Hidd, Al Muharraq, and Riffa.

In 2008, Bahrain was named the world's fastest-growing financial centre by the City of London's Global Financial Centres Index.

In 2004, Bahrain signed the Bahrain–US Free Trade Agreement, which will reduce certain trade barriers between the two nations.

In 2007 Bahrain became the first Arab country to institute unemployment benefits as part of a series of labour reforms instigated under Minister of Labour, Dr Majeed Al Alawi.

The island is home to forts including Qalat Al Bahrain which has been listed by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site.

The Bahrain National Museum has artefacts from the country's history dating back to the island's first human inhabitants some 9000 years ago and the Beit Al Quran is a museum that holds Islamic artefacts of the Qur'an.

Bahrain has one main international airport, the Bahrain International Airport which is located on the island of Muharraq, in the north-east.

The discovery of oil in the early 1930s accelerated the creation of multiple roads and highways in Bahrain, connecting several isolated villages, such as Budaiya, to Manama.

In 2001, Bahrain had a merchant fleet of eight ships of 1, 000 GT or over, totaling 270, 784 GT.

Telecommunications sector in Bahrain officially started in 1981 with the establishment of Bahrain's first telecommunications company, Batelco and until 2004, it monopolised the sector.

In 2002, under pressure from international bodies, Bahrain implemented its telecommunications law which included the establishment of an independent Telecommunications Regulatory Authority.

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Bahrain has been connected to the internet since 1995 with the country's domain suffix is '.

Bahrain has already diversified its exports to some extent, out of necessity.

The gas reserve in Bahrain is expected to last for less than 27 years, leaving the country with few sources of capital to pursue the development of new industries.

Bahrain was ranked 78th in the Global Innovation Index in 2021.

Bahrain was one of 11 Arab states which counted a majority of female university graduates in science and engineering in 2014.

In 2008, approximately 290, 000 Indian nationals lived in Bahrain, making them the single largest expatriate community in the country, the majority of which hail from the south Indian state of Kerala.

Bahrain is the fourth most densely populated sovereign state in the world with a population density of 1, 646 people per km in 2010.

Bahrain encourages institutions of higher learning, drawing on expatriate talent and the increasing pool of Bahrain nationals returning from abroad with advanced degrees.

The University of Bahrain was established for standard undergraduate and graduate study, and the King Abdulaziz University College of Health Sciences, operating under the direction of the Ministry of Health, trains physicians, nurses, pharmacists and paramedics.

Bahrain has a universal health care system, dating back to 1960.

The first hospital in Bahrain was the American Mission Hospital, which opened in 1893 as a dispensary.

The first public hospital, and tertiary hospital, to open in Bahrain was the Salmaniya Medical Complex, in the Salmaniya district of Manama, in 1957.

Bahrain has one of the highest prevalence of diabetes in the world.

The architecture of Bahrain is similar to that of its neighbours in the Persian Gulf.

In literature, Bahrain was the site of the ancient land of Dilmun mentioned in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Bahrain was the site of the first recording studio amongst the Persian Gulf states.

Bahrain is the first nation other than United States of America to host International Mixed Martial Arts Federation World Championships of Amateur MMA.

Bahrain have recorded an influx in global athletes visiting the nation for Mixed Martial Arts training during 2017.

Brave Combat Federation is a Bahrain-based Mixed Martial Arts promotion that has hosted events in Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Brazil, Kazakhstan, and India.

Bahrain will be hosting Amateur World Championships 2017 in association with International Mixed Martial Arts Federation.

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Bahrain will be the first Asian and Arab country to host the amateur MMA championship.

Bahrain has a Formula One race-track, which hosted the inaugural Gulf Air Bahrain Grand Prix on 4 April 2004, the first in an Arab country.

Bahrain hosted the opening Grand Prix of the 2006 season on 12 March of that year.

In 2006, Bahrain hosted its inaugural Australian V8 Supercar event dubbed the "Desert 400".

On 3 August 2020, the Kingdom of Bahrain bought a minority stake in the Paris F C, a team that plays in France's second tier.

On 1 September 2006, Bahrain changed its weekend from being Thursdays and Fridays to Fridays and Saturdays, to have a day of the weekend shared with the rest of the world.