Pre-modern history There is evidence of human settlement on the northern coastline of Bahrain dating back to the
Bronze Age. The
Dilmun civilisation inhabited the area in 3000 BC, serving as a key regional trading hub between
Mesopotamia,
Magan and the
Indus Valley Civilisation. Approximately 100,000
Dilmun burial mounds were found across the north and central regions of the country, some originating 5,000 years ago. Despite the discovery of the mounds, there is no significant evidence to suggest heavy urbanisation took place during the
Dilmun era. It is believed that the majority of the population lived in rural areas, numbering several thousand. Evidence of an ancient large rural population was confirmed by one of
Alexander the Great's ship captains, during voyages in the
Persian Gulf. A vast system of
aqueducts in northern Bahrain helped facilitate ancient horticulture and agriculture. in 1956 The commercial network of Dilmun lasted for almost 2,000 years, after which the
Assyrians took control of the island in 700 BC for more than a century. This was followed by
Babylonian and
Achaemenid rule, which later gave way to Greek influence during the time of
Alexander the Great's conquests. In the first century AD, the Roman writer
Pliny the Elder wrote of
Tylos, the Hellenic name of Bahrain in the
classical era, and its
pearls and cotton fields. The island came under the control of the
Parthian and
Sassanid empires respectively, by which time
Nestorian Christianity started to spread in Bahrain. By 410–420 AD, a Nestorian
bishopric and
monastery was established in
Al Dair, on the neighbouring island of
Muharraq. Following the conversion of Bahrain to
Islam in 628 AD, work on one of the earliest mosques in the region, the
Khamis Mosque, began as early as the seventh century AD. During this time, Bahrain was engaged in long distance marine trading, evident from the discovery of
Chinese coins dating between 600 and 1200 AD, in Manama. , built by the
Portuguese Empire while it ruled Bahrain from 1521 to 1602 In 1330, under the
Jarwanid dynasty, the island became a tributary of the
Kingdom of Hormuz. The town of Manama was mentioned by name for the first time in a manuscript dating to 1345 AD. Bahrain, particularly Manama and the nearby settlement of
Bilad Al Qadeem, became a centre of
Shia scholarship and training for the
ulema, it would remain so for centuries. The ulema would help fund
pearling expeditions and finance grain production in the rural areas surrounding the city. In 1521, Bahrain fell to the expanding
Portuguese Empire in the Persian Gulf, having already defeated Hormuz. The Portuguese consolidated their hold on the island by constructing the
Bahrain Fort, on the outskirts of Manama. After numerous revolts and an expanding
Safavid empire in Persia, the Portuguese were expelled from Bahrain and the Safavids took control in 1602.
Early modern history The Safavids, sidelining Manama, designated the nearby town of
Bilad Al Qadeem as the provincial capital. The town was also the seat of the Persian governor and the
Shaikh al-Islam of the islands. The position of Shaikh al-Islam lay under the jurisdiction of the central Safavid government and as such, candidates were carefully vetted by the
Isfahan courts. During the Safavid era, the islands continued to be a centre for
Twelver Shi'ism scholarship, producing clerics for use in mainland Persia. Additionally, the rich agricultural northern region of Bahrain continued to flourish due to an abundance of
date palm farms and orchards. The Portuguese traveler
Pedro Teixeira commented on the extensive cultivation of crops like
barley and wheat. The opening of Persian markets to Bahraini exports, especially
pearls, boosted the islands' export economy. The yearly income of exported Bahraini pearls was 600,000
ducats, collected by around 2,000 pearling
dhows. Another factor that contributed to Bahrain's agricultural wealth was the migration of
Shia cultivators from
Ottoman-occupied
Qatif and
al-Hasa, fearing religious persecution, in 1537. Sometime after 1736,
Nader Shah constructed a fort on the southern outskirts of Manama (likely the Diwan Fort). Persian control over the Persian Gulf waned during the later half of the 18th century. At this time, Bahrain archipelago was a dependency of the emirate of
Bushehr, itself a part of
Persia. In 1783, the
Bani Utbah tribal confederation
invaded Bahrain and expelled the resident governor
Nasr Al-Madhkur. As a result, the
Al Khalifa family became the rulers of the country, and all political relations with
Bushehr and
Persia/
Iran were terminated.
Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa (later called Ahmed al-Fateh, lit. "Ahmed the conqueror") become the dynasty's first
Hakim of Bahrain. Political instability in the 19th century had disastrous effects on Manama's economy; Invasions by the Omanis in 1800 and by the
Wahhabis in 1810–11, in addition to a civil war in 1842 between Bahrain's co-rulers saw the town being a major battleground. The instability paralysed commercial trade in Manama; the town's port was closed, most merchants fled abroad to
Kuwait and the Persian coast until hostilities ceased. The English scholar
William Gifford Palgrave, on a visit to Manama in 1862, described the town as having a few ruined stone buildings, with a landscape dominated with the huts of poor fishermen and pearl-divers. The
Pax Britannica of the 19th century resulted in British consolidation of trade routes, particularly those close to the
British Raj. In response to piracy in the Persian Gulf region, the British deployed warships and forced much of the Persian Gulf States at the time (including Bahrain) to sign the
General Maritime Treaty of 1820, which prohibited piracy and slavery. In 1861, the
Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship was signed between Britain and Bahrain, which placed the British in charge of defending Bahrain in exchange for British control over Bahraini foreign affairs. With the ascension of
Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa as the Hakim of Bahrain in 1869, Manama became the centre of British activity in the Persian Gulf, though its interests were initially strictly commercial. Trading recovered fully by 1873 and the country's earnings from pearl exports increased by sevenfold between 1873 and 1900. Representing the British were native agents, usually from minorities such as
Persians or
Huwala who regularly reported back to British India and the
British political residency in
Bushehr. The position of native agent was later replaced by a British political agent, following the construction of the British political residency (locally referred to in ) in 1900, which further solidified Britain's position in Manama.
Modern history Following the outbreak of
World War I in 1914, the
British Raj used Manama as a military base of operations during the
Mesopotamian campaign. Prompted by the presence of oil in the region, the British political agency in
Bushire concluded an oil agreement with the Hakim to prohibit the exploration and exploitation of oil for a five-year period. In 1919, Bahrain was officially integrated into the
British Empire as an overseas imperial territory following the Bahrain
order-in-council decree, issued in 1913. The decree gave the resident political agent greater powers and placed Bahrain under the
residency of Bushire and therefore under the governance of the British Raj. The British pressured a series of
administrative reforms in Bahrain during the 1920s (a move met with opposition from tribal leaders), during which the aging Hakim
Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa was forced to abdicate in favour of his reform-minded son
Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifa. A municipal government was established in Manama in 1919, the Customs office was reorganised in 1923 and placed under the supervision of an English businessman, the pearling industry was later reformed in 1924. Earnings from the customs office would be kept in the newly created
state treasury.
Civil courts were established for the first time in 1923, followed by the establishment of the Department of Land Registration in 1924.
Charles Belgrave, from the
Colonial office, was appointed in 1926 by the British to carry on further reforms and manage administration as a financial advisor to the King. He later organised the State Police and was in charge of the Finance and Land departments of the government. In 1927, the country's pearling economy collapsed due to the introduction of Japanese cultured pearls in the world market. It is estimated that between 1929 and 1931, pearling entrepreneurs lost more than two-thirds of their income. Further aggravated by the
Great Depression, many leading Bahraini businessmen, shopkeepers, and pearl-divers fell into debt. With the
discovery of oil in 1932 and the subsequent production of oil exports in 1934, the country gained a greater significance in geopolitics. The security of oil supplies in the Middle East was a priority of the British, especially in the run-up to the Second World War. The discovery of oil led to gradual employment of bankrupt divers from the pearling industry in the 1930s, eventually causing the pearling industry to disappear. During the war, the country served as a strategic airbase between Britain and India as well as hosting
RAF Muharraq and a
naval base in
Juffair. Bahrain was
bombed by the
Italian Air Force in 1940. In 1947, following the end of the war and subsequent Indian independence, the British residency of the Persian Gulf moved to Manama from
Bushire. Following the rise of
Arab nationalism across the Middle East and sparked by the
Suez Crisis in 1956, anti-British unrest broke out in Manama, organised by the
National Union Committee. Though the NUC advocated peaceful demonstrations, buildings and enterprises belonging to Europeans (the British in particular) as well as the main
Catholic church in the city and petrol stations, were targeted and set ablaze. Demonstrations held in front of the British political residency called for the dismissal of Charles Belgrave, who was later dismissed by the direct intervention of the
Foreign Office the following year. A subsequent crackdown on the NUC led to the dissolution of the body. Another
anti-British uprising erupted in March 1965, though predominately led by students aspiring for independence rather than by Arab nationalists. In 1968, the British announced their withdrawal from Bahrain by 1971. The newly independent
State of Bahrain designated Manama as the capital city. in 1965 Post-independence Manama was characterised by the rapid urbanisation of the city and the swallowing-up of neighboring villages and hamlets into a single urbanised area, incorporating new neighbourhoods such as
Adliya and
Salmaniya. The construction boom attracted large numbers of foreigners from the
Indian subcontinent and by 1981, foreigners outnumbered Bahrainis two-to-one. The construction of the
Diplomatic Area district in the city's northeast helped facilitate diversification of the country's economy from oil by exploiting the lucrative financial industry. Financial institutions in the district numbered 187 by 1986. The scarcity of land suitable for construction led to significant
land reclamation in Bahrain. Religious activism migrated from Manama to the suburban districts of
Bani Jamra,
Diraz and
Bilad Al Qadeem, hotspots of unrest in the
1990s uprising that called for the reinstatement of an elected parliament. In 2001, the
National Action Charter, presented by King
Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa was approved by Bahrainis. The charter led to the first
parliamentary and municipal elections in decades. Further elections in 2006 and 2010 led to the election of Islamist parties,
Al Wefaq,
Al Menbar, and
Al Asalah, as well as independent candidates. In 2011, a
month-long uprising led to the intervention of
GCC forces and the proclamation of a three-month
state of emergency. The
Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry published a 500-page report on the events of 2011. == Government ==