Antiquity Bahrain was home to
Dilmun, an important
Bronze Age trade centre linking
Mesopotamia and the
Indus Valley. Bahrain was later ruled by the
Sumerians and
Babylonians. From the 6th to 3rd century BC, Bahrain was part of the
Achaemenid Empire. By about 250 BC,
Parthia brought the Persian Gulf under its control and extended its influence as far as Oman. The Parthians established garrisons along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf to control trade routes. During the
classical era, Bahrain was referred to by the
ancient Greeks as
Tylos, the centre of pearl trading, when the Greek admiral
Nearchus serving under
Alexander landed on Bahrain. Nearchus is believed to have been the first of Alexander's commanders to visit the island, and he found a verdant land that was part of a wide trading network; he recorded: "That on the island of Tylos, situated in the Persian Gulf, are large plantations of cotton trees, from which are manufactured clothes called
sindones, of strongly differing degrees of value, some being costly, others less expensive. The use of these is not confined to India, but extends to Arabia." The Greek historian
Theophrastus states that much of Bahrain was covered by these cotton trees and that Bahrain was famous for exporting walking canes engraved with emblems that were customarily carried in Babylon. Alexander had planned to settle Greek colonists in Bahrain, and although it is not clear that this happened on the scale he envisaged, Bahrain became very much part of the
Hellenised world: the language of the upper classes was Greek, with
Aramaic in everyday use. Local coinage shows a seated Zeus, who may have been worshipped there as a syncretised form of the Arabian sun-god
Shams. Tylos was also the site of Greek athletic contests. The Greek historian
Strabo believed the
Phoenicians originated from Bahrain.
Herodotus also believed that the homeland of the Phoenicians was Bahrain. This theory was accepted by the 19th-century German classicist
Arnold Heeren who said "In the Greek geographers, for instance, we read of two islands, named Tyrus or Tylos, and
Aradus, which boasted that they were the mother country of the Phoenicians, and exhibited relics of Phoenician temples." The people of
Tyre in particular have long maintained
Persian Gulf origins, and the similarity in the words "Tylos" and "Tyre" has been commented upon. However, there is little evidence of any human settlement at all on Bahrain during the time when such migration had supposedly taken place. map of the historical region of Bahrain . There are an estimated 350,000 burial mounds. The name Tylos is thought to be a Hellenisation of the Semitic
Tilmun (from
Dilmun). The term Tylos was commonly used for the islands until
Ptolemy's
Geographia when the inhabitants are referred to as Thilouanoi. 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. In the 3rd century,
Ardashir I, the first ruler of the
Sassanid dynasty, marched on Oman and Bahrain, where he defeated Sanatruq the ruler of Bahrain. 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. For many centuries after
Tylos, Bahrain was known as
Awal. By the 5th century, Bahrain became a centre for
Nestorian Christianity, with the village
Samahij as the seat of bishops. In 410, according to the Oriental Syriac Church synodal records, a bishop named Batai was excommunicated from the church in Bahrain. As a sect, the Nestorians were often persecuted as heretics by the
Byzantine Empire, but Bahrain was outside the empire's control, offering some safety. The names of several
Muharraq villages today reflect Bahrain's Christian legacy, with
Al Dair meaning "the monastery". Bahrain's pre-Muslim population consisted of
Christian Arabs (mostly
Abd al-Qays), Persians (
Zoroastrians),
Jews, and
Aramaic-speaking agriculturalists. According to
Robert Bertram Serjeant, the
Baharna may be the
Arabised "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), Jews and Persians inhabiting the island and cultivated coastal provinces of
Eastern Arabia at the time of the
Muslim conquest". The sedentary people of pre-Muslim Bahrain were
Aramaic speakers and to some degree Persian speakers, while
Syriac functioned as a
liturgical language. on the eve of the Arab conquest, c. 600 AD Traditional Muslim accounts state that
Al-Ala'a Al-Hadrami was sent as an envoy during the
Expedition of Zayd ibn Harithah (Hisma) to the
Bahrain region by
Muhammad in AD 628 and that
Munzir ibn Sawa Al Tamimi, the local ruler, responded to his mission and converted the entire area.
Middle Ages 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. Thereafter, the Qarmatians demanded
tribute from the caliph in
Baghdad, and in 930
sacked Mecca, bringing the sacred
Black Stone back to their base in
Ahsa, in medieval Bahrain, for ransom. According to historian
Al-Juwayni, the stone was returned 22 years later in 951 under mysterious circumstances. Wrapped in a sack, it was thrown into the
Great Mosque of Kufa in Iraq, accompanied by a note saying "By command we took it, and by command, we have brought it back." The theft and removal of the Black Stone caused it to break into seven pieces. Following their defeat in 976 by the
Abbasids, the Qarmatians were overthrown by the Arab
Uyunid dynasty of
al-Hasa, who took over the entire Bahrain region in 1076. The Uyunids controlled Bahrain until 1235, when the archipelago was briefly occupied by the Persian ruler of
Fars. In 1253, the
Usfurids brought down the Uyunid dynasty, thereby gaining control over eastern
Arabia, including the islands of Bahrain. Locally, the islands were controlled by the Shia
Jarwanid dynasty of
Qatif. In the mid-15th century, the archipelago came under the rule of the
Jabrids, a Bedouin dynasty also based in
Al-Ahsa that ruled most of eastern Arabia.
Portuguese and early modern era , built by the Portuguese when they ruled Bahrain from 1521 to 1602 In 1521, the Portuguese allied with Hormuz and seized Bahrain from the
Jabrid ruler
Muqrin ibn Zamil, who was killed during the takeover. Portuguese rule lasted for around 80 years, during which time they depended mainly on
Sunni Persian governors. which gave impetus to
Shia Islam. For the next two centuries, Persian rulers retained control of the archipelago, interrupted by the 1717 and 1738 invasions of the
Ibadis of Oman. During most of this period, they resorted to governing Bahrain indirectly, either through the city of
Bushehr or through
immigrant Sunni Arab clans. The latter were tribes returning to the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf from Persian territories in the north who were known as
Huwala. In 1783, Al-Madhkur lost the islands of Bahrain following his defeat by the
Bani Utbah clan and allied tribes 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. During that time, they started purchasing date palm gardens in Bahrain; a document shows that 81 years before the arrival of the Al Khalifa, one of the sheikhs of the
Al Bin Ali tribe (an offshoot of the Bani Utbah) had bought a palm garden from Mariam bint Ahmed Al Sanadi in
Sitra island. in the Persian Gulf in the 16th and 17th centuries (modern boundaries shown). Main cities, ports and routes. The Al Bin Ali were the dominant group controlling the town of Zubarah on the Qatar peninsula, originally the centre of power of the Bani Utbah. After the Bani Utbah gained control of Bahrain, the Al Bin Ali had a practically independent status there as a self-governing tribe. They used a flag with four red and three white stripes, called the
Al-Sulami flag in Bahrain, Qatar,
Kuwait, and the Eastern province of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Later, different Arab family clans and tribes from Qatar moved to Bahrain to settle after the fall of Nasr Al-Madhkur of
Bushehr. These families included the
House of Khalifa, Al-Ma'awdah, Al-Buainain, Al-Fadhil, Al-Kuwari, Al-Mannai, Al-Noaimi, Al-Rumaihi, Al-Sulaiti, Al-Sadah, Al-Thawadi and other families and tribes. The House of Khalifa moved from Qatar to Bahrain in 1799. Originally, their ancestors were expelled from
Umm Qasr in central Arabia by the
Ottomans due to their predatory habits of preying on caravans in
Basra and trading ships in
Shatt al-Arab waterway until Turks expelled them to Kuwait in 1716, where they remained until 1766. Around the 1760s, the
Al Jalahma and House of Khalifa, both belonging to the Utub Federation, migrated to
Zubarah in modern-day Qatar, leaving Al Sabah as the sole proprietors of Kuwait.
19th century and later In the early 19th century, Bahrain was invaded by both the Omanis and the
Al Sauds. In 1802 it was governed by a 12-year-old child, when the Omani ruler Sayyid Sultan installed his son, Salim, as governor in the
Arad Fort. 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. He 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. In 1820, the Al Khalifa tribe were recognised by the United Kingdom as the rulers ("Al-Hakim" in Arabic) of Bahrain after signing a
treaty relationship. However, ten years later they were forced to pay yearly tributes to Egypt despite seeking Persian and British protection. In 1860, the Al Khalifas used the same tactic when the British tried to overpower Bahrain. Writing letters to the Persians and
Ottomans, Al Khalifas agreed to place Bahrain under the latter's protection in March due to offering better conditions. Eventually, the
Government of British India overpowered Bahrain when the Persians refused to protect it. Colonel
Pelly signed a new treaty with Al Khalifas placing Bahrain under British rule and protection. Unrest amongst the people of Bahrain began when Britain officially established complete dominance over the territory in 1892. The first revolt and widespread uprising took place in March 1895 against Sheikh Issa bin Ali, then ruler of Bahrain. Sheikh Issa was the first of the Al Khalifa to rule without Persian relations.
Sir Arnold Wilson, Britain's representative in the Persian Gulf and author of
The Persian Gulf, arrived in Bahrain from Muscat at this time. The uprising developed further with some protesters killed by British forces. Before the development of the petroleum industry, the island was largely devoted to
pearl fisheries and, as late as the 19th century, was considered to be the finest in the world. In 1903, German explorer
Hermann Burchardt visited Bahrain and took many photographs of historical sites, including the old
Qaṣr es-Sheikh, photos now stored at the
Ethnological Museum of Berlin. Before the
First World War, there were about 400 vessels hunting pearls and an annual export of more than £30,000. In 1911, a group of Bahraini merchants demanded restrictions on the British influence in the country. The group's leaders were subsequently arrested and exiled to India. In 1923, the British introduced
administrative reforms and replaced Sheikh Issa bin Ali with his son. Some clerical opponents and families, such as
Al Dosari, left or were exiled to Saudi Arabia. Three years later the British placed the country under the
de facto rule of
Charles Belgrave who operated as an adviser to the ruler until 1957. Belgrave brought a number of reforms such as establishment of the country's first modern school in 1919 and the abolition of
slavery in 1937. At the same time, the pearl diving industry developed at a rapid pace. In 1927,
Rezā Shāh, then
Shah of Iran, demanded sovereignty over Bahrain in a letter to the
League of Nations, a move that prompted Belgrave to undertake harsh measures including encouraging conflicts between
Shia and Sunni Muslims to bring down the uprisings and limit the Iranian influence. Belgrave even went further by suggesting to rename the
Persian Gulf to the "Arabian Gulf"; however, the proposal was refused by the British government. discovered oil in 1932. In the early 1930s, Bahrain Airport was developed.
Imperial Airways flew there, including the
Handley Page HP42 aircraft. Later in the same decade, the Bahrain Maritime Airport was established, for flying boats and seaplanes. Bahrain
participated in the
Second World War on the
Allied side, joining on 10 September 1939. On 19 October 1940, four Italian
SM.82s bombers
bombed Bahrain alongside
Dhahran oilfields in Saudi Arabia, attacking Allied-operated oil refineries. After World War II, increasing sentiments against British occupation spread throughout Arab countries and led to protests in Bahrain. The protests focused on the Jewish community. In 1948, following
rising hostilities and looting, most members of Bahrain's Jewish community abandoned their properties and fled to
Bombay, later settling in Israel (
Pardes Hanna-Karkur) and the United Kingdom. , 37 Jews remained in the country. 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 Britain. Bahrain joined the United Nations and the
Arab League later in the year. The oil boom of the 1970s benefited Bahrain greatly, although the subsequent downturn hurt the economy. 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. In 1981, following the
1979 revolution in Iran, the Bahraini Shia population orchestrated a
failed coup attempt under the auspices of a front organisation, the
Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain. The coup would have installed a Shia cleric exiled in Iran,
Hujjatu l-Islām Hādī al-Mudarrisī, as supreme leader heading a
theocratic government. In December 1994, a group of youths threw stones at female runners for running bare-legged during an international marathon. The resulting clash with police soon grew into civil unrest. A
popular uprising occurred between 1994 and 2000 in which leftists, liberals and fundamentalists joined forces. The event resulted in approximately forty deaths and ended after Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999. He instituted elections for parliament, gave women the right to vote, and released all political prisoners. As part of the adoption of the National Action Charter on 14 February 2002, Bahrain changed its formal name from the State (
dawla) of Bahrain to the Kingdom of Bahrain. At the same time, the title of the Head of State, Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, was changed from Emir to King. The country participated in
military action against the
Taliban in October 2001 by deploying a
frigate in the Arabian Sea for rescue and humanitarian operations. Relations improved with neighbouring
Qatar after the border dispute over the
Hawar Islands was resolved by the
International Court of Justice in
The Hague in 2001. Following the political liberalisation of the country, Bahrain negotiated a
free trade agreement with America in 2004. In 2005,
Qal'at al-Bahrain, a fort and archaeological complex was inscribed as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
2011 Bahraini protests Inspired by the regional
Arab Spring, Bahrain's Shia population
started large protests against its Sunni rulers in early 2011. The government initially allowed
protests following a
pre-dawn raid on protesters camped in
Pearl Roundabout. A month later it requested security assistance from Saudi Arabia and other
Gulf Cooperation Council countries and declared a three-month state of emergency. The government then launched a crackdown on the opposition that included conducting thousands of arrests and
systematic torture. Almost daily clashes between protesters and security forces led to
dozens of deaths. Protests, sometimes staged by opposition parties, were ongoing. More than 80 civilians and 13 policemen have been killed . According to
Physicians for Human Rights, 34 of these deaths were related to government usage of
tear gas originally manufactured by America-based
Federal Laboratories. The lack of coverage by Arab media in the Persian Gulf, as compared to other
Arab Spring uprisings, has sparked several controversies. According to
Amnesty International, "Ten years after Bahrain's popular uprising, systemic injustice has intensified and political repression targeting dissidents, human rights defenders, clerics and independent civil society have effectively shut any space for the peaceful exercise of the right to freedom of expression or peaceful activism". Bahrain remains militarily and financially dependent on Saudi Arabia and the UAE, though this is changing with the economic reforms being implemented by the government.
2026 Iran war On 28 February 2026, the
United States and
Israel launched joint airstrikes on Iran,
killing the supreme leader of Iran and many other Iranian officials, starting a war with the stated goal of
regime change. Iran responded with missile and
drone strikes against Israel and
US bases and US allies in the region, including
Bahrain, which suffered material and civilian casualties. == Geography ==