The word Barhain means ‘two seas’ in Arabic indicating how the country’s island have played an important role in its history. Bahrain has been one of the Gulf’s most important commercial crossroads for over 4000 years. Around 5000 years ago Bahrain was home to the Bronze Age civilization of Dilmun and then the occupiers alternately followed as Babylonians, Sumerians, Greeks, Persian, Portugese and Turks.
The Dilmun Empire
The dilmuns were incredibly powerful and influential in Bahrain. In 4th century BC, General Nearchus, a recruit in the army of Alexander The Great explored Bahrain when it was ruled by the Greek Tylos.
The Onset Of Christianity And Islam
Bahrain was an established seat of Christian religion prior to and during the early years of Islam. In 640 AD Islam stepped into the Arabian province and Prophet Mohammed invited ruler of Bahrain to adopt islam, Bahrain becoming the first parts of Arabia to accept the new religion.
The Al Khalifa Family
In 14th century the Omanis conquered Bahrain with the Portugese coming incompetence with the Omanis during the 16th century, but unfortunately they were driven out of Bahrain by the Bahrainis itself and invited Persians for safeguarding them. It was in 1783 that the AL Khalifa family arrived from Kuwait and threw out the Persians and ruled over the land benevolently till date making it prosperous with time. The AL Khalifa’s made many agreements with the Bahrainis and the British agrees on many terms, virtually their independence. Staying out of local politics, they protected Bahrain and dominated the pearl market in Bahrain for which Bahrain was famous for and is still. During the mid of 19th century as the pearl market started collapsing due to the invasion of cheap pearls from Japan, Bahrain became the first country to discover oil which resulted in increasing interest of business oriented countries.
Modernization In Bahrain
The Twentieth Century
Shaikh Salman succeeded the throne in 1942, then actually began the modernization process. With the tremendous increase in production of oil and with a boom in the economy Bahrain gained independence on 14th August 1971 and became a member of United Nations and Arab League. The sporadic unrest in 1994 between Qatar and Bahrain over the ownership of Hawar islands disturbed the Bahrain economy accompanied by riots, chaos and bomb blasts. In 2000, the Amir initiated a fresh period of democracy and the country witnessed substantial political reforms. It was for the first time the citizens voted in election with women’s voting for the first time in 2001 resulting in the formation of a bi-cameral Parliament. In 2002, Bahrain became a constitutional monarchy and a democratically elected Parliament was established embarking the beginning of a period of ongoing reforms.
