History

Bahrain was a flourishing trade centre in 2000-1800 BC. It was ruled by Iran from 1602 until the Iranian rulers were ousted in 1783 by the al-Khalifa family, who still rule to this day. Political control of Bahrain was held by Britain from 1820 to 1971, when Bahrain gained independence and Isa Bin Salman became Emir. On his death in 1999 he was succeeded by his son, Hamad Bin Isa. Following a referendum on political reform in 2001, the country became a constitutional monarchy and the Emir adopted the title of King. Elections to a new legislative assembly were held in 2002.

Early History

The history of Bahrain goes back more than 5,000 years to its role as the centre of the ancient civilisation of Dilmun, which dominated the trade routes between Sumer and the Indus Valley.

In the first century AD, Bahrain was referred to by the Greeks as 'Tylos', the centre of pearl trading, when Nearchus came to discover it serving under Alexander the Great. The town of Muharraq was referred to as 'Arados'.

While Bahrain was never incorporated into the Roman Empire it did become a centre for Christianity: church records show that Bahrain was the seat of two of the five Nestorian bishoprics existing on the Arabian side of the Gulf at the time of the arrival of Islam. It is uncertain when the two bishoprics were dissolved though they are known to have survived until 835. Nestorian Christianity left its traces in Muharraq, and Christian names, like the village of Dair (parish), Samahij (the name of a bishop) remain until today. Muharraq was also the centre of the worship for the cult of Awal, and between the end of Tylos and the arrival of Islam, Bahrain was known by this term.

6th Century: The Arrival of Islam

During the emergence of Islam in the sixth century (until early in the sixteenth century) Bahrain referred to the wider historical region of Bahrain stretching on the Persian Gulf coast from Basrah to the Strait of Hormuz. This larger Bahrain comprised three regions: Hajar (present day Al-Hasa in Saudi Arabia), Al-Khatt (present day Al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia) and Awal (present day Bahrain). The name Awal remained in use, probably, for eight centuries. Awal was derived from the name of an idol that used to be worshipped before Islam by the inhabitants of the islands. The centre of the Awal cult was Muharraq.

Bahrainis were amongst the first to embrace Islam. Al Khamis Mosque, founded in 692, was one of the earliest mosques built in Bahrain, in the era of Umayyad caliph Umar II.

The expansion of Islam did not affect Bahrain's reliance on trade, and its prosperity continued to be dependent on markets in Mesopotamia. After Baghdad emerged as the seat of the caliph in 750 and the main centre of Islamic civilisation, Bahrain greatly benefited from the city's increased demand for foreign goods especially from China and South Asia.

Bahrain became a principal centre of knowledge for hundreds of years stretching from the early days of Islam in the sixth century to the eighteenth century. Philosophers of Bahrain were highly esteemed, such as the 13th Century mystic, Sheikh Maitham Al-Bahrani (died in 1299).

9th-10th Century: Qarmatians

In the end of the 9th century, Abu Sa'id al-Hasan al-Janaby led the Revolution of al-Qaramita, a rebellion by an extremist Ismaili sect originating in Baghdad. Al-Janaby took over the city of Hajr, Bahrain's capital in that time, in addition to al-Hasa, which he made the capital of his nation and sought to create a utopian society.

The Qarmatians' goal in Bahrain was to build a society based on reason, tolerance and equality. All property within the community was distributed evenly among all initiates. The Qarmatians (also spelled 'Carmathians') were organised as an esoteric society but not as a secret one. Their activities were public and openly propagated, but new member had to undergo an initiation ceremony involving seven stages, similar to the system of Mithraism. The Qarmatian world view was one where every phenomenon repeated itself in cycles, where every incident was replayed over and over again.

From Bahrain, the Qarmatians raided Baghdad and sacked Mecca and Medina in 930. The sacking of Islam's holiest sites saw the Qarmatians desecrate the Well of Zamzam with corpses of Hajj pilgrims and take the Black Stone from Mecca to Bahrain. The sack of Mecca followed millenarian excitement among the Qarmatians (as well as in Persia) over the conjunction of Saturn and Jupiter in 928. Bahrain became the seat of the Qarmatian Mahdi-Caliph from Isfahan who abolished Sharia law. The new Mahdi also changed the qibla of prayer from Mecca to that of fire, a specifically Zoroastrian practice.

For much of the 10th century the Bahraini Ismailis were the most powerful force in the Gulf and Middle East, controlling the coast of Oman. They were eventually defeated in battle in 976 by the Abbasids, which precipitated the waning of Qarmatian power and by the 12th century the Ismailis had virtually disappeared from the entire Gulf.

In the 12th century, Genghis Khan, the Emperor of Mongol Empire took over Bahrain. It was taken over by Hulagu Khan around a hundred years later. When Hulagu died, Bahrain was liberated from the Mongol Empire.

16th Century: Portuguese Influence

Portuguese expansion into the Indian Ocean in the early sixteenth century following Vasco da Gama's voyages of exploration saw them battle the Ottomans up the coast of the Persian Gulf. Reputedly, the first Portuguese traveller to visit Bahrain was Duarte Barbosa in 1485.

In 1521, a Portuguese force led by Commander Antonio Correia invaded Bahrain to take control of the wealth created by its pearl industry. The defeated King Muqrin was beheaded after Correia defeated his forces near present day Karbabad and took control of the fort 'Qala'at Al-Bahrain'. The bleeding head of King Muqrin was later depicted on the Coat of Arms of Antonio Correia.

17th Century: Persian Influence

The Portuguese ruled through brutal force against the inhabitants for eighty years, until they were driven out of the island in 1602, when an uprising was sparked by the governor's order of the execution of the island's richest traders. The uprising coincided with regional disputes between the Portuguese and rival European powers. The power vacuum that resulted was almost immediately filled by the Persian ruler, Shah Abbas I, whose general Allahverdi Khan invaded the island and subsumed it within the Safavid Empire.

18th Century: The Al Khalifa

In 1783, the Al Khalifa clan (of the Bani Utub tribe) invaded and captured Bahrain from their base in Zubara in neighbouring Qatar. The leader of the clan at the time was Ahmad ibn Mohammed Al Khalifa who is now referred to as Ahmed Al Fateh (Ahmed the Conqueror). In 1799, the Al Khalifa were evicted from Bahrain to be replaced first by the rule of the Sultanate of Oman and then the Wahhabis. The Al Khalifa regained control of the country in 1811 when they launched another attack from Zubara With Baluch's (Al Bloush).

19th-20th Century: British Influence

In 1820, the Al Khalifa signed the General Treaty of Peace with the British, agreeing not to engage in piracy unless they were in a state of war. A binding treaty of protection, known as the Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship, was concluded in 1861, ushering in the period of colonialism in Bahrain, and was further revised in 1892 and 1951. This treaty was similar to those entered into by the British Government with the other Persian Gulf principalities. It specified that the ruler could not dispose of any of his territory except to the United Kingdom and could not enter into relationships with any foreign government without British consent. In return the British promised to protect Bahrain from all aggression by sea and to lend support in case of land attack. More importantly, the treaty the British promised to support the rule of the Al Khalifa in Bahrain, securing its unstable position as rulers of the country.

Bahrain underwent a period of major social reform between 1926 and 1957, under the de facto rule of Charles Belgrave, the British advisor to Shaikh Hamad ibn Isa Al-Khalifa (1872-1942). The country's first modern school was established in 1919, with the opening of the Al-Hiddaya Boys School, while the Persian Gulf's first girls school opened in 1928. The American Mission Hospital, established by the Dutch Reform Church, began work in 1903. Other reforms include the abolition of slavery, while the pearl diving industry developed at a rapid pace.

These reforms were often opposed vigorously by powerful groups within Bahrain including sections within the ruling family, tribal forces, the religious authorities and merchants. In order to counter conservatives, the British removed the Emir, Isa bin Ali Al Khalifa, replacing him with his son in 1923. Some Sunni tribes such as the al Dossari were forcibly removed from Bahrain and sent to mainland Arabia, while clerical opponents of social reforms were exiled to Saudi and Iran, and the heads of some merchant and notable families were likewise exiled.

1932: The Discovery of Oil

The discovery of oil in 1932 made Bahrain the first location in the Persian Gulf to have oil wells sunk. Oil production required thousands of workers, attracting peasants as well as enfranchised slaves who had become free men thanks to the end of slavery and debt bondage. As the first oil wells were being drilled, the pearl diving industry, hitherto the main source of income for the country, collapsed because of competition from cultured pearls produced in Japan. This provided a further pool of labour needed by the new oil industry.

1939-1945: World War II

During the Second World War, Bahrain fought on the side of the Allies, declaring war on Germany on September 10, 1939. It was a key base for the allies to safeguard oil supplies in the Gulf and was the subject of Italian air raids on its oil refineries on October 20, 1940 from bases in East Africa.

1950s and 1960s: Leftist Movement

The National Union Committee (NUC), a Leftist Nationalist movement associated with the labour unions, was formed in 1954 calling for the end of British interference and political reforms. Work sites were plagued with frequent strikes and occasional riots (including several fatalities) during this period. Following riots in support of Egypt defending itself against the tripartite invasion during 1956 Suez Crisis, the British decided to put an end to the NUC challenge to their presence in Bahrain. The NUC and its offshoots were declared illegal. Its leaders were arrested, tried and imprisoned. Some fled the country while others were forcibly deported.

Strikes and riots continued during the 1960s, now under the leadership of underground cells of the NUC, namely the Communist National Liberation Front and the Bahraini section of the Arab Nationalist Movement.

1971: Independence

After World War II, Bahrain became the centre for British administration of the lower Persian Gulf. In 1968, when the British Government announced its decision to end the treaty relationships with the Gulf sheikdoms, Bahrain joined with Qatar and the seven Trucial States (which now form the United Arab Emirates) under British protection in an effort to form a union of Arab emirates. By mid-1971, however, the nine sheikhdoms still had not agreed on the terms of union. Accordingly, Bahrain sought independence as a separate entity and became fully independent on August 15, 1971, as the State of Bahrain.

The emirate emerged just as the price of oil sky rocketed after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war; while Bahrain's own reserves were being depleted the high oil price meant there was massive capitalisation in the Kingdom's neighbours. The Kingdom was able to exploit this new to attract massive inward investment thanks to another war in the Levant in 1975: the Lebanese civil war. Beirut had long been the financial centre of the Arab world, but the outbreak of hostilities in the country had an immediate impact on the banking industry. Bahrain offered a new location at the centre of the booming Gulf with a large educated indigenous workforce and sound fiscal regulations. Exploiting this opportunity saw a massive growth in the industry in the country, and bolstered the development of the middle class, and thus giving Bahrain a very different class structure to its tribal dominated neighbours.

Based on its new constitution, Bahraini men elected its first National Assembly in 1973 (although Article 43 of the 1973 Constitution states that the Assembly is to be elected by 'universal suffrage', the conditional clause 'in accordance with the provisions of the electoral law' allowed the regime to prevent women from participating). Although the Assembly and the then emir Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa quarrelled over a number of issues: foreign policy; the US naval presence, and the budget, the biggest clash came over the State Security Law (SSL). The Assembly refused to ratify the government-sponsored law, which allowed, among other things, the arrest and detention of people for up to three years, (renewable) without a trial. The legislative stalemate over this act created a public crisis, and on August 25, 1975, the emir dissolved the Assembly. The emir then ratified the State Security Law by decree, and suspended those articles in the constitution dealing with the legislative powers of the Assembly. In that same year, the emir established the State Security Court, whose judgments were not subject to appeal.

1980's and 1990's: Social and Political Change

The prelude and aftermath of the Iranian Revolution in 1979 encouraged Shia Islamist dissent across the Middle East. Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran immediately saw their co-religionists in Bahrain, who had grown more conscious of their own religious identity during this period, as prime agents to export the revolution. The failure of the Left to offer a political or philosophical challenge to the Islamists allowed them quickly to dominate the avenues of dissent.

In 1981, an Iranian front organisation, the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain attempted a coup d'etat with the plan involving the assassination of Bahrain's leadership and an Islamist uprsing. The aim was to install a clerical leadership with Iraqi cleric Hadi al-Mudarrisi as supreme leader, but the coup was detected after a tip off from an intelligence source.

The failed coup along with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq War led to the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council which Bahrain joined with Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. The sense of regional uncertainty was further heightened when Saddam Hussein's Iraq invaded Kuwait followed by the 1991 Gulf War.

Years of political stasis combined with the collapse of the price of oil, saw growing frustration at the lack of democracy explode into an uprising in 1994. While previous advocacy of reforms had been secular in character, the uprising was specifically Islamist, beginning with the stoning of the leading team in the Bahrain Marathon Relay race after they ran along a road alongside a conservative village. Women's participation in the race had been cited as immoral by conservative clerics in the run up to the race, and a large group were amassed on one of the race hand over stages demonstrating, when one of the SAAD Track Club team passed the demonstrators, the runner was attacked and knocked to the ground.

The uprising, led by London based Islamist group, the Bahrain Freedom Movement, was characterised by riots, stoning and bomb attacks, which targeted the government, the middle classes, third world immigrants and liberals. According to Egyptian liberal journalist Adel Darwish: "'Interviews with BFM leaders leave little doubt about the totalitarian nature of their type of Islamic fundamentalist ideology. Their final aim is to declare an Iranian-style Islamic republic".

The political impasse continued over the next few years during which time the regime dealt with its opponents using severe repression. Bomb attacks and police brutality marked this period in which over forty people were killed in violence between the two sides. Although the violence was never entirely stopped by the security measures it was contained and continued as low level intermittent disturbances.

1999 - Present: King Hamad

In 1999, Shaykh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became Amir after the death of his father, Shaykh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, and carried out wide ranging social and political reforms, described by Amnesty International as representing an 'historic period for human rights'. King Hamad ended the political repression that had defined the 1990s by scrapping security laws, releasing all political prisoners, instituting elections, giving women the vote and promising a return to constitutional rule. The move brought an end to political violence, but did not initially bring about a reconciliation between the government and most of the opposition groups.

The invitation to Bahrain's former exiles to return home revitalised the Kingdom's politics. Exiled leaders included a number of London based Islamists including Dr Majid Al Alawi who became Minister of Labour, Dr Mansur Al Jamri who became editor of the new opposition daily, Al Wasat, and Sheikh Ali Salman who became head of the newly established Shia Islamist Al Wefaq, Bahrain's largest political group. Former Leftist dissidents formed the National Democratic Action, the Communist Democratic Bloc and the Bahrain Human Rights Society. Leftists were also involved in the new trade union movement, although they faced competition from Islamists for control of several unions.

The country participated in military action against the Taliban in 2001 with its ships patrolling the Arabian Sea searching for vessels, but opposed the invasion of Iraq. 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. The two are now building the Qatar-Bahrain Friendship Bridge to link the countries across the Persian Gulf, which will be the longest fixed link bridge in the world when completed.

In 2001, Hamad put forward the National Action Charter which would return the country to constitutional rule. However the opposition was opposed to the Charter's call for an amendment to the 1973 Constitution, changing the legislature from unicameral to bicameral. The Charter stated that "the legislature will consist of two chambers, namely one that is constituted through free, direct elections whose mandate will be to enact laws, and a second one that would have people with experience and expertise who would give advice as necessary". The opposition groups deemed this statement to be too ambiguous, and remained opposed to the Charter.

Hamad responded by holding a highly publicised meeting with the spiritual leaders of the Shia Islamist opposition. He signed a document clarifying that the only the elected lower house of the parliament would have legislative power, while the appointed upper house would have a strictly advisory role. Upon this assurance, the main opposition groups accepted the Charter and called for a 'Yes' vote in the national referendum. The Charter was accepted in the 2001 referendum with a 98.4% 'Yes' vote.

However, the following year, Hamad promulgated the 2002 Constitution in which both the elected and the royally-appointed chambers of parliament were given equal legislative powers, going back on his public promise of 2001. As a result, the parliamentary elections held later that year were boycotted by a group of four political societies:

• Al Wefaq, a Shia Islamist group, thought to be the most popular political society in the country
• Islamic Action Society, a marginal Shia Islamist society
• National Democratic Action, the largest Leftist political society
• Nationalist Democratic Rally Society, a marginal Arab Nationalist society

Between 2002 and 2006, the four boycotting societies continued their demand for discussions on constitutional reforms. By 2006, the four groups indicated that they would participate in the parliamentary elections, but retain their demand for constitutional reform at the top of their agenda.