History of Bahrain

From Free net encyclopedia

1 The Dilmun Era
2 The arrival of Islam
3 al-Qaramita and the Mongols
4 Portuguese invasions and Persian influence
5 The Al Khalifa and the British Treaties
6 Independence and the constitutional experiment
7 The Iranian Revolution and social and political change
8 King Hamad and his reforms
9 See also
10 References
11 External links

The Dilmun Era

The history of Bahrain goes back more than five thousand years to its role as the centre of the ancient civilisation of Dilmun, which dominated the trade routes between Sumeria and the Indus Valley. For the history of Bahrain until the arrival of Islam in the 7th century, see Dilmun.

In the first century AD, Bahrain was referred to by the Greeks as "Tylos", the centre of pearls trading, when Nearchus came to discover it serving under Alexander the Great. The town of Muharraq was referred to as "Arados" (now there is "Arad" in Muharraq). In the 4th century AD, Bahrain was annexed to the Sassanian Empire (now Persia). Nestorian Christianity left its traces in Muharraq,and Christian names, like the village of Dair (ie parish), Samahij (used to be the name of a bishop) remain until today.

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The arrival of Islam

During the emergence of Islam in the sixth century (until early in the sixteenth century) Bahrain included a wider region stretching on the Persian Gulf coast from Basrah to the Strait of Hormuz. This was "Iqleem Al-Bahrain", ie Province of Bahrain, and the Arab inhabitants of the province were all called Baharnah, descendants of the Arab tribe Bani Abd al-Qais. The then Bahrain comprised three regions: Hajar (nowadays Al-Ahsa in Saudi Arabia), Al-Khatt (nowadays Al-Qatif in Saudi Arabia) and Awal (nowadays 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.

Bahrainis were amongst the first to embrace Islam. Mohammed ruled Bahrain through one of his representatives, Al-Ala'a Al-Hadhrami. Bahraini embraced Islam in 629 (the seventh year of hijra). Al Khamis Mosque was one of the earliest mosques built in Bahrain, in the era of Umayyad caliph Umar II.

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). (The mosque of Sheikh Maitham together with his tomb can be visited in the outskirts of the Capital, Manama, near the district of Mahooz).

The Arabian navigator, Ahmad Bin Majid, visited Bahrain in 1489 and gave a contemporary account of the country: "In Awal (Bahrain) there are 360 villages and sweet water can be found in a number of places. A most wonderful al-Qasasir, where a man can dive into the salt sea with a skin and can fill it with fresh water while he is submerged in the salt water. Around Bahrain are pearl fisheries and a number of islands all of which have pearl fisheries and connected with this trade are 1,000 ships".

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al-Qaramita and the Mongols

In the end of the third Hijri century, Abu Sa'id al-Hasan al-Janaby led the Revolution of al-Qaramita. He 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. al-Qaramita continued their battle against the Abbasid, until their defeat in 976.

In the sixth hijri 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.

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Portuguese invasions and Persian 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. 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.

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 coincided with regional dispute between the Portuguese and rival European powers. The power vacuum that resulted was almost immediately filled by the Persian ruler, Shah Abbas I, who invaded the island and subsumed it with the Safavid Empire.

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The Al Khalifa and the British Treaties

In 1783, the Al Khalifa clan (of the Bani Utub tribe) returned Bahrain to Arab rule for the first time in almost three hundred years when they captured Bahrain from their base in Zubara in neighbouring Qatar. The leader of the clan at the time was Ahmad ibn Khalifah 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.

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, which was further strengthened 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.

The relationship between Bahrain and Britain resulted in a period of major social reform, which meant that until the 1970s Bahrain was the most developed Persian Gulf state. The country's first 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.

The discovery of oil in 1932 made Bahrain the first location in the Persian Gulf to see oil wells were sunk. Oil production required thousands of educated workers, which prompted the emergence of an indigenous working class and the Leftist politics they adopted was to have important repercussions for the development of Bahraini society over the next fifty years.

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Independence and the constitutional experiment

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 Persian 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 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 political structure following independence saw men-only elections for the legislature, the National Assembly, whose members were comprised of elected MPs and appointed cabinet ministers who had equal legislative powers. In frustration at the unwillingness of MPs to pass government legislation, the emir abolished parliament and announced rule by decree. Plentiful oil revenues and growing public spending which allowed the government to pacify the situation and marginalise opponents.

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The Iranian Revolution and social and political change

The tide of political Islam that swept the Middle East in the 1970s culminating in the Iranian Revolution in 1979 was to have profound implications for Bahrain's social and political development.

There were a number of factors that had caused Bahrain to be more liberal than its neighbours, but all of these were challenged by the zeitgeist of religious fundamentalism. Bahrain's pluralist traditions were to a large extent a result of the complex confessional and demographic make up of the state, which required Shias, Sunnis, Persianized Arabs, Persians and a plethora of minority faiths to live and work together; this tolerance had been buttressed by the prominence of Arab nationalism and Marxism as the main modes of dissent, both of which were socially progressive and downplayed religious affiliations; while the country's traditional dependence on trade further encouraged openness.

Even before Iran's Revolution in 1979, there was a noticeable conservative trend growing, with the traditional abaya being donned by women in preference to the then popular mini-skirt. But it was the political earthquake represented by the Shah's fall that changed the dynamics of Bahrain's politics. 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 Hādī al-Mudarrisī as supreme leader, but the coup was detected after a tip off from a friendly 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 female competitors in a marathon race for wearing 'inappropriate' clothing. Until 1998, Bahrain was hit by riots and bomb attacks, while the police responded with heavy handed tactics. In all over forty people were killed. (For more details see Adel Darwish in the Middle East Review of International Affairs).

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King Hamad and his reforms

In 1999 Shaykh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa became Amir after the death of his father, Shaykh Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa. King Hamad ended the political repression that had defined the 1990s by scrapping security laws, releasing all political prisoners, and holding elections for a new parliament. The move brought an end to political violence, but did not initially at least bring about a reconciliation between the government and a coalition of Shia Islamists, pro-Saddam Hussein Baathists and former Maoists who refused to participate in 2002's general election. Although all four parties have now indicated that they will take part in 2006's general election, offering the prospect of a new framework based on the politics of consensus.

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References

This article contains material from the CIA World Factbook which, as a US government publication, is in the public domain. 2000
Template:StateDept 2003
Voice of Bahrain (put by Alsalman)
Mahdi Abdalla Al-Tajir (1987). Bahrain, 1920-1945: Britain, the Shaikh, and the Administration. ISBN 0709951221
Talal Toufic Farah (1986). Protection and Politics in Bahrain, 1869-1915 ISBN 081566074X
Emile A Nakhleh (1976). Bahrain: Political development in a modernizing society. ISBN 0669004545
Andrew Wheatcroft (1995). The Life and Times of Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa : Ruler of Bahrain 1942-1961. ISBN 0710304951
Fuad Ishaq Khuri (1980). Tribe and state in Bahrain: The transformation of social and political authority in an Arab state. ISBN 0226434737
Fred H. Lawson (1989). Bahrain: The Modernization of Autocracy. ISBN 0813301238
Mohammed Ghanim Al-Rumaihi (1975). Bahrain: A study on social and political changes since the First World War. University of Kuwait.
Fakhro, Munira A. 1997. “The Uprising in Bahrain: An Assessment.” In The Persian Gulf at the Millennium: Essays in Politics, Economy, Security, and Religion, eds. Gary G. Sick and Lawrence G. Potter: 167-88. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0312175671
Abdulla, Khalid M. 1999. “The State in Oil Rentier Economies: The Case of Bahrain.” In Change and Development in the Gulf, ed. Abbas Abdelkarim: 51-78. New York: St. Martin’s Press. ISBN 0312216580