Flag of the Kingdom of Bahrain Coat of Arms of the Kingdom of Bahrain
Bahrain ( bah-RAYN , ; Arabic : البحرين , romanized : al-Baḥrayn , locally [æl bɑħˈreːn] ⓘ ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , is an island country in West Asia . It is situated on the Persian Gulf , and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands , centered on Bahrain Island which makes up around 83 percent of the country's landmass. Bahrain is situated between Qatar and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia , to which it is connected by the King Fahd Causeway . The population of Bahrain is 1,501,635 as of May 14, 2023, based on elaborations of the United Nations data, of whom 712,362 are Bahraini nationals. Bahrain spans some 760 square kilometres (290 sq mi), and is the third-smallest nation in Asia after the Maldives and Singapore . The capital and largest city is Manama .
Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilization . It has been famed since antiquity for its pearl fisheries , which were considered the best in the world into the 19th century. Bahrain was one of the earliest areas to be influenced by Islam , during the lifetime of Muhammad in 628 AD. Following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was ruled by the Portuguese Empire from 1521 until 1602, when they were expelled by Shah Abbas the Great of the Safavid Iran . In 1783, the Bani Utbah and allied tribes captured Bahrain from Nasr Al-Madhkur and it has since been ruled by the Al Khalifa royal family , with Ahmed al Fateh as Bahrain's first hakim .
In the late 1800s, following successive treaties with the British , Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom. In 1971, it declared independence . Formerly an emirate , Bahrain was declared a constitutional monarchy in 2002.
Bahrain developed the first post-oil economy in the Persian Gulf , the result of decades of investing in the banking and tourism sectors; many of the world's largest financial institutions have a presence in the country's capital. It is recognized by the World Bank as a high-income economy . Bahrain is a member of the United Nations , Non-Aligned Movement , Arab League , Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the Gulf Cooperation Council . Bahrain is a Dialogue partner of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization . (Full article... )
The House of Khalifa (Arabic : آل خليفة , romanized : Āl Khalīfah ) is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain . The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe. Some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which migrated from Najd in central Arabia to Kuwait , then ruled all of Qatar , more specifically Al Zubarah , which they built and ruled over before settling in Bahrain in the early 17th century. The current head of the family is Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa , who became the Emir of Bahrain in 1999 and proclaimed himself King of Bahrain in 2002, in fact becoming a constitutional monarch.
As of 2010, roughly half of the serving
cabinet ministers of Bahrain were members of the Al Khalifa royal family, while the country's
Prime Minister ,
Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa , is also from the Al Khalifa family and is the son of the current King. (
Full article... )
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This is a Good article , an article that meets a core set of high editorial standards. Health workers protest near Salmaniya Medical Complex following reports that paramedic crews and doctors were attacked in the 17 February raid at Pearl Roundabout . The Bahrain health worker trials were a series of legal cases in which forty-eight doctors, nurses, and dentists faced charges for their actions during the Bahraini uprising of 2011 . In September 2011, twenty of the health workers were convicted by a military court of felonies including "stockpiling weapons" and "plotting to overthrow the government". The remaining twenty-eight were charged with misdemeanors and tried separately. The following month, the felony sentences were overturned, and it was announced that the defendants would be retried by a civilian court. Retrials began in March 2012, but were postponed until June 14. Convictions against nine of the defendants were quashed and reduced against another nine. The Court of Cassation upheld the sentences against the remaining nine on 1 October.
The case drew international attention and criticism, with organizations including the
United Nations , the
World Medical Association ,
Médecins Sans Frontières , the
International Council of Nurses ,
Amnesty International , and
Human Rights Watch expressing their concern over the health workers' military trials and sentences. An
independent commission organized by the
King of Bahrain concluded in November 2011 that many of the detained health workers had been subject to torture and abuse while in police detention. (
Full article... )
General images - show another The following are images from various Bahrain-related articles on Wikipedia.
Image 1 The
Tree of Life , a 9.75 meter high
Prosopis cineraria tree that is over 400 years old (from
Bahrain )
Image 2 National Evangelical Church, Manama (from
Bahrain )
Image 3 The new terminal of the Bahrain International Airport (from
Bahrain )
Image 4 Manama seen from
Muharraq (from
Bahrain )
Image 5 Coronation of
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as the Hakim of Bahrain in 1933. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 6 The view from outside one of the entrance gates at the Avenues (from
Bahrain )
Image 8 The
Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa house is an example of traditional architecture in Bahrain. (from
Bahrain )
Image 9 The Shrinathji temple in Manama (from
Bahrain )
Image 10 Greater flamingos (
Phoenicopterus roseus ) are native to Bahrain. (from
Bahrain )
Image 11 The
Bahrain Fort , location of Dilmun artifacts. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 12 An artisan making pottery using the traditional mud and water mixture on a revolving wheel. (from
Bahrain )
Image 13 A 1745
Bellin map of the historical region of Bahrain (from
Bahrain )
Image 14 Location of the
Dilmun burial mounds in Bahrain. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 15 The
Portuguese Fort of Barém , built by the
Portuguese Empire while it ruled Bahrain from 1521 to 1602. (from
Bahrain )
Image 16 Purple –
Portuguese in the Persian Gulf in the 16th and 17th centuries. Main cities, ports and routes. (from
Bahrain )
Image 17 Map of Bahrain in 1825. (from
Bahrain )
Image 18 Bahrainis observing public prayers in Manama (from
Bahrain )
Image 19 Phoenicians man their ships in service to
Assyrian king
Sennacherib , during his war against the
Chaldeans in the
Persian Gulf , ca. 700 BC (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 20 Protesters at the Pearl Roundabout just before it was demolished. (from
Bahrain )
Image 21 Several people held a sit-in in solidarity with human rights activist
Nabeel Rajab (from
Bahrain )
Image 23 The
Persian Empire in the Sassanid era on the eve of the Arab conquest, c. 600 AD. (from
Bahrain )
Image 24 The cities of
Muharraq (
foreground ) and
Manama (background) (from
Bahrain )
Image 25 Map showing the locations of the
ancient burial mounds . There are an estimated 350,000 burial mounds. (from
Bahrain )
Image 26 Facsimile of a letter sent by
Muhammad to
Munzir ibn-Sawa al-Tamimi , governor of Bahrain, in AD 628 (from
Bahrain )
Image 27 The Khamis Mosque in 1956. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 28 Facsimile of the letter written by
Muhammed to the ruler of Bahrain. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 30 Manama souq in 1965 (from
Bahrain )
Image 31 Al-Hidaya Al-Khalifia Boys school. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 34 The
King Fahd Causeway as seen from space (from
Bahrain )
Image 35 A photograph of the First Oil Well in Bahrain, with oil first being extracted in 1931 (from
Bahrain )
Image 36 Bahraini protests against the ruling Al Khalifa family in 2011 (from
Bahrain )
Image 37 A view of Arad Fort (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 38 Map of
Manama in 1926. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 39 Manama Harbour, c. 1870 (from
Bahrain )
Image 40 Inside Riffa Fort (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 41 Overview of Manama, 1953. (from
Bahrain )
Image 42 Manama skyline as viewed from
Juffair (from
Bahrain )
Image 44 GDP per capita development in Bahrain (from
Bahrain )
Image 45 King
Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa meets former U.S. President
Donald Trump , May 2017 (from
Bahrain )
Image 46 Female students at the
University of Bahrain dressed in traditional garb (from
Bahrain )
Image 47 Manama Souq on Bahrain National Day (from
Bahrain )
Image 48 The Sasanian Empire at its greatest extent c. 620, under
Khosrow II (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 49 Mixed Martial Arts hosted by BRAVE Combat Federation event in Bahrain (from
Bahrain )
Image 50 Over 100,000 of Bahrainis taking part in the "
March of Loyalty to Martyrs ", honoring political dissidents killed by security forces, on 22 February. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 51 A view of the Grand Avenue section of the Avenues (from
Bahrain )
Image 52 The Bahrain national football team playing
Australia on June 10, 2009, in a World Cup qualifier (from
Bahrain )
Image 53 Topography (from
Bahrain )
Image 54 The emir
Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa heads the opening session of the first conference on the formation of a union of the Gulf emirates in February 1968. (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 55 Bahrain is the eleventh most water stressed country in the world. (from
Bahrain )
Image 56 Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the King of Bahrain (from
Bahrain )
Image 57 This photograph shows the coronation of Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as the Hakim of Bahrain in February 1933. (from
Bahrain )
Image 58 The proposed
federation of Arab emirates (from
History of Bahrain )
Image 59 The podium ceremony at the
2007 Bahrain Grand Prix (from
Bahrain )
More Did you know (auto-generated) ... that the 2021 film West Side Story was banned in the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, and Bahrain, likely due to the transgender character Anybodys? ... that Tala Bashmi played on the Bahrain women's national football team for seven years before opening a restaurant in a Manama hotel? ... that infectious diseases specialist Jameela Al Salman has supported the development of medical robots and called their use in Bahrain a "pioneering experiment"? ... that as part of Bahrainization , the Bahraini government prohibited foreigners from driving taxis? ... that Bahraini businesswoman Yara Salman founded a beauty salon, a medical center, an entertainment complex, and a restaurant in the past decade?
Early history 19th century 20th century 21st century
Settlements in
Sitra , Bahrain
Official language Semiofficial language Minority languages Sign languages
Schedule Charter Cargo Defunct
American system British system French system French International School of Bahrain Indian system Japanese system Pakistani system International Baccalaureate system Naseem International School Other systems
Americas Asia Europe Multilateral relations Diplomatic missions
Diplomatic posts Diplomacy Military relations
Summer Olympic Sports Aquatics Diving Swimming Synchronized Swimming Water Polo Archery Athletics Badminton Basketball Boxing Canoeing Cycling Equestrian Fencing Field Hockey Football Golf Gymnastics Handball Judo Modern Pentathlon Rugby 7's Rowing Sailing Shooting Table Tennis Taekwondo Tennis Triathlon Volleyball Weightlifting Wrestling Winter Olympic Sports Biathlon Bobsleigh Curling Skating (Figure, Speed & Short Track) Ice Hockey Luge Skeleton Skiing (Alpine, Cross Country, Nordic Combined, Freestyle & Jumping) Snowboarding Other IOC Recognised Sports Air sports Auto racing Bandy Baseball Billiard Sports Boules Bowling Bridge Chess Cricket Dance sport Floorball Karate Korfball Lifesaving Motorcycle racing Mountaineering and Climbing Netball Orienteering Pelota Vasca Polo Powerboating Racquetball Roller sports Rugby Softball Sport climbing Squash Sumo Surfing Tug of war Underwater sports Water Ski Wushu Paralympics and Disabled Sports Others Sports
General Venues Statistics Players Asian Cup Finals Other tournaments Notable matches Noted rivalries Other teams
Bahrain AFC Asian Cup finalists
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Group stage
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Quarter-finals Group stage
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Quarter-finals Group stage
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Quarter-finals Group stage
Champions Runners-up Third place Fourth place Quarter-finals Group stage
Champions Runners-up Semi-finals Quarter-finals Round of 16 Group stage
Seasons Clubs
Associated competitions