Bahrain

Bahrain, officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, is a country in the Persian Gulf, Eastern Arabia. The island nation comprises a small archipelago made up of 51 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands, centered around Bahrain Island.

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 convert to Islam, during the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad in 628 CE.

Following a period of Arab rule, Bahrain was ruled by the Portuguese Empire from 1521 until 1602, following the conquest by Shah Abbas I of the Safavid dynasty under the Persian Empire. In 1783, the Bani Utbah clan 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 as the State of Bahrain. Formerly an emirate, Bahrain was declared an Islamic constitutional monarchy in 2002.