Bahrain history
Ancient history, Dilmun
Bahrain has been populated since prehistoric times. Its strategic position in the Persian Gulf has meant that it was controlled and influenced by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians and finally by the Arabs, who converted its inhabitants to Islam. Bahrain was known in ancient times as Dilmun, Tylos (name given by the Greeks), Awal or Mishmahig when it was part of the Persian Empire. Dilmun was an "entrepot" trade on the Mesopotamia-India route, as shown by some Mesopotamian documents, especially one from King Ur-Nashe of Sumer himself, dated 2250 BC. C. However, the location of Dilmun is not confirmed. It could be Bahrain, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Oman, or even the Iranian coast. The last Babylonian documents on Dilmun are dated to 538 BC. c.
The Persian Empire
Later, between the 6th and 3rd centuries BC. C., Bahrain was part of the Persian Empire under the crown of the Achaemenid Dynasty. After them it would continue within the same empire, under the Parthian and Sasanian dynasties, until the arrival of Islam in the VII century of our era. The Parthians controlled the Persian Gulf as far as Oman by 130 B.C. C. They installed several bases, including Bahrain, to continue to control trade routes.
In the 3rd century century the Sasanian Dynasty seized the Persian throne. But in Bahrain its Parthian governor Sanatruq did not accept subjugation to the new ruling family. King Ardashir personally led the victory over the rebels in Bahrain and Oman and placed his son Shapur I as governor. The new southern province of the Sassanids was subdivided into three districts: Haggar (now Al-Haluf Saudi province), Batan Ardashir (now Al-Qatif Saudi province) and Mishmahig (now Bahrain).
Islam
Islam emerged in the 7th century century, and since then Bahrayn has referred to a province that runs along the coast Persian from Basra (in present-day Iraq) to the Strait of Hormuz, and which includes present-day Bahrain. Bahrain embraced the Islamist faith very early, in 629. The Prophet Muhammad ruled the islands through his representative Al-Ala & # 39;a Al-Hadhrami. The Al-Khamis Mosque, built in 692, in the era of the Umayyad Caliph Umar II, was one of the first in Bahrayn. The arrival of Islam did not change commercial prosperity, which was even bolstered when Baghdad emerged as the seat of the caliphate in 750, since the current capital of Iraq was a major customer for sumptuous goods from China and South Asia. Bahrain became an important cultural focus for hundreds of years, some of its philosophers being very important, such as Maitham Al Bahrani (died 1299) and whose tomb can be visited in Mahooz (Manama district).
The Karmatians
Between the years 894 and 977 the islands were under the rule of the Carmatians, a radical Ismaili movement originating in the Iraqi city of Kufa that subjected Iraq and Syria to terror and even massacred the population of Mecca. Its leader, Abu Said Al-Janaby, took Al-Hasa, the then capital, and from there created the Carmatian Republic, a political expression of his utopian society based on reason and equality. The state was governed by a council of six members, one of whom was the head. All the properties were distributed among all the "initiated" (after a ceremony organized in seven phases) of this society organized as an esoteric entity. From Bahrain they launched attacks on the Arabian peninsula. In one of them they killed twenty thousand pilgrims. They almost captured Baghdad in 923. In 930 they sacked Mecca, taking the Black Stone to Bahrain. Bahrain became the capital of the Mahdi Caliphate, extended from Isfahan, in which the Sharia was abolished and Zoroastrian religious practices were introduced, which has led many historians to consider them enemies of Islam. For much of the X century they were the dominant state of the Persian Gulf, and in fact the Abbasid Caliphate paid tribute to the Carmatians, which already controlled the coast of Oman, and consequently the outlet of the Gulf.
In 976 they were defeated by the Abbasids. Its subsequent weakening was taken advantage of by Abul-Bahlul al-'Awwam and Abu'l-Walid Muslim, two Shiites from the Abd al-Qays tribe, to launch a coup that installed the dynasty in power. Uyúnida from the aforementioned Shiite Arab tribe.
The Uyúnids, the Usfurids, the Jarwanids and the Jabrids
This dynasty ruled between 1076 and 1235. In that year the Persian ruler of Fars briefly and partially occupied the islands, until in 1253 the Usfurid dynasty came to power. This was a Bedouin tribe from Arabia who controlled the Arabian East. In 1330 they became tributaries of the Persian Kingdom of Hormuz, although a local Shiite dynasty, the Jarwanids (based in the Saudi coastal city of Qatif) acted as a proxy. In the mid 15th century century, another Bedouin dynasty seized control of the eastern Saudi sector, including Bahrain, the Jabrids, based in Al-Ahsa.
Dependence on foreign powers
They were occupied by Portugal in 1507. In the period from 1602 to 1783 they came under the dependence of Persia as a territory with a semi-autonomous government. In 1783 it was ruled by the Arab dynasty of the al Khalifa, a Sunni family that still runs Bahrain today, already as an independent jecat separated from Persia.
At the beginning of the 19th century the Sultan of Oman, Sayyid, invaded Bahrain, placing his son Salim as governor in Arad fort. In 1820 the Al Khalifa family was recognized by the United Kingdom as legitimate ruler after the signing of a commercial treaty, with which the British entrenched control of the islands. In 1860 the Khalifas used the same tactic to get rid of the growing British influence, signing a similar but more advantageous agreement with the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Empire.
Due to Persia's claims to recapture the islands, it was submitted in 1861 under a British protectorate, in exchange for protection and was ratified according to the Treaties of 1880, 1892 and 1913. Even so, Iran claimed possession of the archipelago for itself, although it renounced its claims in 1970 and 1980. After the War between Qatar and Bahrain in 1868, the British took advantage of the country's weakness to tighten the conditions of the protection treaty: the Khalifas had to sign a treaty according to which any relationship of Bahrain with third countries would have to be accepted by the UK. In exchange they guaranteed protection and military support. The disenchantment of the population came in 1892, when the British went from protectors to total rulers. In March 1895 the first revolt against Sheikh Issa Bin Ali took place. The revolt ended with several protesters being killed by British troops.
Road to independence
In 1932, oil drilling began in the area. In the 1950s, nationalist vindication movements that demanded independence began to emerge.
In 1968, Bahrain joined the Federation of the United Arab Emirates, although three years later it decided to become independent, on August 15, 1971, keeping the al Khalifa dynasty at the head of the State, and the sheikh assumes the title of emir. That same month, a friendship treaty was signed with Great Britain, which withdrew its troops from the region, and in December a new treaty was signed with the United States, in which the American navy obtained permission to settle in the al-Jufayr naval base.
In June 1973, a new constitution was promulgated which led to the election of the first democratic parliament elected by universal suffrage in December. But, after a conflict broke out between the assembly and Emir Isa bin Sulman al Khalifa just a year later, the national assembly was dissolved and several dozen members of the opposition were arrested. The constitution was suspended and all powers were assumed by the emir Isa bin Sulman al Khalifa. In 1977 the United States evacuated the al-Jufayr naval base.
Influence of the Islamic Revolution in Iran
The Iranian revolution had repercussions in the country in the 1980s due to the effect that a Sunni power produced on a majority Shiite population. As a consequence of this fact, in 1981 the clandestine Front for National Liberation was created and Iran claimed, again, some of the islands of the emirate. Bahrain will then sign a defense agreement with Saudi Arabia and will join the Gulf Cooperation Council.
There were a number of factors that have caused Bahrain to be more liberal than its neighbors, but all of these have been challenged by the zeitgeist of religious fundamentalism. Bahrain's pluralistic traditions were largely a result of the confessional complexity and demographic composition of the state, Shiites, Sunnis, South Persians (ie Huwala and Ajams) and a plethora of minority religions. Living and working together was the norm. The presence of Arab nationalism and Marxism and the dependence on foreign trade supported this freedom.
Even before the Iranian revolution in 1979, there was a noticeably growing conservative trend, with the traditional abaya taking over among women over the then-popular mini-skirt. But it was the political earthquake represented by the fall of the Shah of Persia that changed the dynamics of Bahrain's politics. The prelude to and aftermath of the 1979 Iranian revolution fueled Shiite Islamist dissent throughout the Middle East. Ayatollah Khomeini's Iran immediately saw his co-religionists in Bahrain, who had become more conscious of their own religious identity during this period, as the main agents of exporting the revolution. The failure of the left to offer a political or philosophical challenge to the Islamists quickly allowed the Islamist ideologues to dominate.
In 1981, a pro-Iranian organization, the Islamic Front for the Liberation of Bahrain attempted a coup with the plan involving the assassination of Bahrain's leaders and imposing an Islamist regime. The aim was to install the leadership of the Iraqi cleric Hadi al-Mudarrisī as the supreme leader, but the coup was detected.
The failed coup along with the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war led to the formation of the Gulf Cooperation Council, uniting Bahrain, 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 Persian Gulf War.
Years of political stalemate, combined with falling oil prices, led to growing frustration over the lack of democracy. Thus a revolt broke out in 1994. While the defense of the previous reforms had been secular in nature, now Islamic customs were imposed, with women being prohibited from competing in a marathon race for wearing "inappropriate clothing." 3. 4; as an example. Until 1998, Bahrain was plagued by riots and bomb attacks, while the police responded with heavy-handed tactics. More than forty people lost their lives.
In 1983, the para-union organization of Oil Workers was allowed to form.
Democratization
In the 1990s pressure for political reforms grew, with protests occurring in 1994 and 1995. In 1996, the government arrested 29 people on charges of involvement in a plot to overthrow the monarchy and establish an Islamic republic, accusing Iran from this conspiracy.
In 1999 the emir Isa bin Sulman al Khalifa died and his son Hamad bin Isa al Khalifa inherited the throne, allowing the country to achieve a democratic transition. In 2002 the Emir assumed the throne as King.