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Bahrain or Bahrein, officially Kingdom of Bahrain, constitutional monarchy (1999 est. pop. 666,400), 266 sq mi (689 sq km), an archipelago in the Persian Gulf between the Qatar Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. The two main islands are Bahrain (the largest) and Al Muharraq, which are linked to each other and Saudi Arabia by causeway. The capital and chief port is Al Manamah. Flat and sandy, with a few low hills, Bahrain has a hot, humid climate. The economy has been based on oil, and oil revenues have financed modernization projects, particularly in health and education. Oil reserves are expected to be exhausted in the near future, however, and other industries such as shipyards and aluminum smelting have been established. Bahrain is an important financial center and the site of a major U.S. navy base. The majority of the population are Muslim Arab Bahrainis, but other Arabs and Iranians, Indians, and other Asians make up over 35% of the inhabitants. About 75% of the population are Shiite Muslims; most of the rest are Sunnis. Arabic is the official language, but English, Farsi, and Urdu are also spoken.
History
Anciently known as Dilmun, the island was known to the Greeks as Tylos. Ruled by Portugal (16th cent.) and Persia (intermittently from 1603, and long claimed by Iran), Bahrain became a sheikhdom in 1783 and a British-protected state in 1861. Independence was declared in 1971. A constitution, adopted in 1973, limited the sheikh's powers and established an elected national assembly, but in 1975 the sheikh suspended the constitution and dissolved the national assembly. Bahrain established closer ties with other Persian Gulf states, particularly Saudi Arabia, in the early 1980s, and Bahraini territory was used by coalition forces during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Since late 1994, Bahrain's Shiites, many of whom live in poverty, have staged demonstrations demanding better living conditions and the return of an elected parliament. Sheikh Isa bin Salman al-Khalifa, who had ruled since 1961, died in 1999; he was succeeded by his son, Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. A new national charter, establishing a constitutional monarchy, was approved in 2001, and Bahrain was proclaimed a kingdom in 2002. Elections to the lower house of the national assembly were held in Oct. 2002; they marked the first time that women in a Arab Persian Gulf monarchy could vote or run for national office.
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