50 Fun Facts About Bahrain

What is the capital and largest city of Bahrain?

Manama was named Arab Capital of Culture in 2012.

Bahrain is connected by the King Fahd Causeway to which neighbouring country?

Saudi Arabia is joined to Bahrain by the 25 km King Fahd Causeway, opened in November 1986 and named for the Saudi king whose government paid for it.

The name Bahrain is Arabic for what?

The two seas is the literal meaning of al-Bahrayn, the dual of the Arabic word bahr (sea); the name once covered the whole eastern Arabian coast before being confined to the islands.

Bahrain is the third-smallest nation in Asia. Which two are smaller?

Land reclamation has actually made Bahrain bigger, from 665 to about 780 square kilometres.

Which Bronze Age trading civilisation linking Mesopotamia and the Indus was centred on Bahrain?

Dilmun was the Bronze Age trading power centred on Bahrain from around 3200 BC, passing copper from Magan (Oman) and goods from the Indus to Mesopotamian cities such as Ur.

The Sumerian myth of Enki and Ninhursag, set on Bahrain, recalls which biblical story?

The Garden of Eden is the parallel Samuel Noah Kramer drew: in Enki and Ninhursag the island is a pure, deathless land, and Enki's aching rib is healed by the goddess Ninti, 'lady of the rib'.

The ancient Greeks knew Bahrain by which name, when Alexander's admiral Nearchus landed there?

Tylos was the Greek name for the island, recorded after Alexander sent Androsthenes of Thasos to survey the Gulf coast; Theophrastus described its 'wool-bearing' cotton trees.

Which sect seized Bahrain in 899 and later stole the Black Stone from Mecca, holding it for over 20 years?

The Qarmatians took Bahrain in 899 and carried off the Black Stone in 930; more than two decades later it was dumped in the Kufa mosque with a note saying they had taken and returned it by command.

Which European power ruled Bahrain from 1521 until it was expelled by Shah Abbas of Persia in 1602?

Portugal held Bahrain from 1521 to 1602; its garrison built the fort on the tell at Qal'at al-Bahrain, which is why the site is also called the Portuguese Fort.

Which royal family has ruled Bahrain since capturing it in 1783?

Al Khalifa, a Bani Utbah family, took Bahrain from the Persian-backed governor Nasr Al-Madhkur in 1783 under Ahmed bin Muhammad, remembered as Ahmed al-Fateh, 'the Conqueror'; the family has ruled ever since.

Bahrain declared independence from Britain in which year?

1971 was the year: Bahrain declared independence on 15 August 1971 after a 1970 United Nations mission found its people wanted a sovereign Arab state rather than absorption by the Shah's Persia, which had long claimed the islands.

In 2002 Bahrain changed its formal name from the State of Bahrain to what?

A kingdom is what Bahrain became on 14 February 2002, when the new constitution took effect and Hamad bin Isa changed his title from Emir to King.

Bahrain's Arab Spring protests centred on which capital landmark, whose monument was later demolished?

Pearl Roundabout in the capital was the protesters' camp from 14 February; after Gulf troops arrived in March, the authorities cleared it and demolished its six-sailed pearl monument.

Bahrain was the first place on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf to discover oil. In what year?

The strike, below Jabal ad Dukhan, came before its neighbours', and Bahrain later diversified into banking as the oil ran low.

Before oil, Bahrain was famed for which industry, the world's finest into the 19th century?

Pearl fisheries made Bahrain's fortune: its natural pearls were prized from antiquity until Japanese cultured pearls flooded the market in the 1930s, collapsing the trade just as oil arrived.

In which year did the Bahrain Pearling Path become the country's second World Heritage Site?

2012 saw UNESCO inscribe 'Pearling, Testimony of an Island Economy', a trail of 17 historic buildings, the Bu Maher seashore fort and three offshore oyster beds.

Qal'at al-Bahrain, the country's first World Heritage Site, is a tell with occupation going back to about when?

2300 BC is roughly when occupation began at Qal'at al-Bahrain; its 12 m tell holds layers from Kassite, Hellenistic, Islamic and early-modern times, and UNESCO listed it in 2005.

What do the five white points on Bahrain's serrated flag represent?

The pillars of Islam are what the five points stand for; the flag was cut from eight points to five in 2002, when Bahrain adopted its present design.

Bahrain's flag is often confused with the flag of which neighbour, which is maroon with nine points?

Qatar's flag is maroon with nine white points, against Bahrain's red with five; Bahrain's white stripe dates from the 1820 General Maritime Treaty, marking its ships as treaty signatories.

The Bahraini dinar is divided into how many fils?

1,000 fils make one Bahraini dinar, so prices carry three decimal places; the dinar's peg of 0.376 to the US dollar was made official in 2001.

Which currency did the Bahraini dinar replace when it was introduced in 1965?

The Gulf rupee, issued from Bombay for use in the Gulf states, was swapped for the dinar in 1965 at ten rupees to one dinar; Abu Dhabi also used the Bahraini dinar until the UAE dirham arrived in 1973.

Bahrain's highest point, Jabal ad Dukhan, rises to only about how high?

134 m is all Jabal ad Dukhan reaches; its name means Mountain of Smoke, for the haze that gathers round it on humid days, and the country's first oil well was drilled at its foot.

Bahrain's Tree of Life, a lone mesquite over 400 years old, is remarkable because it grows where?

In barren desert with no visible water source, the Tree of Life grows alone on a sandy rise near Jabal ad Dukhan; its Prosopis cineraria roots are thought to tap deep groundwater.

Which antelope, bred at the Al Areen reserve, is Bahrain's national animal?

Arabian oryx, Bahrain's national animal, was shot out in the wild by 1972 and rebuilt from captive herds; it later became the first species to go from 'extinct in the wild' to 'vulnerable' on the IUCN Red List.

The Hawar Islands host the world's largest breeding colony of which seabird?

Socotra cormorant colonies on the Hawar Islands run to tens of thousands of pairs, the largest known for a species endemic to the seas around Arabia; the surrounding shallows also hold a large dugong herd.

A territorial dispute over the Hawar Islands between Bahrain and Qatar was settled in 2001 by which body?

The International Court of Justice in The Hague ruled on 16 March 2001 that the Hawar Islands belong to Bahrain, though they lie barely 2 km off the neighbouring peninsula and some 20 km from Bahrain's main island.

Bahrain hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix in the Middle East in which year?

2004 was the year: the first Bahrain Grand Prix ran on 4 April 2004 at the Hermann Tilke-designed Sakhir circuit, and Ferrari finished one-two.

Since 2014, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been held in what unusual way?

At night under floodlights is how the race has run since 2014, making Bahrain F1's second full night race after Singapore; Lewis Hamilton won the first floodlit edition after a duel with Nico Rosberg.

Which year's Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled because of anti-government protests?

2011 was the year: the race, due on 13 March 2011, was postponed after the February uprising and cancelled in June when the teams declined a rescheduled date; it returned the following year.

The first corner of the Bahrain International Circuit was renamed in 2014 after which driver?

Michael Schumacher, who won the circuit's inaugural race, had Turn 1 named after him in April 2014, months after his near-fatal skiing accident at Méribel.

The Bahrain World Trade Center was the first skyscraper in the world to do what?

Integrate wind turbines into its design is the first the Bahrain World Trade Center claimed on completion in 2008: three 225 kW turbines hang on skybridges between the twin towers, sized to meet 11-15% of their power needs.

Which numbered US Navy fleet has its headquarters in Bahrain?

Fifth Fleet, re-established in 1995, is headquartered at Naval Support Activity Bahrain in the capital's Juffair district, on the site of the Royal Navy's HMS Jufair, handed over when Britain withdrew from the Gulf.

Which former capital of Bahrain is home to the international airport?

Muharraq was the seat of the ruling family until the capital moved across the water; the city and Bahrain International Airport share Muharraq Island, linked to the main island by causeways.

Which national dish of Bahrain is meat or fish served over rice cooked in a spiced broth?

Machboos is chicken, lamb or fish served over rice simmered in a broth of baharat spices, dried lime and saffron; muhammar, a sweet date rice eaten with fried fish, is the other island staple.

Bahraini halwa, the traditional sweet, is based on which main ingredient?

Starch, usually cornflour, is cooked with sugar, ghee, saffron, rose water and cardamom into a sticky, jewel-coloured jelly studded with nuts, cut into slabs and sold in the capital's souqs.

Which Bahraini town is famous for its traditional pottery workshops?

A'ali is Bahrain's pottery town, where potters throw and kiln-fire clay jars and bowls beside the Bronze Age burial mounds; Bani Jamra is known for weaving and Karbabad for palm-frond baskets.

Where did Bahrain finish at its best AFC Asian Cup, held in China?

Fourth is where Bahrain finished: it beat Uzbekistan on penalties in the quarter-finals, lost a 4-3 semi-final to Japan, then lost the third-place match 4-2.

Bahrain won its first Arabian Gulf Cup in which year?

2019 was the year: Bahrain won the 24th Arabian Gulf Cup final 1-0 in Doha that December, months after lifting the WAFF Championship under coach Hélio Sousa.

Which South Asian country supplies Bahrain's largest expatriate community, mostly from Kerala?

India supplies the largest expatriate community, several hundred thousand people, many from Kerala, which is why Malayalam newspapers are sold on the island; non-nationals outnumber Bahraini citizens overall.

Bahrain replaced which war-torn city as the Middle East's financial hub in the 1970s and 1980s?

Beirut lost its role when Lebanon's civil war began in 1975; Bahrain's new offshore banking units, licensed that same year, drew the region's banks to the island.

In 2008 Bahrain appointed Houda Nonoo as ambassador to the United States, making her the first what?

Jewish envoy of an Arab state: Houda Nonoo, from a community once several hundred strong that mostly emigrated after 1948, became the first when she took the Washington post, serving from 2008 to 2013.

Which British adviser effectively ran Bahrain from 1926 to 1957 and abolished slavery there in 1937?

Charles Belgrave arrived as adviser to the ruler in 1926 and stayed until 1957, building a bureaucracy, police and schools; he also proposed the name 'Arabian Gulf' for the Persian Gulf, which London rejected at the time.

Bahrain's first refinery, built in 1936, was the first in the Gulf outside which country?

Iran's Abadan refinery, opened in 1912, was the only earlier one in the Gulf; Bahrain's Sitra refinery, started in 1936, soon needed more crude than the island's small field gave, so oil was piped from the Saudi mainland from 1945.

Aside from oil, what is Bahrain's second-largest export product?

Aluminium from the Alba smelter, one of the world's largest single-site smelters since its Line 6 expansion, is Bahrain's biggest export after petroleum products; much of it feeds rolling and cable plants on the island.

In which year did the Bahrain National Museum open its doors?

1988 was the year: the Bahrain National Museum opened in December 1988 on the waterfront, with halls on the Bronze Age burial mounds, pearl diving and traditional crafts.

King Hamad bin Isa succeeded his father as Emir in which year, before becoming Bahrain's first king?

1999 was the year: Hamad bin Isa became Emir on 6 March 1999 on the death of his father, Isa bin Salman, then freed political prisoners and put the National Action Charter to a referendum in 2001.

Bahrain's fresh water is famous for doing what, as travellers noted since antiquity?

Bubbling up from springs in the middle of the sea is what Bahrain's fresh water did: divers filled goatskins at submarine springs off the north coast, fed by the same aquifer as the island's onshore date-palm oases.

For centuries after the Greek era, the main island of Bahrain was known to Arabs by what name?

Awal was the name Arab geographers used for the main island into the Islamic era; it is said to derive from a pre-Islamic bull god of the same name, whose idol stood on the neighbouring island.

At which 1782 battle did the Bani Utbah defeat Nasr Al-Madhkur, leading to their capture of Bahrain?

Zubarah, a pearling port on the peninsula opposite Bahrain, was the Utub stronghold; after repelling Nasr Al-Madhkur's attack there in 1782, the tribes invaded Bahrain the next year and took it.

Which US company owned the subsidiary that struck Bahrain's first oil?

Standard Oil of California set up the Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco) as a Canadian-registered subsidiary to satisfy British rules, and Bapco's Well No. 1 made the strike, the first on the Arabian side of the Gulf.