Bahrain
Bahrain is one of the most densely populated countries in the world;
about 89% of the population lives in the two principal cities of
Manama and Al Muharraq. Approximately 66% of the indigenous
population is originally from the Arabian Peninsula and Iran.
Bahrain currently has a sizeable foreign labor force (about 34% of
the total population). The government's policies on naturalization
remain controversial. In June 2002, the King issued a decree
allowing citizens of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to take up
dual Bahraini nationality. Opposition political groups charge that
the government is granting citizenship to foreign nationals who have
served in the Bahraini armed forces and security services to alter
the demographic balance of the country, which is primarily Shi'a.
According to passport officials, about 40,000 individuals have been
naturalized over the past 50 years (about 10% of the total
population).
The indigenous population is 98% Muslim. Although some two-thirds of
the indigenous population is Shi'a Muslim, the ruling family and the
majority of government, military, and corporate leaders are Sunni
Muslims. The small indigenous Christian and Jewish communities make
up the remaining 2% of the population. Roughly half of foreign
resident community are non-Muslim, and include Christians, Hindus,
Baha'is, Buddhists and Sikhs.
Bahrain has invested its oil revenues in developing an advanced
educational system. The first public schools for girls and boys were
opened in the 1920s. The government continues to pay for all
schooling costs. Although school attendance is not compulsory,
primary and secondary attendance rates are high, and literacy rates
are currently among the highest in the region. Higher education is
available for secondary school graduates at the Bahrain University,
Arabian Gulf University and specialized institutes including the
College of Health Sciences--operating under the direction of the
Ministry of Health--which trains physicians, nurses, pharmacists,
and paramedics. The government has identified providing educational
services to the Gulf Cooperation Council as a potential economic
growth area, and is actively working to establish Bahrain as a
regional center for higher education. |
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The site of the ancient Bronze Age civilization of Dilmun, Bahrain
was an important center linking trade routes between Mesopotamia and
the Indus Valley as early as 5,000 years ago. The Dilmun
civilization began to decline about 2,000 B.C. as trade from India
was cut off. From 750 B.C. on, Assyrian kings repeatedly claimed
sovereignty over the islands. Shortly after 600 B.C., Dilmun was
formally incorporated into the new Babylonian empire. There are no
historical references to Bahrain until Alexander the Great's arrival
in the Gulf in the 4th century B.C. Although Bahrain was ruled
variously by the Arab tribes of Bani Wa'el and Persian governors,
Bahrain continued to be known by its Greek name Tylos until the 7th
century, when many of its inhabitants converted to Islam. A regional
pearling and trade center, Bahrain came under the control of the
Ummayad Caliphs of Syria, the Abbasid Caliphs of Baghdad, Persian,
Omani and Portuguese forces at various times from the 7th century
until the Al Khalifa family, a branch of the Bani Utbah tribe that
have ruled Bahrain since the 18th century, succeeded in capturing
Bahrain from a Persian garrison controlling the islands in 1783.
In the 1830s the Al Khalifa signed the first of many treaties
establishing Bahrain as a British Protectorate. Similar to the
binding treaties of protection entered into by other Persian Gulf
principalities, the agreements entered into by the Al Khalifa
prohibited them from disposing of territory and entering into
relationships with any foreign government without British consent in
exchange for British protection against the threat of military
attack from Ottoman Turkey. The main British naval base in the
region was moved to Bahrain in 1935 shortly after the start of
large-scale oil production.
In 1968, when the British Government announced its decision
(reaffirmed in March 1971) to end the treaty relationships with the
Persian Gulf sheikdoms, Bahrain initially joined the other eight
states (Qatar and the seven Trucial Sheikhdoms now the United Arab
Emirates) under British protection in an effort to form a union of
Arab emirates. The nine sheikhdoms still had not agreed on terms of
union by 1971, however, prompting Bahrain to declare itself fully
independent on August 15, 1971.
Bahrain promulgated a constitution and elected its first parliament
in 1973, but just two years later, in August 1975, the Amir
disbanded the National Assembly after it attempted to legislate the
end of Al-Khalifa rule and the expulsion of the U.S. Navy from
Bahrain. In the 1990s, Bahrain suffered from repeated incidents of
political violence stemming from the disaffection of the Shi'a
majority. In response, the Amir instituted the first Bahraini
cabinet change in 20 years in 1995 and also and increased the
membership of the Consultative Council, which he had created in 1993
to provide advice and opinion on legislation proposed by the cabinet
and, in certain cases, suggest new laws on its own, from 30 to 40
the following year. These steps led to an initial decline in violent
incidents, but in early 1996 a number of hotels and restaurants were
bombed, resulting in several fatalities. Over 1,000 people were
arrested and held in detention without trial in connection with
these disturbances. The government has since released these
individuals. |
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