[19] Bahrain developed one of the first post-oil economies in the Persian Gulf,[20] the result of decades of investing in the banking and tourism sectors;[21] many of the world's largest financial institutions have a presence in the country's capital.

[29] An alternative theory concerning Bahrain's toponymy is offered by the al-Ahsa region, which suggests that the two seas were the Great Green Ocean (the Persian Gulf) and a peaceful lake on the Arabian mainland.

[53][54][55] According to Robert Bertram Serjeant, the Baharna may be the Arabised "descendants of converts from the original population of Christians (Aramaeans), Jews and Persians inhabiting the island and cultivated coastal provinces of Eastern Arabia at the time of the Muslim conquest".

[61][62] In the year 899, the Qarmatians, a millenarian Ismaili Muslim sect, seized Bahrain, seeking to create a utopian society based on reason and redistribution of property among initiates.

Thereafter, the Qarmatians demanded tribute from the caliph in Baghdad, and in 930 sacked Mecca, bringing the sacred Black Stone back to their base in Ahsa, in medieval Bahrain, for ransom.

[83] In 1816, the British political resident in the Persian Gulf, William Bruce, received a letter from the Sheikh of Bahrain who was concerned about a rumour that Britain would support an attack on the island by the Imam of Muscat.

[16] In 1903, German explorer Hermann Burchardt visited Bahrain and took many photographs of historical sites, including the old Qaṣr es-Sheikh, photos now stored at the Ethnological Museum of Berlin.

In 1927, Rezā Shāh, then Shah of Iran, demanded sovereignty over Bahrain in a letter to the League of Nations, a move that prompted Belgrave to undertake harsh measures including encouraging conflicts between Shia and Sunni Muslims to bring down the uprisings and limit the Iranian influence.

[101] In 1948, following rising hostilities and looting,[102] most members of Bahrain's Jewish community abandoned their properties and evacuated to Bombay, later settling in Israel (Pardes Hanna-Karkur) and the United Kingdom.

[102] In the 1950s, the National Union Committee, formed by reformists following sectarian clashes, demanded an elected popular assembly, removal of Belgrave and carried out a number of protests and general strikes.

[135] The Saudi-led Intervention of Bahrain led to swift suppression of widespread anti-government protests through military assistance from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

The 2011 Bahraini uprising, inspired by the Arab Spring, ended in a bloody crackdown against the mainly Shiite demonstrators who had demanded an elected government, threatening the Sunni monarchy's grip on power.

Bahrain assailed the movement as an Iranian plot, and banned opposition parties, put civilians in front of military courts and jailed dozens of peaceful political opponents, eliciting harsh international criticism.

Due to climate change Bahrain is experiencing more frequent extreme heat, drought, flooding and dust storms and the threat of sea level rise.

Only 18 species of mammals are found in Bahrain, animals such as gazelles, desert rabbits and hedgehogs are common in the wild but the Arabian oryx was hunted to extinction on the island.

[154] The Hawar Islands Protected Area provides valuable feeding and breeding grounds for a variety of migratory seabirds; it is an internationally recognised site for bird migration.

[169] Analysts of democratisation in the Middle East cite the Islamists' references to respect human rights in their justification for these programmes as evidence that these groups can serve as a progressive force in the region.

[176] The BDF is primarily equipped with United States-made-equipment, such as the F-16 Fighting Falcon, F-5 Freedom Fighter, UH-60 Blackhawk, M60A3 tanks, and the ex-USS Jack Williams, an Oliver Hazard Perry class frigate renamed the RBNS Sabha.

[186] Bahrain participates in the Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen against the Shia Houthis and forces loyal to former President Ali Abdullah Saleh,[187] who was deposed in the 2011 Arab Spring uprising.

[192] Bahrain plays a modest, moderating role in regional politics and adheres to the views of the Arab League on Middle East peace and Palestinian rights by supporting the two state solution.

[198] The period between 1975 and 1999, known as the "State Security Law Era", saw wide range of human rights violations including arbitrary arrests, detention without trial, torture and forced exile.

[211][212] Amnesty International's 2015 report on the country points to the continued suppression of dissent, restricted freedom of expression, unjust imprisonment, and frequent torture and other ill-treatment of its citizens.

"[217][218] However, in September 2017, the U.S. State Department has approved arms sales packages worth more than $3.8 billion to Bahrain including F-16 jets, upgrades, missiles and patrol boats.

[219][220] In its latest report Amnesty International accused both the US and UK governments of turning a blind eye to horrific abuses of human rights by the ruling Bahraini regime.

It highlighted that the repression against social media activities escalated, death sentences were upheld by the courts against opposition activists after unfair trials, and the critics were continued to be prosecuted for peaceful expression.

[242] Bahrain also has the freest economy in the Middle East and is twelfth-freest overall in the world based on the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, published by The Heritage Foundation and The Wall Street Journal.

[264] In January 2019 the state-run Bahrain News Agency announced the summer 2019 opening of an underwater theme park covering about 100,000 square meters with a sunken Boeing 747 as the site's centrepiece.

Bahrain hopes scuba divers from around the world will visit the underwater park, which will also include artificial coral reefs, a copy of a Bahraini pearl merchant's house, and sculptures.

[280] In 2004, Zain (a rebranded version of MTC Vodafone) started operations in Bahrain and in 2010 VIVA (owned by STC Group) became the third company to provide mobile services.

[354] Bahrain is also home to KHK MMA Fight Team, that facilitates training for some of the prominent talent in Mixed Martial Arts in the world who compete in BRAVE Combat Federation, PFL, and UFC.