Bahrain Astronaut Photograph
Bahrain has been inhabited by humans since ancient times and has even been proposed as the site of the Biblical Garden of Eden. Its strategic location in the Persian Gulf has brought rule and influence from the Assyrians, Babylonians, Greeks, Persians, and finally the Arabs, under whom the island became Muslim. Bahrain was in the ancient times known as Dilmun, later under its Greek name Tylos (see Dilmun for more information), as Awal as well as under the Persian name Mishmahig when it came under the imperial rule of the Persian Empire.
The islands of Bahrain, positioned in the middle south of the Persian Gulf, have attracted the attention of many invaders throughout history, such as the Al-Khalifas. Bahrain is an Arabic word meaning "Two Seas", and is thought to either refer to the fact that the islands contain two sources of water, sweet water springs and salty water in the surrounding seas, or to the south and north waters of the Persian Gulf, separating it from the Arabian coast and Iran, respectively. Some scholars believe this to be an folk etymology for the much older, non-Semitic term, Bahran; according to some scholars[attribution needed] Bahran originates from Varahrdn, the later form of the old Avestan Verethragna - a Zoroastrian divinity that is the hypostasis of victory.
A strategic position between East and West, fertile lands, fresh water, and pearl diving made Bahrain long a center of urban settlement. Pearl diving was the main economy until cultured pearls were invented in early twentieth century and more when oil was discovered in 1930s. About 2300 BC, Bahrain became a centre of one of the ancient empires trading between Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the Indus Valley (now in Pakistan and India). This was the civilization of Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) that was linked to the Sumerian Civilization in the third millennium BC. Bahrain became part of the Babylonian empire about 600 BC. Historical records referred to Bahrain with names such as the "Life of Eternity", "Paradise", and Eden. Bahrain was also called the "Pearl of the Persian Gulf".
The islands of Bahrain, positioned in the middle south of the Persian Gulf, have attracted the attention of many invaders throughout history, such as the Al-Khalifas. Bahrain is an Arabic word meaning "Two Seas", and is thought to either refer to the fact that the islands contain two sources of water, sweet water springs and salty water in the surrounding seas, or to the south and north waters of the Persian Gulf, separating it from the Arabian coast and Iran, respectively. Some scholars believe this to be an folk etymology for the much older, non-Semitic term, Bahran; according to some scholars[attribution needed] Bahran originates from Varahrdn, the later form of the old Avestan Verethragna - a Zoroastrian divinity that is the hypostasis of victory.
A strategic position between East and West, fertile lands, fresh water, and pearl diving made Bahrain long a center of urban settlement. Pearl diving was the main economy until cultured pearls were invented in early twentieth century and more when oil was discovered in 1930s. About 2300 BC, Bahrain became a centre of one of the ancient empires trading between Mesopotamia (now Iraq) and the Indus Valley (now in Pakistan and India). This was the civilization of Dilmun (sometimes transliterated Telmun) that was linked to the Sumerian Civilization in the third millennium BC. Bahrain became part of the Babylonian empire about 600 BC. Historical records referred to Bahrain with names such as the "Life of Eternity", "Paradise", and Eden. Bahrain was also called the "Pearl of the Persian Gulf".
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