Bahrain , [ a ] officially the Kingdom of Bahrain , [ b ] is an island country in West Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf , and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an additional 33 artificial islands , centered on Bahrain Island which makes up around 83 percent of the country's landmass.
Bahrain is situated between Qatar and the northeastern coast of Saudi Arabia , to which it is connected by the King Fahd Causeway. The population of Bahrain is 1,, as of 14 May , based on elaborations of the United Nations data, of whom , are Bahraini nationals. According to archeologist Geoffrey Bibby, Bahrain is the site of the ancient Dilmun civilization. In the late s, following successive treaties with the British , Bahrain became a protectorate of the United Kingdom.
Formerly an emirate , Bahrain was declared a semi-constitutional monarchy in , and Article 2 of the newly adopted constitution made Sharia a principal source for legislation. In , the country experienced protests inspired by the regional Arab Spring. 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.
It is recognized by the World Bank as a high-income economy. Bahrain is the dual form of Arabic word Bahr meaning literally " sea " , so al-Bahrayn originally means literally "the two seas ". It remains disputed which "two seas" the name Bahrayn originally refers to. Today, Bahrain's "two seas" are generally taken to be the bay east and west of the island, [ 27 ] the seas north and south of the island, [ 28 ] or the salt and fresh water present above and below the ground.
In addition to wells, there are areas of the sea north of Bahrain where fresh water bubbles up in the middle of the saltwater as noted by visitors since antiquity. The exact date at which the term "Bahrain" began to refer solely to the Awal archipelago is unknown. The Parthians established garrisons along the southern coast of the Persian Gulf to control trade routes. During the classical era , Bahrain was referred to by the ancient Greeks as Tylos , the centre of pearl trading, when the Greek admiral Nearchus serving under Alexander the Great landed on Bahrain.
