Bahrain Through The Ages

by AL-KHALIFA

• ISBN13: 9780710302724
• ISBN10: 071030272X
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1993-01-10
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In this volume, eminent scholars from the Arab world, Asia, India, Pakistan, Western Europe, the USA and Canada present a fascinating and detailed picture of the archaeology of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf, a position historically of immense significance and importance. Bahrain contains some of the most significant sites in the entire Gulf region, and the government of Bahrain has been particularly active in excavation and conservation. Bahrain's fertility was based on an abundant supply of good water. References to it appear in Mespotamian and Greek sources, but its legendary desirability is now shown to be only the faintest echo of reality. In the course of this work, experts in many disciplines piece together the fabric of this civilization, only recently re-discovered. Its traces today remain most dramatically in the literally hundreds of thousands of burial mounds, in the three successive temples at Barbar and in the city of Dilmun itself.

Table of Contents

Editorial Note
Introduction
The role of Bahrain in Mohammad Ali's attempt to establish a unified Arab nation	p. 1
The inhabitants of Bahrain at the emergence of Islam	p. 13
Bahrain in the seventh century	p. 25
The Portuguese in Bahrain and its environs	p. 31
Documentation of the modern history of Bahrain from American sources (1900-1938)	p. 62
Reference works on Bahrain	p. 78
The coinage of Mismar b. Salm, ruler of al-Qatif in the 3rd/9th century	p. 98
C. Dalrymple Belgrave: the early years as Adviser in Bahrain	p. 104
Bahrain in the Second World War	p. 123
Traditional techniques of navigation in the seas of Bahrain	p. 135
The contribution of Portuguese sources and documents in recording the history of Bahrain in the first half of the sixteenth century	p. 144
Bahrain, the Gulf and trading contracts with South India and the Far East	p. 155
Bahrain according to Arab geographers and historians from the ninth century to Ibn Battuta	p. 158
Early visual documentation of Bahrain	p. 168
Some issues in the history of Bahrain	p. 201
The Bahrain of the geographers	p. 251
Bahrain in early Islam	p. 279
The Utoob in the eighteenth century	p. 301
Bahraini trade, from the 'Utub conquest until the appearance of oil	p. 335
An Arab pharmacopoea of the Gulf region	p. 360
The art of printing in Bahrain 1913-1948	p. 366
Bahrain in a description by Ahmad ibn Majid, AD 1490	p. 385
A reconsideration of the history of Bahrain	p. 393
Sassanid dirhams from the island of Tarut	p. 409
Trade relations between Bahrain and Iraq in the Middle Ages	p. 423
Commerce and coins in medieval Bahrain	p. 444
The development of the postal service in Bahrain	p. 450
Competition for Bahrain during the early decades of al-Khalifa rule, especially in the years 1799-1803	p. 458
The establishment of the shaikhdom of Bahrain in historical perspective	p. 467
Customary irrigation law among the Baharnah of Bahrain	p. 471
The Dutch East India Company and Bahrain	p. 497
Bahrain according to the Annali Dell' Islam of Caetani, 1-40 AH	p. 504
The secret alphabet on the map of an anonymous Portuguese sailor: a new document for the history of Bahrain	p. 512
Some British views of Bahrain: the work of the Bombay Marine and Indian Navy, 1785-1863	p. 525
Frontier relationships between Bahrain and Oman	p. 548
Anglo-American rivalry in Bahrain, 1918-47	p. 567
Aspects of the life of Shaikh Muhammad bin Khalifa bin Salman bin Ahmad al-Khalifa	p. 588
List of Contributors	p. 603
Index	p. 607
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