Destinations » Asia » Middle East »
Bahrain
Bahrain is literally translated to mean "two seas" from the Arabic. However, this term originally may have referred to differing islands and when the name was exclusively given to modern day Bahrain is unknown. The two seas the name refers to are unknown; most people believe they are the waters east and west of the island, those north and south of the island, or are the salt waters in the sea and the fresh waters of the land.
Introduction:
As a desert island, or islands, Bahrain has little appeal at first. There is little reason for people to live on these islands and for much of history it appears no one did live on these almost unlivable islands.
Life on Bahrain exists solely because of the sea and technology. The earliest inhabitants lived there by surviving off of seafood, dates, and camel's milk. As these are limited in quantity, the number of people on the islands was also very limited. This lifestyle survived for most of history and only recently has the population expanded.
Life in Bahrain today is heavily reliant on technology such as desalination plants, which provide the people with water and plants. Improved infrastructure, airplanes, and ships also provide food through efficient transportation and storage methods.
Oddly, in recent years the people have been able to not only survive on these desert islands, but have thrived and convinced others to immigrate to the islands as temporary workers. This is only possible with another important item: oil. Since the discovery of oil in the 1930s the country has been able to afford to ship in food and water as construction has expanded to house the people and shops. The economy has grown significantly during this past century and in order to have workers to work these jobs immigrants have arrived since the local population was historically very small and this has not changed enough in the past century to fill all positions needed to run the oil industry.
Today there is a large divide in the way of life in Bahrain. There are numerous foreigners from seemingly everywhere and these people tend to live as they lived in their home countries. The locals also continue to live as they have, but now they have gained more money through the oil industry and the government has improved numerous public sectors, such as education and healthcare with this new found wealth. This current and historic way of life for the locals is based on family and religion as these tend to be the most important aspects of their culture.
The locals in Bahrain also tend to have good job security as the government encourages education and stresses occupations that oversee the oil industry. They also tend to limit foreign immigrant numbers in order to guarantee locals all have jobs, giving the people a number of entitlements for simply being a citizen. Despite the changes in wealth and technology, for many of these citizens life and culture remain reliant on family and their Islamic faith, which dictates much of the culture's dress, behavior, and foods.
Learn More About Bahrain:
Map of Bahrain:
Travel Planner:
Start your trip to Bahrain with our free Travel Planner:
Information for Bahrain was last updated: November, 2012 ● View our: Sources & Special Thanks