Bahrain: The Crux of Antiquity and Modernity

Bahrain: The Crux of Antiquity and Modernity from Jon Schubert

works cited

Works Cited

"Bahrain and the Arab Spring." Issue #92. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://isreview.org/issue/82/bahrain-and-arab-spring>.

"Bahrain." Economy: Population, GDP, Inflation, Business, Trade, FDI, Corruption. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://www.heritage.org/index/country/bahrain>.

"Geography and Map of Bahrain." Geography and Map of Bahrain. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://geography.about.com/library/cia/blcbahrain.htm>.

"Geography of Bahrain." Princeton University. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <https://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve/wiki100k/docs/Geography_of_Bahrain.html>.

Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 20 Feb. 2014. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Bahrain#Climate>.

location, geography, economy, environment, long term causes

Bahrain

Location: Bahrain is located off the North East coast of Saudi Arabia.

Capitol: Manama

Population: 1.2 million

Geography:

• It is one of the bigger Islands in the Persian Gulf.
• It is part of a group of 33 islands off the coast of Saudi Arabia, and not far from Kuwait.

Environment:

• Low-lying desert plain rises to steep cliffs of rock (escarpments) in the center of the island.
• averages 4 inches of rain a year.
• No rivers or streams on island.
• Two seasons:
• hot summers (116 degrees farenheight)
• mild winters (around 60 degrees farenheight).

Economics:

• Biggest export:
• Petroleum
• Aluminium
• finance and construction materials
• Freest economy in the Middle east.

• GDP: $34 billion
• Islamic banking is very important to the Bahrain economy.
• "Bahrain levies no taxes on individual income. Oil companies must pay a 46 percent corporate income tax, but most other businesses are exempt from taxation. Other taxes include a stamp tax and a tax on property purchases. Government revenue equals 3.1 percent of GDP, and expenditures have climbed to 30.9 percent of domestic income, cushioned by energy exports. Public debt remains below 35 percent of GDP" (Heritage.org).

Long term causes of Arab Spring:  

• The state was turned into a Kingdom.
• 2002: A new constitution was put in place that basically gave the parliament and the people no power.
• The King had all the power.
• People wanted a voice.

Bahrain in the 21st century. Protests Presist.

Images of Bahrain in 21^st century protests

Human Rights Watch warns that Bahrain's government, which has been criticized for cracking down on opposition protesters, might 'misuse' 1.6 million tear gas canisters.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2011/04/28/timestopics/topics-bahrain/topics-bahrain-sfSpan-v2.jpg

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For a quick and thorough overview of the military base and its influence on the island of Bahrain, here is the link to the globalsecurity.org web page. I miswrote it on one of my last post.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/manama.htm

Overview of Bahrain

 
 

 

Bahrain from the sky.


A tour guided introductory of Bahrain from land.




http://www.bahrain.com/en/Pages/default.aspx#.UwuJATiYaM8











 The Durrat Al Bahrain project








Here is an interesting representation of Bahrain.

Here are some images I got from a website called globalsecurity.com.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/images/usn-bahrain-s.jpg
Because of the news that Iran is sending some of their naval ships to sea I was interested in learning about our naval base stationed in Bahrain.

We have about 1,200 sailors stationed there, many with families. The U.S. Navy is a significant part of Bahrain culture. The website has a lengthy description of the relationship of the base and the location. Definitely worth a read through.

Here is the base.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

notes for next thursday's discussion

Here is some info from my research on my questions.
It is my understanding we should report to this blog while researching.
Then next Thursday we will go over our findings briefly in class.
I believe that the final project needs to be based on the work done here. So if we do a good job of keeping this blog up we should be set.

Social Structure
monarchy kalifah family since 1783
classified himself as king
comes from a federation Bani Utbah from Kuwait
 sunni Shiite conflicts
sunni aristocracy
small population govt pays for everything
edemenities
sponsorship


21st century
sunni palces green Shiite villages brown
80% land owned by royal family

future goals
friendship Causeway to be built

Breaking down the questions between group members

1. Location, Geography, Environment: Miranda
2. Social Structure: Megan
3. Politics: Jon
4. Religion: Inayat
5. Economics: Miranda
6. Tech: Jon
7. Popular culture: Inayat
8. 21st Century: Megan
9. a. immediate precipitating causes of arab spring: jon
b. Long term causes: Miranda
c. Key players: Inayat
d. possible futures for your arab spring country: Megan

Group Contact Information

Megan Spiezio-Davis: davisvt1@comcast.net
Inayat Yuridullah: inayatullah.yuridull@mymail.champlain.edu
Miranda Bernholz: miranda.bernholz@mymail.champlain.edu
Jon Schubert: jschubert202@gmail.com