Bahrain is a country composed of a group of 33 islands in the Arabian gulf. It has a total area of 620 km2. The climate is arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humidsummers. The terrain is mostly low desert plain rising gently to low central escarpment. Natural resources are oil, associated and non-associated natural gas and fish. The religion is Muslim (70% Shia, 30% Sunni) The official language is Arabic with English also widely spoken and Farsi and Urdu also spoken. During the 17th century Bahrain was ruled by Persia, and during the 19th century became a British protectorate. Britain ended its protectorate in 1968 and
Bahrain joined Qatar and the then Trucial States (now the United Arab Emirates) to form the Federation of Arab Emirates, only to leave in 1971 to become an independent state. Research Bahrain
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