| Capital and largest city of the state and emirate of Bahrain. It lies at the northeast tip of Bahrain island, in the Persian Gulf. About one-fifth of the emirate’s population lives in the city. First mentioned in Islamic chronicles about ad
1345, it was taken by the Portuguese (1521) and by the Persians (1602).
It has been held, with brief interruptions, by the ruling Āl Khalīfah dynasty
since 1783. Because Bahrain concluded a series of treaties (1861–1914)
placing the country under increasing British protection, there was a
British political agent stationed at Manama from 1900, subject to the
political resident for the Persian Gulf, whose headquarters were long at
Bushire, Iran. In 1946 the residency was moved to Manama, where it remained until the city became the capital of independent Bahrain in 1971. | 
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