Editing Manama (section)

===Early modern history===

The Safavids, sidelining Manama, designated the nearby town of [[Bilad Al Qadeem]] as the provincial capital.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2009|p=18}}  The town was also the seat of the Persian governor and the [[Shaikh al-Islam]] of the islands. The position of Shaikh al-Islam lay under the jurisdiction of the central Safavid government and as such, candidates were carefully vetted by the [[Isfahan]] courts. During the Safavid era, the islands continued to be a centre for [[Twelver Shi'ism]] scholarship, producing clerics for use in mainland Persia.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2009|p=18}}  Additionally, the rich agricultural northern region of Bahrain continued to flourish due to an abundance of [[date palm]] farms and orchards. The Portuguese traveler [[Pedro Teixeira]] commented on the extensive cultivation of crops like [[barley]] and wheat. The opening of Persian markets to Bahraini exports, especially [[pearl]]s, boosted the islands' export economy. The yearly income of exported Bahraini pearls was 600,000 [[ducat]]s, collected by around 2,000 pearling [[dhow]]s.{{sfn|Dumper|Stanley|2007|p=244}} Another factor that contributed to Bahrain's agricultural wealth was the migration of [[Shia]] cultivators from [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]]-occupied [[Qatif]] and [[Al-Ahsa Oasis|al-Hasa]], fearing religious persecution, in 1537.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2009|p=18}} Sometime after 1736, [[Nader Shah]] constructed a fort on the southern outskirts of Manama (likely the Diwan Fort).{{sfn|Fuccaro|2005|p=42}}

Persian control over the Persian Gulf waned during the later half of the 18th century. At this time, Bahrain archipelago was a dependency of the emirate of [[Bushehr]], itself a part of [[Persia]]. In 1783, the [[Bani Utbah]] tribal confederation [[1783 Bani Utbah invasion of Bahrain|invaded]] Bahrain and expelled the resident governor [[Nasr Al-Madhkur]]. As a result, the [[Al Khalifa]] family became the rulers of the country, and all political relations with [[Bushehr]] and [[Persia]]/[[Iran]] were terminated.  [[Ahmed ibn Muhammad ibn Khalifa]] (later called Ahmed al-Fateh, lit. "Ahmed the conqueror") become the dynasty's first [[Hakim of Bahrain]]. Political instability in the 19th century had disastrous effects on Manama's economy; Invasions by the Omanis in 1800 and by the [[Emirate of Diriyah|Wahhabi]]s in 1810–11, in addition to a civil war in 1842 between Bahrain's co-rulers saw the town being a major battleground. The instability paralysed commercial trade in Manama; the town's port was closed, most merchants fled abroad to [[Kuwait]] and the Persian coast until hostilities ceased.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2005|p=43}} The English scholar [[William Gifford Palgrave]], on a visit to Manama in 1862, described the town as having a few ruined stone buildings, with a landscape dominated with the huts of poor fishermen and pearl-divers.{{sfn|Palgrave|1866}}{{sfn|Fuccaro|2005|p=43}}

[[File:British political agency in Manama.png|right|thumb|The British political agency, {{c.|1900|lk=no}}]]

The [[Pax Britannica]] of the 19th century resulted in British consolidation of trade routes, particularly those close to the [[British Raj]]. In response to piracy in the Persian Gulf region, the British deployed warships and forced much of the Persian Gulf States at the time (including Bahrain) to sign the [[General Maritime Treaty of 1820]], which prohibited piracy and slavery.{{sfn|Dumper|Stanley|2007|p=244}} In 1861, the [[Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship]] was signed between Britain and Bahrain, which placed the British in charge of defending Bahrain in exchange for British control over Bahraini foreign affairs. With the ascension of [[Isa ibn Ali Al Khalifa]] as the Hakim of Bahrain in 1869, Manama became the centre of British activity in the Persian Gulf, though its interests were initially strictly commercial.{{sfn|Ben Hamouche|2008|p=192}} Trading recovered fully by 1873 and the country's earnings from pearl exports increased by sevenfold between 1873 and 1900.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2005|p=44}} Representing the British were native agents, usually from minorities such as [[Persians in Bahrain|Persians]] or [[Huwala]] who regularly reported back to British India and the [[Persian Gulf Residency|British political residency]] in [[Bushehr]].{{sfn|Fuccaro|2009|p=64}} The position of native agent was later replaced by a British political agent, following the construction of the British political residency (locally referred to in {{langx|ar|بيت الدولة}}) in 1900, which further solidified Britain's position in Manama.{{sfn|Fuccaro|2009|p=64}}
{{wide image|Bahrainharbor.jpg|700px|align-cap=center|Manama harbour, {{c.|1870|lk=no}} }}