Middle East

Flag of Bahrain

Bahrain is a small island nation in the Persian Gulf and was the first country in the Gulf to discover and export oil, in 1932. It was the site of the ancient Dilmun civilisation, one of the ancient world's great trading centres, and has been a regional hub for commerce and pearl diving for thousands of years. Bahrain is considered the most socially liberal of the Gulf monarchies and has a cosmopolitan, diverse population.

CapitalManama
RegionMiddle East
Current flag since2002
Main coloursRed, White
Populationabout 1.5 million
Areaabout 780 km²
GeographyIsland nation
Flags in history2

Population and area are rounded.

What the flag of Bahrain means

Red is the traditional colour of the Gulf states. The white band was added in 1820, when Bahrain signed a treaty with Britain, to show it was at peace. The five white points of the serrated edge, fixed in 2002, stand for the Five Pillars of Islam.

More about the flag

Before 2002 the white serrated edge had eight points; when Bahrain became a kingdom that year, it was changed to five. Bahrain is an archipelago of about 30 natural islands and many artificial ones, linked to Saudi Arabia by the King Fahd Causeway, opened in 1986. It became fully independent from Britain in 1971.

How to recognise it

White on the left with five red triangles creating a serrated division. Qatar is similar but has maroon, not red.

Did you know?

Bahrain was the first country in the Persian Gulf to discover oil, in 1932.

Easily confused with

Bahrain's flag is often mixed up with these. Learn to tell them apart:

Qatar

Flag history of Bahrain

Every flag that has flown over Bahrain, from today back through time.

2002–present

Kingdom of Bahrain (five points)

When Bahrain upgraded from Emirate to Kingdom in 2002, the serrated white-red border — traditionally with many points — was reduced to exactly five triangular points representing the Five Pillars of Islam. The design retains Bahrain's traditional red-and-white colour scheme: white for peace; red for the blood of battles against foreign invaders. Bahrain was one of the first Gulf states to discover oil (1932) and one of the first to see reserves begin to deplete.

1820–2002

Emirate of Bahrain (multiple points)

For most of its modern history, Bahrain's flag was simply red, the traditional Kharijite colour of Gulf rulers. The white serrated border was added by treaty with Britain in 1820 to distinguish Bahraini ships as peaceful. The number of serrations varied over the decades — at different times the border had 28, 16, or other numbers of points — before standardisation in 1972 fixed it at 28 and the 2002 reform reduced it to five.