By Kate Mitchell » “The golden-dusted roads which cross it are broad and shaded on either side by long forests of date palms, deepening into an impenetrable greenness, cool with the sound of wind among the great leaves and the tinkling water.”

Written by Aubrey Herbert, of Bahrain in 1905, this description illustrates immediately why Bahrain was an important island within the Gulf. Geographically well placed for trade with India, complete with a plentiful natural water supply, Bahrain was allowed the production of dates which were not easily or even possibly grown elsewhere. Bahrain therefore had its first natural export.

The second was the Pearl. As we know from any history, a certain amount of industrialisation has to occur in order to change the momentum and economy of a civlisation and for Bahrain it was the discovery of oil in 1932 that brought about this change. This was followed by diversification into refining, ship repairing and aluminium smelting, and when combined with a nascent financial sector, Bahrain had the beginnings of the international, prosperous country that we now know.

In order to appreciate the wide ranging and far reaching changes that have occurred over the past century I want to detail exactly how life was at this time.

By Lynn Collins » When I arrived in Bahrain from Scotland with my parents and my younger brother in August 1951 I immediately felt very much at home – a feeling that is still with me some 50 years later.