__NOTOC__ Arad ( ar, عراد) is a town in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

, located on Muharraq Island. It was originally a small

farming Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled peopl ...

village inhabited by

Baharna The Baharna ( ar, بحارنة) are the indigenous Shia Muslim inhabitants of Bahrain who inhabited the area before the arrival of Sunni Muslim Arab tribes from Najd, particularly by Banu Utbah in the 18th century which the Bahraini royal fami ...

Shia Shīʿa Islam or Shīʿīsm is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that the Islamic prophet Muhammad designated ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib as his successor (''khalīfa'') and the Imam (spiritual and political leader) after him, mo ...

, but later expanded to include new middle-class housing, which brought with it a large Sunni population.

Geography

Arad lies east of Muharraq City and northwest of the town of Hidd. It was originally a separate island (called Arad Island) but was joined to Muharraq over the course of the 20th century through land reclamation.

Arad Bay

The town is home to Arad Bay, a protected

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

area and recreational park. Opened in 2010, the 10 million BHD park covers 3.3km of walkways and includes four bridges. The bay is home to wildlife including

plankton Plankton are the diverse collection of organisms found in water (or air) that are unable to propel themselves against a current (or wind). The individual organisms constituting plankton are called plankters. In the ocean, they provide a crucia ...

, fish, seaweed, in addition to seasonal migratory birds such as greater flamingoes. Greater flamingos (Phoenicopterus roseus)

History

The name Arad comes from the Greek word Arados, the Greek name for Muharraq island alongside

Tylos Tylos ( grc, Τύλος) was the Greek exonym of ancient Bahrain in the classical era, during which the island was a center of maritime trade and pearling in the Eurythraean Sea.Curtis E. Larsen, ''Life and Land Use on the Bahrain Islands: The ...

for the main Bahrain island. It was believed that Arados was originally a

Phoenicia Phoenicia () was an ancient thalassocratic civilization originating in the Levant region of the eastern Mediterranean, primarily located in modern Lebanon. The territory of the Phoenician city-states extended and shrank throughout their histor ...

n settlement, as described by the Greek historian Strabo. The

Arad Fort __NOTOC__ Arad Fort ( ar, قلعة عراد, ''Qal'at 'Arad'') is a 15th-century fort in Arad, Bahrain. Formerly guarding a separate island of its own, the fort and its surroundings have since been joined to Muharraq Island. Arad Fort was built ...

, the Al Muharraq Stadium, and the headquarters of the Islamic Society (Bahrain) are located in the town.

Governance

The town is administered under the

Muharraq Governorate The Muharraq Governorate ( ar, محافظة المحرق, Muḥāfaẓat al-Muḥarraq) is one of the four governorates of Bahrain. It is now co-extensive with the municipality of Al Muharraq and with Muharraq Island together with outlying ...

Education

The Bahraini

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

operates government schools nationwide. Within the Arad area, they operate boys schools include Al Kawarzmi Primary Boys School, Al-Dair Primary Boys School, Arad Primary Boys School, and Arad Primary Intermediate Boys School. Girls schools include Al Oroba Primary Girls School, Arad Intermediate Girls School, and Arad Primary Girls School.Directory
." Ministry of Education. Retrieved on 8 September 2009.

References

Populated places in Bahrain {{Bahrain-geo-stub