Galali (in local dialect) or Qalali in
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic ( ar, links=no, ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْفُصْحَىٰ, al-ʿarabīyah al-fuṣḥā) or Quranic Arabic is the standardized literary form of Arabic used from the 7th century and throughout the Middle Ages, most notab ...
( ar, قلالي) is a small area in the Kingdom of
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
Muharraq Island (), formerly known as Moharek, is the second largest island in the archipelago of Bahrain after Bahrain Island. It lies east of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island.
History
It is named after Muharraq City, the former capital ...
, north of
Muharraq
Muharraq ( ar, المحرق, al-Muḥarraq) is Bahrain's third largest city and served as its capital until 1932 when it was replaced by Manama. The population of Muharraq in 2012 was 176,583.
The city is located on Muharraq Island. Bahrain Int ...
City. Galali used to be the farthest north point of Bahrain before the development of the manmade artificial islands of
Amwaj Islands
Amwaj Islands ( ar, جزر أمواج; transliterated: Juzur Amwaj) are a group of man-made islands, located in the Persian Gulf to the northeast of Bahrain, near the coast of Muharraq island. They lie northeast of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain ...
.
Around 2000 people used to live in Galali (1991 census). Today, Galali is 16 times bigger than it was 25 years ago because of reclamation of sea.
The inhabitants of the village are mostly
Sunni
Sunni Islam () is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims. Its name comes from the word '' Sunnah'', referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagr ...
Arabs,
Arabized Persians, and
African-Bahrainis.
Before the
discovery of oil in Bahrain
As its name suggests, it is the first oil well in the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf and is located in Bahrain. The well is situated below Jebel Dukhan. It was discovered and operated by Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO), established in 1929 ...
, most of the town's inhabitants were seamen who were involved in the
pearl diving
Pearl hunting, also known as pearling, is the activity of recovering pearls from wild molluscs, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or freshwater. Pearl hunting was prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and Japan for thousands of years. On the ...
and fishing industry.
Between 1920 and 1925 many people got infected with plague that was the reason that led to the migration of population and make it empty, but after several years they have come back.
Etymology
Galali refers to a group of cliffs in dialectal Arabic.
Education
The
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. Galali Primary Boys School and Roquya Primary Girls School are in Galali.
Directory
. Ministry of Education. Retrieved on 8 September 2009.
References
Populated places in Bahrain
{{Bahrain-geo-stub