Sitra ( ar, سترة or , ''As-Sitra''), also known as Sitrah ( ar, Jazīrat Sitrah, script=Latn) or Sitra Island ( ar, Jazīrat as-Sitra, script=Latn), is an

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in Bahrain. It lies south of the capital,

Manama Manama ( ar, المنامة ', Bahrani pronunciation: ) is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 200,000 people as of 2020. Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very di ...

, on

Bahrain Island Bahrain Island ( ar, جزيرة البحرين ''Jazīrah al-Baḥrayn''), also known as al-Awal Island and formerly as Bahrein, is the largest island within the archipelago of Bahrain, and forms the bulk of the country's land mass while hosting ...

History

;Conflict with Al Khalifa in 1782 In 1782, a conflict occurred between locals and a number of

Al Khalifa The House of Khalifa ( ar, آل خليفة, translit=Āl Khalīfah) is the ruling family of the Kingdom of Bahrain. The Al Khalifas profess Sunni Islam and belong to the Anizah tribe, some members of this tribe joined the Utub alliance which m ...

who came from

Zubara Zubarah ( ar, الزبارة), also referred to as Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah, is a ruined and ancient fort located on the north western coast of the Qatar peninsula in the Al Shamal municipality, about 105 km from the Qatari capital of Doha. ...

to buy supplies. The clashes resulted in deaths from both sides. ;Arab Spring During the Arab Spring, there was a big protest here. Many protesters were injured or killed. (See Day of Rage (Bahrain)).

Geography

The Island is located just east of

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a mediterranean sea in Western Asia. The bod ...

. It lies south of

and

Nabih Saleh Nabih Saleh ( ar, النبيه صالح) is an island of Bahrain in the Arabian Gulf. It lies in the Tubli Bay, east of Bahrain Island, and is south of the capital, Manama, on Bahrain Island. History The island is named for the formerly separat ...

. The island's western coast forms the boundary of

Tubli Bay Tubli Bay ( ar, خليج توبلي) (also known as the Gulf of Tubli) is a bay in the east of Bahrain, between Bahrain Island and Sitra island. The body of water is directly south of the Manama peninsula. The island of Nabih Saleh lies in the ba ...

. The island used to be covered in date palm groves and

farm A farm (also called an agricultural holding) is an area of land that is devoted primarily to agricultural processes with the primary objective of producing food and other crops; it is the basic facility in food production. The name is used ...

s, watered by several

freshwater spring A spring is a point of exit at which groundwater from an aquifer flows out on top of Earth's crust (pedosphere) and becomes surface water. It is a component of the hydrosphere. Springs have long been important for humans as a source of fres ...

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 ...

s used to line the western coast, however they have almost disappeared due to development.

Demography

Most of the inhabitants of the island live in nine historic villages: *

Wadyan Wadyan (Arabic: واديان) is a village in the island of Sitra, Bahrain. A branch of the National Bank of Bahrain and the Sitra police station are located in Wadyan. Also, the central market of Sitra island is located in Wadyan. In the past, this ...

Al Kharijiya Al-Kharijiya (Arabic: الخارجية) is the largest village in Sitra, Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Per ...

* Marquban *

Al Garrya Al-Garrya (Arabic: القرية) is a village on the island of Sitra, Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Pers ...

Mahazza Mahazza (Arabic: مهزة, ''Muhazza'') is a village in Sitra, Bahrain, located in the eastern coast of the island. The Portuguese consulate A consulate is the office of a consul. A type of diplomatic mission, it is usually subordinate to ...

Sufala Sufala (Arabic: سفالة، ''Sfala'') is a village in Sitra, 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 ...

Abul Aish Abul Aish (Arabic: ابو العيش) is a village in the island of Sitra, Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Pe ...

Halat Um al-Baidh Halat Um al-Baidh (Arabic: حالة أم البيض) is a town in the island of Sitra, Bahrain. The area was inhabited by 150 people in 1905.Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf, Oman and Central Arabia: Bahraini 1905 census Today it is inhabited by 100 p ...

(the location of the yacht club and Al Bandar resort) *

Al Hamriya AL, Al, Ål or al may stand for: Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Al (''Aladdin'') or Aladdin, the main character in Disney's ''Aladdin'' media * Al (''EastEnders''), a minor character in the British soap opera * Al (''Fullmetal ...

There is a massive land reclamation project called

East Sitra East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...

which increased the island size by 50% and has a new city built on it.

Economy

The island's economy used to be based on agriculture and fishing. The northern section of the island has been turned into an industrial area. Bapco oil storage reservoirs are located in the south. Sitra is also the terminus of the 42-km Dhahran-Sitra

natural gas Natural gas (also called fossil gas or simply gas) is a naturally occurring mixture of gaseous hydrocarbons consisting primarily of methane in addition to various smaller amounts of other higher alkanes. Low levels of trace gases like carbo ...

pipeline Pipeline may refer to: Electronics, computers and computing * Pipeline (computing), a chain of data-processing stages or a CPU optimization found on ** Instruction pipelining, a technique for implementing instruction-level parallelism within a s ...

, which connects it to Dahran in

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

. Several car and furniture showrooms also make up the new development on the island. The

Sitra Club Sitra Club ( ar, نادي سترة الثقافي والرياضي) is a sports club based in Sitra, Bahrain. The club was established in 1957. The main activities are football and basketball. The basketball and football teams competes in the ...

is a cultural and sports club for the island. Today Sitra handles Bahrain's entire petroleum production. It is the location of Port of Sitra. It is also the export center for the oil fields in northeastern

Education

Sitra is the site of many school campuses such as Al Noor International School and Indian School, Bahrain. The Applied Science University is located here.

Transportation

The

Sitra Causeway The Sitra Causeway consists of a series of bridges and causeways constructed in the Kingdom of Bahrain. The causeway connects the island of Nabih Saleh and Sitra, to the capital city Manama across Tubli Bay. Originally constructed in the early 1 ...

connects the north of the island to

and to Umm al Hussam (

) on

. Two small bridges on the south west of Sitra also joins Bahrain Island, near the villages of

Ma'ameer Ma'ameer ( ar, المعامير) is a village in Bahrain. Nationally, the village is known for its Industrial Area, which consists of the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) refinery and a large number of factories, production units such as Awal Rea ...

and

Eker Eker ( ar, العكر) is an area in Bahrain, located near the villages of Nuwaidrat, Ma'ameer and the island of Sitra. It is divided into 2 regions: East Eker and West Eker, with Shias making up the majority of the former's population.

Administration

The southern part of the island belongs to

Southern Governorate The Southern Governorate () has the largest area of the four governorates of Bahrain, and the smallest population (91,450). It includes parts of Bahrain's old municipalities – Al Mintaqah al Gharbiyah, Ar Rifa' wa al Mintaqah al Janubiya ...

and the northern part to Capital Governorate. Between 1990 and 2013 it was part of Central Governorate 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 ...

, but that is now dissolved. Between 1920 and 1990 it was part of Sitra Municipality.

Sitra Municipality

This was a municipality in Bahrain before they were re-organized as Governorates. The Sitra Municipality consisted of the island of Sitra and three villages close to it on the main island of Bahrain:

and

Nuwaidrat Nuwaidrat (Arabic: النويدرات) is a village located in Bahrain, close to Sitra; it was formerly part of the Sitra Municipality. History 1990s uprising During the 1990s Bahraini uprising, a policeman named Ibrahim al-Saeedi was killed in E ...

Image gallery

File:Un-bahrain.png, Map 1 File:Bahrain, administrative divisions 2014 - de - colored.svg, Map Districts File:Capital Governorate in Bahrain 2014.svg, District Map File:Southern Governorate in Bahrain 2014.svg, District Map File:BapcoTanks-SitraBahrain.jpg, Bapco Bahrain oil reservoirs in Sitra File:Sitra Wharf, 1940.jpg, Berth number 4 in Sitra

Wharf A wharf, quay (, also ), staith, or staithe is a structure on the shore of a harbour or on the bank of a river or canal where ships may dock to load and unload cargo or passengers. Such a structure includes one or more berths (mooring locatio ...

in 1940 File:Bahrain-Sitrah.png, Map of Bahrain showing Sitrah municipality File:Sitra_cemetery_-_Flickr_-_Al_Jazeera_English.jpg, Cemetery File:Women taking part in a pro-democracy sit in in Sitra.jpg, Women taking part in a pro-democracy sit-in in Sitra File:Bahrain map.png, Sitra (Sitrah), east of Manama, in Bahrain Sitra Island

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sitra Populated places in Bahrain Islands of Bahrain Artificial islands of Bahrain Former municipalities (regions) of Bahrain