The 1717 Omani invasion of Bahrain was the invasion of Bahrain in 1717 by the Imamate of Oman, bringing an end to the 115-year rule by the declining Safavid dynasty. Following the Afghan invasion of Iran at the beginning of the 18th century which weakened the Safavids, the Omani forces were able to undermine Safavid rule in Bahrain and their actions culminated in victory for the Yaruba dynasty rulers of Oman.
Bahraini theologian, Sheikh Yusuf Al Bahrani, provided his personal account of the invasion in his biographical dictionary of Shia scholars, Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn (The Pearl of Bahrain):
However, when the Omanis later relinquished control, it did not bring peace to Bahrain. The political weakness of Persia meant that the islands were soon invaded by the Huwala, who Al Bahrani said 'ruined' Bahrain.The Autobiography of Yūsuf al-Bahrānī (1696–1772) from Lu’lu’at al-Baḥrayn, from the final chapter An Account of the Life of the Author and the Events That Have Befallen Him featured in Interpreting the Self, Autobiography in the Arabic Literary Tradition, Edited by Dwight F. Reynolds, University of California Press Berkeley 2001 p221 Almost constant warfare between various Sunni naval powers, the Omanis and then the Persians under Nadir Shah and Karim Khan Zand laid waste to much of Bahrain, while the high taxes imposed by the Omanis drove out the pearl merchants and the pearl divers. Danish German Arabist Carsten Niebuhr found in 1763 that Bahrain's 360 towns and villages had, through warfare and economic distress, been reduced to only 60.Juan Cole, Sacred Space and Holy War, IB Tauris, 2007 p52
From 1783 Bahrain was ruled by a succession of sheikhs from the House of Al-Khalifa. They continue to rule Bahrain to this day.
See also History of Bahrain
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