50 free Bahrain trivia questions with answers — geography quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Bahrain is the third-smallest country in Asia, an archipelago of some 33 natural islands (plus dozens of artificial ones) tucked between Saudi Arabia and Qatar. It has been famous for something in every era: the paradise-land of Dilmun in Sumerian myth, the finest pearls in the world for two thousand years, the first oil struck on the Arabian side of the Gulf, and today a Formula One race under floodlights and a skyscraper with wind turbines built into it. This quiz covers the whole island: geography (what do the "two seas" in the name mean?), ancient and modern history (Portuguese forts, the Al Khalifa, independence in 1971, the 2011 uprising), symbols (why the flag has five points, why the dinar is worth so much), food, sport, wildlife and the causeway that links it to the mainland. It starts easy and gets genuinely hard toward the end. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia and other reference pages before publishing.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the capital and largest city of Bahrain?
Manama
Manama was named Arab Capital of Culture in 2012.
Q 02Bahrain is connected by the King Fahd Causeway to which neighbouring country?
Saudi Arabia
The 25 km link opened in 1986 and was the first bridge joining an island nation to its nearest continent.
Q 03The name Bahrain is Arabic for what?
The two seas
Which two seas is still debated: possibly the salt water of the Gulf and the fresh water that bubbles up from springs beneath it.
Q 04Bahrain is the third-smallest nation in Asia. Which two are smaller?
Maldives and Singapore
Land reclamation has actually made Bahrain bigger, from 665 to about 780 square kilometres.
Q 05Which Bronze Age trading civilisation linking Mesopotamia and the Indus was centred on Bahrain?
Dilmun
Sumerian myth described it as a paradise without sickness or death.
Q 06Which biblical story may Sumerian myths of Bahrain as an ageless, predator-free paradise have inspired?
The Garden of Eden
The tale of Enki and Ninhursag is one of the oldest paradise myths on record.
Q 07The ancient Greeks knew Bahrain by which name, when Alexander's admiral Nearchus landed there?
Tylos
It is thought to be a Hellenised form of Tilmun; the island's Greek-era coins showed a seated Zeus.
Q 08Which sect seized Bahrain in 899 and later stole the Black Stone from Mecca, holding it for over 20 years?
The Qarmatians
The stone was returned in 951, tossed into a mosque in Kufa with a note reading "By command we took it, and by command we have brought it back."
Q 09Which European power ruled Bahrain from 1521 until it was expelled by Shah Abbas of Persia in 1602?
Portugal
Their fort still stands on the tell at Qal'at al-Bahrain, which is why the site is also called the Portuguese Fort.
Q 10Which royal family has ruled Bahrain since capturing it in 1783?
Al Khalifa
They came from the Bani Utbah tribal alliance and were based at Zubarah in what is now Qatar before crossing to the islands.
Q 11Bahrain declared independence from Britain in which year?
1971
The Shah of Iran had claimed the islands, but accepted a UN-supervised referendum first.
Q 12In 2002 Bahrain changed its formal name from the State of Bahrain to what?
A kingdom
The ruler's title changed from Emir to King at the same moment.
Q 13Bahrain's 2011 protests centred on which capital landmark, whose monument was later demolished?
Pearl Roundabout
The uprising is also known as the 14 February uprising; Saudi and Emirati troops entered the country a month later.
Q 21Which currency did the Bahraini dinar replace when it was introduced in 1965?
The Gulf rupee
Ten rupees bought one dinar; Abu Dhabi also used the Bahraini dinar until switching to the dirham in 1973.
Q 22Bahrain's highest point, Jabal ad Dukhan, rises to only about how high?
134 m
The name means Mountain of Smoke, for the haze that gathers around it on humid days; the first oil well sits below it.
Q 23Bahrain's Tree of Life, a lone mesquite over 400 years old, is remarkable because it grows where?
In barren desert with no visible water source
Q 14Bahrain was the first place on the Arabian side of the Persian Gulf to discover oil. In what year?
1932
The strike, below Jabal ad Dukhan, came before its neighbours', and Bahrain later diversified into banking as the oil ran low.
Q 15Before oil, Bahrain was famed for which industry, the world's finest into the 19th century?
Pearl fisheries
Around 400 vessels worked the oyster beds before World War I; Japanese cultured pearls later killed the trade.
Q 16In which year did the Bahrain Pearling Path become the country's second World Heritage Site?
2012
It links three oyster beds, a seashore fort and 17 historic merchant houses.
Q 17Qal'at al-Bahrain, the country's first World Heritage Site, is a tell with occupation going back to about when?
2300 BC
Seven stratified layers include Kassites, Greeks, Portuguese and Persians, making it the oldest fortification in the Gulf.
Q 18What do the five white points on Bahrain's serrated flag represent?
The pillars of Islam
A serrated edge was added in 1932 to distinguish it from neighbours; Qatar's similar flag is maroon with nine points.
Q 19Bahrain's flag is often confused with the flag of which neighbour, which is maroon with nine points?
Qatar
White was first added to Bahrain's plain red flag in 1820, to distinguish treaty ships from pirates.
Q 20The Bahraini dinar is divided into how many fils?
1,000
Prices are written with three decimal places; it is the world's second-most valuable currency unit after Kuwait's dinar.
Its roots reach some 50 metres down, which may explain the mystery.
Q 24Bahrain's national animal is which antelope, once hunted to extinction on the island?
Arabian oryx
It was the first animal ever to move back from "extinct in the wild" to merely "vulnerable" on the IUCN list, in 2011.
Q 25The Hawar Islands host the world's largest breeding colony of which seabird?
Socotra cormorant
Up to 100,000 pairs nest there; the surrounding seas also hold the world's second-largest dugong gathering after Australia's.
Q 26A territorial dispute over the Hawar Islands between Bahrain and Qatar was settled in 2001 by which body?
The International Court of Justice
The islands lie barely 2 km from Qatar's coast but about 19 km from Bahrain's main islands; Bahrain kept them.
Q 27Bahrain hosted the first Formula One Grand Prix in the Middle East in which year?
2004
The circuit at Sakhir was designed by Hermann Tilke, who also drew Malaysia's Sepang.
Q 28Since 2014, the Bahrain Grand Prix has been held in what unusual way?
At night under floodlights
It became F1's second night race after Singapore; Lewis Hamilton won the first floodlit edition.
Q 29Which year's Bahrain Grand Prix was cancelled because of anti-government protests?
2011
The race was moved to Malaysia in 2026 as well, that time because of the war with Iran.
Q 30The first corner of the Bahrain International Circuit was renamed in 2014 after which driver?
Michael Schumacher
It came weeks after his near-fatal skiing accident; he had won the circuit's inaugural race a decade earlier.