Located on the island with the same name, Muharraq (literary "burned down" in Arabic) has long been a centre of religiosity, and even the capital of Bahrain until 1923, when it was replaced by Manama. Its origins goes back to the time of Dilmun (Telmun) 5,000 years ago, but the city became important during the era of Tylos, when Bahrain came under domination of the Seleucid Empire. By the 5th century AD, it had become a major centre of Nestorian Christianity. Taken by the Portuguese (1521) and then by the Persians (1602), Al-Muharraq passed to the control of the Āl Khalīfah dynasty in 1783. It developed as a trade centre, its harbour being the chief headquarters for the formerly important Bahraini pearl-diving industry, virtually extinct since the 1930s.
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