Page 55 - Histories of City and State in the Persian Gulf_Neat

Indigenous state traditions and the dialectics of urbanisation 35

1 Children with barasti in the background surrounded by a stone wall,
Manama mid 1930s

The proliferation of barasti settlements in the outskirts of Manama and
Muharraq during the pearl and trade boom of the last quarter of the nine-
teenth century constituted the most conspicuous phenomenon of pre-oil
urbanisation. Inhabited by overseas and rural immigrants, these veritable
shanty towns epitomised the deepening class divisions which separated the
urban workforce from mercantile and tribal communities. The boom of
‘informal’ housing and the overall better living conditions of the urban
population also led to development of different building styles. al-‘Arish
al-bahrani which predominated in the villages was simpler in structure and
built with cheaper materials, while the al-manami which was predominant
in Manama stood on a platform which insulated it from the ground. 50
Wealth from the pearl banks rapidly transformed the dwellings of the
members of pearling tribes from tents to masonry structures built in
timber, coral aggregate, gypsum and limestone. In the 1820s, only a
decade after its establishment, Muharraq displayed a fine architecture in
coral stone as pearl merchants built their mansions around internal court-
yards with elegant decorations in plaster work. Outside the more densely

50
al-‘Urayfi, al-‘Imarah al-Bahrayniyyah, pp. 10–13.