until 1521, bahrain also ruled al-hasa and qatif (both are now the eastern province of saudi arabia) and awal (now the bahrain islands). the country had all of the land from what is now kuwait to oman. this was called "iqlim al-bahrain" (province of bahrain). in 1521, the portuguese took awal (now bahrain) from the rest and since then the name of bahrain only means today's bahrain.