Isa ibn Salman al-Khalifa

Isa ibn Salman Al-Khalifa June 3 1933 March 6 1999 was emir of Bahrain from 1960 until his death. He became emir when his father, Emir Salman (also spelled Sulman), died.During his reign his country gained independence from Britain in 1971. The government of Bahrain had seriously considered joining the United Arab Emirates, but Isa had his country withdraw along with Qatar when he became dissatisfied with parts of its constitution. Isa then made moves toward establishing a form of parliamentary democracy, and a parliament was elected in 1973, but he dissolved it in 1975 as many were dissatisfied with it and many of its members did not support the ruling family. Isa never restored the parliament, and had to deal with protests from leftists and Shiite Muslims occasionally, which reached their peak in 1995. Isa was mostly dedicated to improving the economy, and he believed that his greatest achievement was supporting the building of a causeway connecting his island nation with Saudi Arabia. He was born and died in Bahrain's capital, Manama and was succeeded by his son, Hamad ibn Isa Al Khalifah.