The Tree of Life or Shajarat-al-Hayat, as it is called in Arabic, is a lonely mesquite tree that stands in the heart of Bahrain’s desert.

It stands alone, on top of a 25-foot-high sandy hill, at the highest point in Bahrain, miles away from another natural tree and with no apparent source of water. With 32 feet in height, it has continued growing-despite the extreme temperatures, lack of fresh water, and nutrients.

The tree is abundantly covered in green leaves. Due to its age and the fact that it is the only major tree growing in the area, the tree is a local tourist attraction and is visited by approximately 65,000 people every year. The yellow resin is used to make candles, aromatics and gum; the beans are processed into meal, jam, and wine.

It is not certain how the tree survives. Bahrain has little to no rain throughout the year. Its roots are 50 meters deep, which may be enough to reach the water. Others say the tree has learned to extract moisture from grains of sand. Some claim that the tree is standing in what was once the Garden of Eden, and so has a more mystical source of water.

In 2009, the tree was nominated to the New 7 Wonders of Nature list, but it did not finish on the list.

In October 2010, archaeologists unearthed 500-year-old pottery and other artefacts in the vicinity of the tree. A soil and dendrochronology analysis conducted in the 1990s concluded that the tree was an Acacia planted in 1582.

Here is a video if you want a closer look at it, it is in Indonesian, but they get some nice footage of the tree

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gl-w4FwoNWU

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  • JuryNullification [he/him]
    ·
    2 years ago

    Fr tho, I just finished The Conditions of the Working Class in England in 1844 and no one wants to talk about how awful shit was with me :angry-hex:

    Anyway, I want to do something similar. I’m thinking a collaborative website with interviews, pictures, and data. Idk if I’ll make anything of this idea, but I think it would be cool to make a Conditions of the Working Class in the US in <current year> as a resource to show the worst conditions of society and radicalize people.

    • Frank [he/him, he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      We get taught about the industrial revolution as this cool thing where they invented technology instead of a slow burning, decades long act of mass killing and enslavement.

    • ComradeLove [he/him, comrade/them]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Did you see that John Oliver a couple weeks ago about migrant farm workers in the U.S.A.? There is no moral consumption under capitalism.