Simplify the following text for a Grade 11 native English-speaking person.
Original: Inhabited since ancient times , Bahrain occupies a strategic location in the Persian Gulf that has been ruled and influenced by the Assyrians , Babylonians , Persians and the Arabs , under whom the island became Islamic .
Simplified: It has been ruled and influenced by the Assyrians , Babylonians , Greeks , Persians , and the Arabs , who made the island Muslim .