Maka was a
satrapy (province) of the
Achaemenid Empire and later a satrapy of the
Parthian and
Sassanian empires (known as
Mazun), corresponding to modern day
Bahrain,
Qatar, and
United Arab Emirates, plus the northern half of
Oman and also
Balochistan and
Sindh province of
Pakistan. Maka was already a part of the Achaemenid empire before
Darius the Great came to power in 522 BC, because it's mentioned in the
Behistun inscription that it was already there when he inherited the throne. It is possible (because Cambyses and Smerdis are not known to have been there) that it was conquered by
Cyrus the Great in 542 BC. He is known to have campaigned on the other side of the
Persian Gulf (he seems to have lost most of his army in the
Gedrosian Desert). It continued to be a satrapy until
Alexander's conquest of
Persia, at which point it became independent. According to
Herodotus, the "Mykians" belonged to the same tax district as the
Drangians, Thamanaeans, Utians, Sagartians and "those deported to the Persian Gulf".