Qatar Information

Qatar has become one of the newer emirates in the Arabian Peninsula. After domination by Persians for thousands of years and more recently by Bahrain, by the Ottoman Turks, and by the British, Qatar became an independent state on September 3, 1971. Unlike most nearby emirates, Qatar declined to become part of either the United Arab Emirates or of Saudi Arabia. Although the peninsular land mass that makes up Qatar has sustained humans for thousands of years, for the bulk of its history the arid climate fostered only short-term settlements by nomadic tribes. Clans such as the Al Khalifa and the Al Said (which would later ascend the thrones of Bahrain and of Saudi Arabia respectively) swept through the Arabian peninsula and camped on the coasts within small fishing and pearling villages. The clans battled each other for lucrative oyster beds and lands, frequently forming and breaking coalitions with one another in their attempts to establish territorial supremacy.