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Qatar (Arabic: قطر ; IPA: [ˈqɑtˁɑr],[1] local pronunciation: giṭar),[2] officially the State of Qatar (Arabic: دولة قطر transliterated as Dawlat Qatar), is an Arab emirate in Southwest Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the larger Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south; otherwise the Persian Gulf surrounds the state.
Etymology
The name "Qatar" may derive from the same Arabic root as qatura, which means "to exude." The word Qatura traces to the Arabic qatran meaning "tar" or "resin", which relates to the country's rich resources in petroleum and natural gas.[3]
Other sources say the name may derive from "Qatara", believed to refer to the Qatari town of Zubara, an important trading port and town in the region in ancient times. The word "Qatara" first appeared on Ptolemy's map of the Arabian Peninsula.[citation needed]
In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced IPA: [ˈqɑtˁɑr], while the local dialect pronounces it giṭar[2]
In English-language broadcast media within Qatar—for example,
television commercials for Qatar Airways and advertisements concerning
economic development in Qatar—the name is pronounced "KA-tar", with a
distinct differentiation between the syllables from the forming of the
't' sound.
History
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Zubara fort, in northeastern Qatar
During the pre-Islamic era, the peninsula was often dominated by various Persian dynasties, the last of which (the Sasanians) included the Qatar peninsula, which they called Meshmahig ("Big Island"), in their province of Bahran/Bahrain with its capital at Shirin (probably, the modern Qatif). This province included the island of Bahrain and the costal regions of modern Saudi Arabia.
In the Islamic era, Qatar was one of the earliest locales occupied by the Muslims. Qarmatians arrived in the area very early during the Islamic era and spread their influence widely, as they did in the neighboring Hasa region. In medieval times, Qatar was more often than not independent and a participant in the great Persian Gulf-Indian Ocean commerce. Many races and ideas were introduced into the peninsula from Africa, South and Southeast Asia, as well as the Malay archipelago.
Today, the traces of these early interactions with the oceanic world of
the Indian Ocean survive in the small minorities of races, peoples,
languages and religions, such as the presence of Africans and Shihus.
After centuries-long domination by the Ottoman and British empires, Qatar became an independent state on September 3, 1971.
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 Saud (which would later ascend thrones of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia respectively) swept through the Arabian peninsula and camped on the coasts within small fishing and pearling villages.
The British initially sought out Qatar and the Persian Gulf as an intermediary vantage point en route to their colonial interests in India, although the discovery of oil and other hydrocarbons
in the early twentieth century would re-invigorate their interest.
During the nineteenth century, the time of Britain’s formative ventures
into the region, the Al Khalifa clan reigned over the Northern Qatari peninsula from the nearby island of Bahrain to the west.
Although Qatar had the legal status of a dependency,
resentment festered against the Bahraini Al Khalifas along the eastern
seaboard of the Qatari peninsula. In 1867, the Al Khalifas launched a
successful effort to quash the Qatari rebels, sending a massive naval
force to Wakrah. However, the Bahraini aggression was in violation on the 1820 Anglo-Bahraini Treaty.
The diplomatic response of the British to this violation set into
motion the political forces that would eventuate in the founding of the
state of Qatar. In addition to censuring Bahrain for its breach of agreement, the British Protectorate (per Colonel Lewis Pelly) asked to negotiate
with a representative from Qatar. The request carried with it a tacit
recognition of Qatar’s status as distinct from Bahrain. The Qataris
chose as their negotiator the respected entrepreneur and long-time resident of Doha, Muhammed bin Thani. His clan, the Al Thanis,
had taken relatively little part in Gulf politics, but the diplomatic
foray ensured their participation in the movement towards independence and their hegemony as the future ruling family, a dynasty
that continues to this day. The results of the negotiations left Qatar
with a new-found sense of political selfhood, although it did not gain
official standing as a British protectorate until 1916.
The reach of the British Empire diminished after the Second World War, especially following Indian independence
in 1947. Pressure for a British withdrawal from the Arab emirates in
the Persian Gulf increased during the 1950s, and the British welcomed Kuwait's
declaration of independence in 1961. When Britain officially announced
in 1968 that it would disengage politically (though not economically)
from the Persian Gulf in three years' time, Qatar joined Bahrain and
seven other Trucial States in a federation.
Regional disputes, however, quickly compelled Qatar to resign and
declare independence from the coalition that would evolve into the
seven-emirate United Arab Emirates. On September 3, 1971, Qatar became an independent sovereign state.
In 1991, Qatar played a significant role in the Gulf War, particularly during the Battle of Khafji in which Qatari tanks rolled through the streets of the town providing fire support for Saudi Arabian National Guard units which were fighting with units of the Iraqi Army. Qatar also allowed Coalition troops from Canada to use the country as an airbase to launch aircraft on CAP duty.
Since 1995, Emir Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani has ruled Qatar, seizing control of the country from his father Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani while the latter vacationed in Switzerland. Under Emir Hamad, Qatar has experienced a notable amount of sociopolitical liberalization, including the endorsement of women's suffrage or right to vote, drafting a new constitution, and the launch of Al Jazeera, a leading English and Arabic news source which operates a website and satellite television news channel.
The International Monetary Fund states that Qatar has the highest GDP per capita in the world, followed by Luxembourg. The World Factbook ranks Qatar at second, following Luxembourg.
Qatar served as the headquarters and one of the main launching sites of the US invasion of Iraq [5] in 2003.
In 2005, a suicide-bombing killed a British teacher at the Doha Players Theatre, shocking for a country that had not previously experienced acts of terrorism.
It is not clear if the bombing was committed by an organised terrorist
group, and although the investigation is ongoing there are indications
that the attack was the work of an individual, not a group.[citation needed]
Administrative divisions
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Qatar is divided into ten municipalities (Arabic: baladiyah), also occasionally or rarely translated as governorates or provinces:
- Ad Dawhah
- Al Ghuwariyah
- Al Jumaliyah
- Al Khawr
- Al Wakrah
- Ar Rayyan
- Jariyan al Batnah
- Ash Shamal
- Umm Salal
- Mesaieed
Economy
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Before the discovery of oil, the economy of the Qatari region focused on fishing and pearling. After the introduction of the Japanese cultured pearl onto the world market in the 1920s and 1930s, Qatar's pearling industry faltered. However, the discovery of oil, beginning in the 1940s, completely transformed the state's economy. Now the country has a high standard of living, with ma
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