History History

Life in Khor Bay was punctuated by flint knapping, shellfish gathering, the production of fish for drying and transport, and domestic activities. Their relationship with Obedian Mesopotamia, whose southernmost zone of influence they represent, is indisputable. As an island, then a peninsula, Qatar played an important role in the rich prehistory of the Middle East, even if its soil bears no trace of monumental architecture.

Some texts mention a region made up of a long sea front, islands as well as a large peninsula called "Kutara" which supplied the Mesopotamian kingdoms with fine pearls, wood, precious stones, copper and various goods. The future Qatar. The coast is integrated into the South Mesopotamian civilization basin, as evidenced by pottery found around Mesaieed. This reveals links with the Obeid culture, flourishing from the south of present-day Iraq to the north of the Persian Gulf. The region was influenced by all the great civilizations that marked the ancient East, from the Achaemenid Persians to the Alexandrian and Seleucid civilizations, and then again by the Persians with the Sassanids

The Prophet Muhammad received several delegations from Bahrain. This region is mentioned in the texts at this time because the Sassanid Christian community, with its leader al-Mundhir al-Sawa, converted to Islam. Muhammad's Arab representative governor, al-'Ala' ibn al-Hadrami, was responsible for collecting taxes from part of the community that had not converted to the new religion. Umayyad poetry mentions Qatar, and Yaqut cites a verse by Djarir commenting on tribal struggles in the early Islamic period.

When the coastal city of Basra (now Basra in Iraq) was founded, it initiated the creation of new cities, the next being Kufa. The northern end of the Gulf became not only an important transit center, but also a military base for the conquest of Persia. During this same period, both shores of the Gulf came under the control of the Umayyad dynasty.

The transfer of the capital function from Damascus to Baghdad under the new dynasty that reigned from 750 onwards (and for more than five centuries) strengthened interest in the Gulf and its bordering countries during this period.

At the beginning of the so-called "Islamic period", Qatar forged strong links with the Baghdad caliphate. The remains of an Abbasid fort have been found at Murwab, near Zubarah. It was the great discoveries that brought the region into direct and lasting contact with Europeans. The Gulf was an important trade route to southern Arabia, East Africa, India and China, parallel to the Red Sea route, even before the advent of Islam. The sources mention a very broad region of the Gulf under the name of Bahrain, covering a geographical area including present-day Qatif, 'Uqair (cities on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia), the island of Bahrain itself and Qatar. The notion of territory is "shifting", as the population is nomadic and tribal territories can fluctuate according to the routes taken and their rivalries.

Two fractions of the 'Abd al-Qays tribe, the Djahima bin Awf, and the Muharib, who hold the port of Uqayr, occupy this region. They share the province of Bahrain with a rival fraction of the Tamin tribe, the Sa'ad. The settlements of Qatif and al-Hasa were founded during this period of sedentarization.

Travelers' accounts (merchants, sailors or ship's captains) such as the relation de la Chine et de l'Inde, written in 851, or the supplement to the relation de la Chine et de l'Inde, written in the ^10th century, only concern the expeditions themselves and not the description of navigation around Arabia. Literary sources such as the Thousand and One Nights and Sindbad's Travels are well known, but it is essential to turn to Arab geographers. Ibn Khurdadhbih's Book of Roads and Kingdoms is the first Arabic prose source to mention Qatar, briefly indicating that it was one of the stages on the route linking Basra to the province of Oman (^mid-9th century). The port in the province of Bahrain is considered to be the "port" serving Oman, India and China.

The Qarmates, a Shiite movement opposed to the ruling Abbasids, conquered Al Hassa (in Saudi Arabia) and its region in 899. In 1077, the Qarmate state was overthrown by a new dynasty, the Abd al-Qays, the Uyunids, who reigned over this provincial territory until 1245, when Baghdad fell.

A large part of eastern Arabia was controlled by the Usfurids in 1253, but the Prince of Ormuz of the Jabrid dynasty seized it in 1320 for his pearls.

The Portuguese take Hormuz. Located at the entrance to the Persian Gulf, they dominated it for a century and a half.

An Anglo-Persian coalition dislodged the Portuguese from Hormuz. But the great game continued on land, with the presence of the Ottoman Empire, which claimed suzerainty over the Qatari peninsula, and at sea, with the presence of the Dutch and then English navies.

The al-Khalifa dynasty settled in Zubarah. This fortress in the northwest of the Qatari peninsula was the seat of the dynasty, which exercised its authority over part of the great al-Na'im tribe. But the population of the cities of Doha and al-Wakra repeatedly opposed their authority. In response, the al-Khalifa launched a large-scale naval battle without respecting the agreement reached with the British, who wanted a peaceful coexistence between the two sides. The English Crown had to step in to restore peace, and concluded an agreement obliging the belligerents to have recourse to their arbitration in case of dispute. A new step was taken as the authority of Sheikh Muhammad ben Thani was implicitly recognized over the territory. Thus was born the al-Thani dynasty

A general peace treaty was signed. While the sheikhs exercised real power over the inhabitants of the peninsula, the British Empire, anxious to maintain maritime security on the route to the Indian Empire, imposed this peace treaty on the coastal tribes. This founding act, which gave rise to the name "Truce Coast", marked the beginning of English hegemony in the Persian Gulf.

The bloody Qatar-Bahrain war, also known as the Qatari War of Independence, pitted Bahrain and Abu Dhabi against Qatar. Faced with a flagrant violation of the 1835 maritime truce, Great Britain intervened to negotiate a truce between the two emirates, but the loss of life was colossal.

He is recognized by the British Empire as the ruler of semi-independent Qatar. He is a man of great influence who has succeeded in rallying the tribes around him.

The peninsula was then incorporated into the province of Najd, and Jassim bin Mohammed was appointed Kaymakam (deputy governor).

The battle of al-Wajbah, won over Ottoman troops by the son Sheikh Jassim (or Qasim) ben Muhammad, marked a decisive turning point in the country's history.

The Ottomans renounce their sovereignty over Qatar.

At the beginning of the ^20th century, Qatar was limited to a few very poor villages, and its economy was essentially based on the pearl industry. The population was mainly made up of sedentary tribes, dominated by twenty-five clans, with a few nomadic tribes. The population is predominantly Sunni, with a core of Arab Sunnis of Iranian origin, also known as the hawâla (around 500) and Persian Shiites (around 450), but the tribal populations living in Doha and al-Wakra are nomadic and highly mobile, and even those who are sedentary often travel. This makes it difficult for the al-Thani family to reign supreme and control these shifting populations. Unlike the families settled in Kuwait, who form a real merchant class, it does not emerge in Qatar, where trade is too disorganized and restricted.

The agreement signed between Sheikh 'Abd Allah ben Qasim (1913-1949), grandson of the dynasty's founder, and the British Government of India placed Qatar on an equal footing with the other principalities. Sheikh 'Abd Allah is recognized as the official independent ruler of Qatar. With this agreement, Bahrain was stripped of its authority over the eastern shore of the Qatari peninsula. However, the al-Thani family found it difficult to establish themselves as a central authority over the small territory of the peninsula, due to internal divisions within their large family. Throughout his reign, these divisions forced Sheikh 'Abd Allah to place the sovereignty of his territory in the hands of the British government in order to emancipate himself from his own family.

The stock market crash of the 1930s, and above all the appearance of the Japanese cultured pearl, plunged the Qatari economy into an unprecedented economic slump. An earthquake that caused a profound rupture in the balance of society.

The effects of the earthquake became dramatic, coupled with those of the embargo imposed by Bahrain in 1937. In the same year, the British began prospecting for oil deposits in Al Zubarah, an area claimed by Bahrain for historical reasons and by the Emir of Qatar due to its inclusion in the Qatari peninsula.

The new resource, oil, was discovered on the west coast, near the town of Dukhan, but development was halted by the outbreak of the Second World War.

It was only with the start of oil exports that Qatar was able to embark on a development program. By the time Qatari oil began to be exported, Doha was bloodless, having been emptied of almost half its inhabitants as a result of the severe economic crisis and the devastating effects of the Bahrain embargo. On the eve of the oil market, this mass exodus left the ruling al-Thani family in full possession of the city's destiny, despite the persistent dissensions within it.

The United Kingdom abandoned its protectorate over the Gulf principalities.

Qatar adopted a provisional constitution. After considering joining a federation of Gulf emirates for a time, Khalifa ben Hamad Al Thani became Prime Minister on May 29, 1970.

With the 9 states unable to agree on the terms of union, Qatar demanded independence and was recognized as such on September 3, 1971. It was recognized by most Arab countries, and joined the United Nations and the Arab League the same year.

Natural gas production is starting. Everything is happening in the north of Qatar where a huge gas field has been located. This oil field has huge reserves, more than 7,000 km3, but the potential could be more than 14,000 km3! Research is being carried out in depth.

The son ousted his father Sheikh Khalifa from the throne one day while the latter was in Geneva, saying he wanted to "put an end to a period of political and financial drift". This was followed by some fifteen years of frenetic investment and diplomatic activism, which lifted this Persian Gulf peninsula out of anonymity. Qatar is now known to all, and many are those who succumb to its mounds of gold, with little or no scruples, in a variety of fields, from religion to sports and art.

Qatar agrees to offer the Hawar Islands disputed by Bahrain in exchange for a halt to territorial claims on the Qatari peninsula.

Qatar is chosen to host the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

Aged 34, he was previously in charge of the emirate's sports strategy. The transfer of power created quite a buzz: Tamim became the youngest head of state in the Arab world. Needless to say, Tamim's father continues to wield considerable influence, as does his second wife, Sheikha Moza Al Misnad, the new emir's mother and dynamic president of the Qatar Foundation, which is responsible for all the country's education and research issues. Sheikha Moza remains the country's undisputed first lady, followed by her daughter Sheikha al Mayassa. Nicknamed the "culture queen" and an influential patron of the arts on the international scene, she is also the president of the Qatar Authority Museum, which, according to Forbes, is responsible for the country's cultural policy, with a budget of one billion dollars.
The new emir intends to turn over a new leaf. His first move was to dismiss Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor al-Thani, Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, and CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority (Qatar's sovereign wealth fund). A minor revolution within the emirate. The new Prime Minister, Abdallah ben Nasser al-Thani, is the former Minister of State for Internal Affairs. A distant cousin of the former Emir. At the head of the economy is Prince Tamim, ex-director general of the Al-Jazeera satellite channel, Ahmed ben Jassim. A new, young and enterprising team that has to prove itself and, above all, deal with a tense local context. Political Islamism, long the spearhead of the Emirate, no longer enjoys good press in the region... In any case, the new Emir is pursuing a change of direction already negotiated and initiated by his father. Qatar, which claims to be open to the outside world, is pursuing its international policy while preserving its domestic traditions. The new Emir still has to free himself from his father's tutelage and "restore" his country's image.

The economic embargo imposed by Qatar's powerful neighbors (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt) is shaking up the geopolitical map of the Arabian Peninsula. In June 2017, through Kuwait, Qatar's neighbors transmitted a list of thirteen demands to Qatar, which appeared to be sine qua non conditions for a way out of the crisis: the closure of the Al Jazeera channel, the expulsion of all opponents of their respective regimes, the severance of diplomatic relations with Iran, the closure of the Turkish base, and an end to the "financing of terrorism", i.e. the Muslim Brotherhood. All this within ten days, accompanied by financial penalties and controls. Qatar described the demands as unrealistic and called for them to be revised. Two days after the injunction to break with Iran, Doha declared that it wanted to develop its relations with Teheran, in particular to solve the problems of the Islamic world. The embargo was immediately imposed.

At the same time, the Emir launched an emergency plan to guarantee the country's food security. Anecdotally, faced with the risk of a milk shortage, Qatar had some of its national airline's planes stripped to the bone... to import 14,000 cows! Never before seen in the history of aviation. The worst was only averted with the help of Turkey, Spain and, above all, Iran. Although numbers initially fell, they soon began to rise again. Qatar is keeping its economy afloat, thanks not only to liquefied gas but also to Qatar Airways, its airline.

The International Court of Justice rules in Qatar's favor. In the dispute with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and in its order, it requires the United Arab Emirates to respect the rights of Qataris on its soil.

Following mediation by Kuwait, Saudi Arabia lifted its restrictions on Qatar, and trade resumed with the reopening of airspace and land and sea borders. The six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) signed a "solidarity and stability" agreement in Saudi Arabia, designed to ease tensions between Qatar and its neighbors, in the presence of Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law and advisor. Faced with Iran's hardening foreign policy, Saudi Arabia ultimately prefers to close Sunni ranks. Little is known about the official agreements, but it would appear that the list of 13 demands has been dropped by Riyadh. Doha, in exchange, would have waived all legal proceedings in relation to this crisis. The lifting of the blockade was greeted with great relief by the people of Qatar.

From November 21 to December 18, 2022, the FIFA 2022 World Cup was held in Qatar.

Torrential rains have caused unprecedented flooding not only in Doha, but throughout the Persian Gulf.