ZUBARAH FORT

This fort is listed as a world heritage site by Unesco. Representative and asserting of the reigning power, it saw the last military paqueter 30 years ago before becoming a tourist site. There are explanatory panels, drawings, reconstructions, around the archaeology of the site and the history of pearl fishermen. The ex-fort of surveillance of the Bahraini "gesticulations" dates from the late 1930s, the time of Sheikh Abdullah. The quadrangular structure consists of three crenellated towers, a bastion with machicolations, a central courtyard and a walkway; all built in coral stone, sandstone cement and gypsum plaster. The Qatar Museums Directorate and the University of Copenhagen are pursuing an ambitious excavation program modeling the buried constructions.

The historical dispute remains, and everyone writes the Zubarine chronicle in their own way. In 1937, Qatar tried to impose the Naim settled in Zubarah; Bahrain objected, claiming to have rights over the area. Relations deteriorated. Negotiations between the two states began in the spring of 1937 and broke down in July of that year. According to Bahrain, Qatar had illegally conquered Zubarah by force and destroyed the community of Bahraini subjects living there. Qatar maintains that it only exercised its authority over certain members of the Naim tribe by force, putting an end to their smuggling operations. Oppression or policing, old debate!