Qatar,[b] officially the State of Qatar,[c] is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares its sole land border with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Bahrain, an inlet of the Persian Gulf, separates Qatar from nearby Bahrain. The capital is Doha, home to over 80% of the country’s inhabitants, and the land area is mostly made up of flat, low-lying desert.
Qatar has been ruled as a hereditary monarchy by the House of Thani since Mohammed bin Thani signed “an agreement, not a formal treaty”[18] with Britain in 1868 that recognised its separate status. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in 1916 and gained independence in 1971. The current emir is Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who holds nearly all executive, legislative, and judicial authority in autocratic manner under the Constitution of Qatar.[19] He appoints the prime minister and cabinet. The partially-elected Consultative Assembly can block legislation and has a limited ability to dismiss ministers.
In early 2017, the population of Qatar was 2.6 million, although only 313,000 of them are Qatari citizens and 2.3 million being expatriates and migrant workers.[20] Its official religion is Islam.[21] The country has the fourth-highest GDP (PPP) per capita in the world[22] and the eleventh-highest GNI per capita (Atlas method).[23] It ranks 42nd in the Human Development Index, the third-highest HDI in the Arab world.[24] It is a high-income economy, backed by the world’s third-largest natural gas reserves and oil reserves.[25] Qatar is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas[26] and the world’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide per capita.[27]
In the 21st century, Qatar emerged as both a major non-NATO ally of the United States and a middle power in the Arab world. Its economy has risen rapidly through its resource-wealth,[28][29] and its geopolitical power has risen through its media group, Al Jazeera Media Network, and reported support for rebel groups financially during the Arab Spring.[30][31][32] Qatar also forms part of the Gulf Cooperation Council.[3]
Etymology
Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, documented the earliest account pertaining to the inhabitants of the peninsula around the mid-first century AD, referring to them as the Catharrei, a designation that may have derived from the name of a prominent local settlement.[33][34] A century later, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the peninsula, referring to it as Catara.[34][35] The map also referenced a town named “Cadara” to the east of the peninsula.[36] The term “Catara” (inhabitants, Cataraei)[37] was exclusively used until the 18th century, after which “Katara” emerged as the most commonly recognised spelling.[36] Eventually, after several variations—”Katr”, “Kattar” and “Guttur”—the modern derivative Qatar was adopted as the country’s name.[38] In Standard Arabic, the name is pronounced [ˈqɑtˤɑr], while in the local dialect it is [ˈɡɪtˤɑr].[17] English speakers use different approximate pronunciations of the name as the Arabic pronunciations use sounds not often used in English.[39]
History
Main article: History of Qatar
Antiquity
Human habitation in Qatar dates back to 50,000 years ago.[40] Settlements and tools dating back to the Stone Age have been unearthed in the peninsula.[40] Mesopotamian artifacts originating from the Ubaid period (c. 6500–3800 BC) have been discovered in abandoned coastal settlements.[41] Al Da’asa, a settlement located on the western coast of Qatar, is the most important Ubaid site in the country and is believed to have accommodated a small seasonal encampment.[42][43]
Kassite Babylonian material dating back to the second millennium BC found in Al Khor Islands attests to trade relations between the inhabitants of Qatar and the Kassites in modern-day Bahrain.[44] Among the findings were crushed snail shells and Kassite potsherds.[42] It has been suggested that Qatar is the earliest known site of shellfish dye production, owing to a Kassite purple dye industry which existed on the coast.[41][45]
In 224 AD, the Sasanian Empire gained control over the territories surrounding the Persian Gulf.[46] Qatar played a role in the commercial activity of the Sasanids, contributing at least two commodities: precious pearls and purple dye.[citation needed] Under the Sasanid reign, many of the inhabitants in eastern Arabia were introduced to Christianity following the eastward dispersal of the religion by Mesopotamian Christians.[47] Monasteries were constructed and further settlements were founded during this era.[48][49] During the latter part of the Christian era, Qatar comprised a region known as ‘Beth Qatraye’ (Syriac for “house of the Qataris”).[50] The region was not limited to Qatar; it also included Bahrain, Tarout Island, Al-Khatt, and Al-Hasa.[51]
In 628, the Islamic prophet Muhammad sent a Muslim envoy to a ruler in eastern Arabia named Munzir ibn Sawa Al-Tamimi and requested that he and his subjects accept Islam. Munzir obliged his request, and accordingly most of the Arab tribes in the region converted to Islam.[52] In the middle of the century, the Muslim conquest of Persia resulted in the fall of the Sasanian Empire.[53]
