History History

The life of the men in the Bay of Khor was punctuated by the cutting of flint, the collection of shells, the production of fish for drying and transport and domestic activities. Their relationship with Obedient Mesopotamia, of which they represent the southernmost zone of influence, is indisputable. As an island, then a peninsula, Qatar did participate in the very 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

In the Islamic period, Qatar developed strong ties with the Baghdad Caliphate. The remains of an Abbasid fort were found at Murwab, near Zubarah. It was the great discoveries that contributed to exposing the region to direct and permanent contact with the 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 large region of the Gulf under the name of Bahrain, which includes a geographical area comprising the present-day Qatif, 'Uqair (cities on the eastern coast of Saudi Arabia), the island of Bahrain itself and Qatar. The notion of territory is "moving" because the population is nomadic and tribal territories can fluctuate according to the routes and their rivalries.

The Prophet Muhammad received several delegations from Bahrain. This region is noted in the texts at this period because the Sassanid Christian community, with its leader al-Mundhir al-Sawa, converted to Islam. The Arab governor representing Muhammad, al-'Ala' ibn al-Hadrami, is responsible for collecting taxes from a part of the community, the one that did not convert to the new religion. Umayyad poetry mentions Qatar and Yaqut cites a verse by Jarir that comments 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 sides of the Gulf were under the control of the Umayyad dynasty.

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. This was a period of sedentarization during which the settlements of Qatif and al-Hasa were founded

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

The relations of travelers (merchants, sailors or ship captains) such as the relation of China and India, written in 851, or the supplement to the relation of China and India, written in the tenth century, only concern the expeditions themselves and not the description of the navigation around Arabia. Literary sources such as The Thousand and One Nights and The Travels of Sindbad are known, but it is essential to turn to the 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 stops on the road linking Basra to the province of Oman (mid-ninth century). The port in Bahrain province is considered to be the "port" serving Oman, India and China

A new dynasty of the 'Abd al-Qays, the 'Uyunids, 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 Ormus took it away in 1320, coveted for its pearls

The Portuguese passed the Cape of Good Hope. The road to Calicut, in India, is open to them

The Portuguese took Hormuz. Located at the entrance of 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 on 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 treaty of peace was signed. While the sheikhs exercised the 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 tribes of the coast. This founding act, which gave birth to the name "Truce Coast", marked the beginning of the English hegemony in the Persian Gulf

The bloody Qatari-Bahraini 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, 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 managed to gather the tribes around him

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

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

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 based essentially on the pearl industry. The population is mostly composed of sedentary tribes dominated by twenty-five clans, to which are added a few nomadic tribes. The population is mostly Sunni, with a concentration of Arab Sunnis of Iranian origin, still called the hawaila (about 500) and Persian Shiites (about 450). but the tribal populations living in Doha and al-Wakra are nomadic and very mobile, even those who are sedentary often travel. It is difficult for the al-Thani to reign in 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 bin Qasim (1913-1949), grandson of the dynasty's founder, and the British government in India placed Qatar on an equal footing with other principalities. Sheikh 'Abd Allah was recognized as the official independent ruler in Qatar. With this agreement, Bahrain was stripped of its authority on the eastern shore of the Qatari peninsula. However, the al-Thani had difficulty establishing themselves as the central authority over the small territory of the peninsula, due to internal divisions within their large family. This forced Sheikh 'Abd Allah, throughout his reign, to hand over the sovereignty of his territory to the British government in order to emancipate himself from his own.

The stock market crash of the 1930s and especially the appearance of the Japanese cultured pearl precipitated the Qatari economy into an unprecedented economic slump. An earthquake that causes a profound rupture in the balance of society.

The effects of the earthquake became dramatic coupled with those of the embargo decided by Bahrain in 1937. During 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 because of its inclusion in the Qatari peninsula

The new resource, oil, was discovered on the west coast, near the town of Dukhan, but exploitation 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 had been drained of nearly half of its inhabitants as a result of the severe economic crisis and the devastating effects of the Bahraini embargo. On the eve of the commercialization of oil, this massive exodus leaves the reigning al-Thani family in full possession of the city's destiny, despite the persistent dissensions that inhabit it.

The United Kingdom abandoned its protectorate over the Gulf principalities.

Qatar has a provisional constitution. After considering for a time the possibility of joining a federation of Gulf emirates, Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani became Prime Minister on May 29, 1970. Khalifa bin Hamad Al Thani became prime minister on May 29, 1970.

The 9 states did not agree on the terms of the union, Qatar asked for 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 fifteen years of frenetic investment policy and diplomatic activism that brought this Persian Gulf peninsula out of anonymity. No one ignores Qatar anymore and many are those who succumb to its mounds of gold, without scruples or almost, and this in various fields, from religion to sports through art.

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

Qatar is chosen to host the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

He is 34 years old and until then he managed the emirate's sports strategy. The transfer of power was a big hit: Tamim became the youngest head of state in the Arab world. It goes without saying that the influence of the father remains important, as well as that of his second wife, Sheikha Moza Al Misnad, mother of the new emir and very dynamic president of the Qatar Foundation, in charge of all educational and research issues in the country. Sheikha Moza remains the undisputed first lady of the country, followed by her daughter Sheikha al Mayassa. Nicknamed the "culture queen" and an influential patron of the arts on the international scene, she is 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 the page. First measure: the dismissal of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabor al-Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, Director General of the Qatar Investment Authority (the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar). A small revolution within the emirate. The new Prime Minister, Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani is the former Minister of State for Internal Affairs. Distant cousin of the former Emir. At the head of the economy is placed Prince Tamim, ex-director general of the satellite channel Al-Jazeera, Ahmed ben Jassim. A new young and enterprising team that must prove itself and above all face a tense local context. Political Islamism, long the spearhead of the emirate, no longer has a good press in the area... 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 maintaining its traditions at home. The new emir still has to free himself from his father's tutelage and "restore" the image of his country.

The economic embargo imposed by Qatar's powerful neighbors (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt) upsets the geopolitical map of the Arabian Peninsula. In June 2017, Qatar's neighbors transmitted to Qatar, through Kuwait, a list of thirteen requests that resembled 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 severing of diplomatic relations with Iran, the closure of the Turkish base, and the cessation of the "financing of terrorism", i.e., of the Muslim Brotherhood. All of this within ten days and accompanied by financial penalties and controls. Qatar then called the requests 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 Tehran, in particular to solve the problems of the Islamic world. Immediately the embargo was declared.

At that time, the Emir launched an emergency plan to ensure food security in the country. For the anecdote, in front of the risk of stock shortage of milk, Qatar made the national company's aircrafts boned... to import 14 000 cows! Never seen in the history of aviation. The worst could only be avoided thanks to the help of Turkey, Spain and especially Iran. If at the beginning the numbers dropped, they soon rose again. Qatar maintains its economy as best it can, thanks to liquefied gas but also thanks to Qatar Airways, its airline.

The International Court of Justice has ruled in Qatar's favour. 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 the mediation of Kuwait, Saudi Arabia lifts its restrictions on Qatar, trade resumes with the reopening of airspace and land and sea borders. The six countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) signed in Saudi Arabia an agreement "solidarity and stability", intended to ease tensions between Qatar and its neighbors, in the presence of Jared Kushner, the son-in-law and adviser to Donald Trump. 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 seem that the list of 13 requests would have been abandoned by Riyadh. Doha, in exchange, would have waived any legal proceedings related 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 will be held in Qatar.