The independent Sovereign Nation of Qatar is located on a peninsula in the Midwestern portion of the Arabian Gulf. Sharing land and water borders with Saudi Arabia, it is also shares maritime borders with Bahrain, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Habitation on the peninsula appears to date back at least to the 6th millennium BC, although archaeological studies in the area have not been as extensive as in other parts of the world. The country has otherwise had a very interesting and changeable past since recorded history began.
The earliest signs of human habitation were found on a small island in western Qatar and indicated a human presence dating back to the stone age. Artifacts such as pottery, flint tools and painted ceramics were pulled up from inside the ground. The type of objects found seemed to come from the Al-Ubaid civilization of Mesopotamia, which indicated an obvious trade connection between the local peoples and their neighbors.
During the bronze age, around the third and second millennium BC, evidence seems to indicate Qatar as a trading hub for the Arabian Gulf. Artifacts from various civilizations from Mesopotamia, the Indus Valley and other gulf regions indicate movement within the region in terms of exporting and importing. During the middle of the second millennium it also appears that Kassite of Zagros, ruler of Babylon, may have taken control of part of Qatar or at least had close links with the region. Babylonian pottery from his reign found in Al-Khor seems to bear out a connection.
The trade in Qatar appears to have extended beyond the gulf by 140 BC, with archaeological evidence turning up both Roman and Greek artifacts from that era. Along the coastline of Qatar several stone structures that are indicative of fishing encampments have been found, indicating Roman and Greek presence. The structures seem to have been used for drying fish, which along with pearls, was one of Qatar’s chief exports at that time. Qatar gradually grew to become part of the extensive trade between east and west and supplied dyes and pearls to the commercial trading routes.
Around the seventh century AD huge change came to Qatar in the form of a religion that was sweeping the Arabian Gulf. Previously the inhabitants were known as idol worshipers, but Islam soon arrived and took hold in the region. Envoys were sent to the region surrounding Bahrain with orders to spread the word of Islam. The message soon reached Qatar, which sits on the southern border of Bahrain. The rulers accepted this new religion and quickly converted, followed soon after by the Arabian populous. It is said that Qatar became famous for robe making during this early Islamic period and that the Prophet Mohammed himself worn robes from Qatar.
The first major invasion of Qatar occurred in the year 1515 when the Portuguese navy took control of the peninsula. Portugal used Qatar for over a century as a trading port, bringing in products from Europe and exporting things like pearls, silks, seeds and spices from Arabia. After almost a century of occupation, the Portuguese were eventually driven out by the Imam of Muscat in 1652.
Around 1872, the peninsula again fell under the control of a foreign force when it became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. At the outbreak of World War I, the Turks pulled out of Qatar and the British established a treaty with the new ruler, Sheikh Abdullah at-Thani, in 1916. The treaty offered protection from aggression for Qatar in return for supervision by the British of the country’s external affairs. This treaty held until 1934 when a new one was signed to further cement and extend upon the first.
In 1960 Sheikh Abdullah at-Thani abdicated power of Qatar to his son, Sheikh Ahmed Al-Thani. It was eight years later that the British announced that they intended to remove their presence from Qatar by 1971. Al-Thani was quick to forge new bonds with Bahrain and Trucial Oman. This unity which would become known as the UAE, or United Arab Emirates.
In more recent history, Qatar has been a player in the Middle Eastern peace process and has hosted summits and conferences between various Arab states. It initially was a supporter of Iraq during the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war, but in 1990 condemned the country’s annexation of Kuwait. This led to Qatar being an instrumental launching point for Canadian, Egyptian and French troops during the liberation of Kuwait. Qatar added its own forces to the effort as well.
A few years later, in 1993, Qatar began to rebuild its personal relations with Iraq and was a chief supporter of ending sanctions on the country. Later, in 1998, Iraq resisted UN weapons checks within its borders and Qatar appealed to Iraq to comply in order to help stabilize the region into a more peaceful state. When the second Gulf war inevitably began, Qatar again sided against Iraq and allowed troops into its country.
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