| First Qataris |
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Beginning of Agriculture |
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Most authorities now agree that there is, at present, no conclusive evidence of Paleolithic man having inhabited... more |
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The increase in rainfall which occurred between 8,000 and 4,000 BC made eastern Arabia a more hospitable place than it had been previously... |
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| First Settlements |
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Relations with Mesopotamia |
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Between about 5,000 and 3,500 BC the coastal areas of Qatar and neighbouring lands were inhabited by a population which... more |
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ntact between the people of southern Mesopotamia and those of the eastern Arabian coast, including Qatar, continued over... more |
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| The Babylonian King |
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The Seleucid Period |
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By about 1750 BC the local societies of the Gulf had entered a period of apparent decline. Southern Mesopotamia, which... more |
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Much later the use of the camel as a riding animal developed, and in the 9th century BC camel-riding Arab warriors make... more |
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| The Classical Period |
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The Rise of Islam |
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There is further evidence of human activity in Qatar during the Graeco-Roman period in the form of a fish-processing complex... more |
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By the end of the 7th century Islam had spread throughout the whole of the Arabian peninsula, ending the paganism practised by... more |
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| The Portuguese Influence |
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The British Influence |
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In 1498 the Portuguese confirmed a direct sea route to India by rounding the Cape of Good Hope, and they set out to... more |
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Between 1630 and 1700 the Dutch East India Company, set up in 1602, dominated Gulf trade, along with the English East India Company... more |
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| Emergence of the Al-Thani |
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Contemporary Development |
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The upshot of this conflict was the receipt of compensation by Qatar, and the emergence of Sheikh Mohammed...more |
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Oil was finally discovered at Dukhan in October 1939, but the Second World War put a stop on production. In 1942 the three appraisal...more |
Source: Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Qatar. London: Stacey International, 2000. The original text was only divided in historical phases to better fit the contents of this web site. |