Qatar

From pearling shores and Bedouin tribes to a gas-rich peninsula state and global stage.

Qatar is a small peninsula thrusting north into the Persian Gulf, long inhabited by pearl divers, fishermen and Bedouin tribes whose fortunes rose and fell with the pearl trade. The walled town of Al Zubarah flourished as a pearling and trading port in the late 18th century before its destruction in 1811. The Al Thani family rose to leadership over the peninsula in the 19th century, and a separate British agreement signed with Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani in 1868 is taken to mark Qatar's emergence as a distinct entity; a 1916 treaty made it a British protectorate. Oil discovered in 1939 and, later, the vast offshore North Field gas reserves transformed Qatar after independence on 3 September 1971 into one of the world's wealthiest states and a prominent diplomatic and media actor.