How To Find Zip Code In Qatar

[Albina Hickel]

Qatarb] 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]

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.[47] 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.[48] Monasteries were constructed and further settlements were founded during this era.[49][50] During the latter part of the Christian era, Qatar comprised a region known as 'Beth Qatraye' (Syriac for "house of the Qataris").[51] The region was not limited to Qatar; it also included Bahrain, Tarout Island, Al-Khatt, and Al-Hasa.[52]

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.[53] In the middle of the century, the Muslim conquest of Persia resulted in the fall of the Sasanian Empire.[54]

Qatar was described as a famous horse and camel breeding centre during the Umayyad period.[55] In the 8th century, it started benefiting from its commercially strategic position in the Persian Gulf and went on to become a centre of pearl trading.[56][57]Substantial development in the pearling industry around the Qatari Peninsula occurred during the Abbasid era.[55] Ships voyaging from Basra to India and China would make stops in Qatar's ports during this period. Chinese porcelain, West African coins, and artefacts from Thailand have been discovered in Qatar.[54] Archaeological remains from the 9th century suggest that Qatar's inhabitants used greater wealth to construct higher quality homes and public buildings. Over 100 stone-built houses, two mosques, and an Abbasid fort were constructed in Murwab during this period.[58][59] When the caliphate's prosperity declined in Iraq, so too did it in Qatar.[60]Qatar is mentioned in 13th-century Muslim scholar Yaqut al-Hamawi's book, Mu'jam Al-Buldan, which alludes to the Qataris' fine striped woven cloaks and their skills in improvement and finishing of spears.[61]

Much of eastern Arabia was controlled by the Usfurids in 1253, but control of the region was seized by the prince of Ormus in 1320.[62] Qatar's pearls provided the kingdom with one of its main sources of income.[63] In 1515, Manuel I of Portugal vassalised the Kingdom of Ormus. Portugal went on to seize a significant portion of eastern Arabia in 1521.[63][64] In 1550, the inhabitants of Al-Hasa voluntarily submitted to the rule of the Ottomans, preferring them to the Portuguese.[65]

After the fall of the Jabrid Dynasty with the conquest of Bahrain by the Portuguese, the Arabian coast up to Al Hassa came under the rule and influence of the Portuguese empire. Attempts by the Ottomans to dominate the region were eliminated with the reconquest of the castle of Tarout[66] or Al Qatif in 1551.

Archaeological finds are still being excavated from one of the Portuguese fortresses that served as a base to dominate the region as Ruwayda.[67] The first representation of Qatar appears on the Portuguese map by Luis Lzaro in 1563, showing the "city of Qatar" as a fortress.[68] Having retained a negligible military presence in the area, the Ottomans were expelled by the Bani Khalid tribe and their emirate in 1670.[69]

In 1766, members of the Al Khalifa family of the Utub tribal confederation migrated from Kuwait to Zubarah in Qatar.[70][71] By the time of their arrival, the Bani Khalid exercised weak authority over the peninsula, notwithstanding the fact that the largest village was ruled by their distant kin.[72] In 1783, Qatar-based Bani Utbah clans and allied Arab tribes invaded and annexed Bahrain from the Persians. The Al Khalifa imposed their authority over Bahrain and retained their jurisdiction over Zubarah.[70]

Following his swearing-in as crown prince of the Wahhabi in 1788, Saud ibn Abd al-Aziz moved to expand Wahhabi territory eastward towards the Persian Gulf and Qatar. After defeating the Bani Khalid in 1795, the Wahhabi were attacked on two fronts. The Ottomans and Egyptians assaulted the western front, while the Al Khalifa in Bahrain and the Omanis launched an attack against the eastern front.[73][74] Upon being made aware of the Egyptian advance on the western frontier in 1811, the Wahhabi amir reduced his garrisons in Bahrain and Zubarah in order to redeploy his troops. Said bin Sultan, ruler of Muscat, capitalised on this opportunity and raided the Wahhabi garrisons on the eastern coast, setting fire to the fort in Zubarah. The Al Khalifa was effectively returned to power thereafter.[74]

As punishment for piracy, an East India Company vessel bombarded Doha in 1821, destroying the town and forcing hundreds of residents to flee. In 1825, the House of Thani was established with Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani as the first leader.[75]

In February 1893, Mehmed Hafiz Pasha arrived in Qatar in the interests of seeking unpaid taxes and accosting Jassim bin Mohammed's opposition to proposed Ottoman administrative reforms. Fearing that he would face death or imprisonment, Jassim retreated to Al Wajbah (16 km or 10 mi west of Doha), accompanied by several tribe members. Mehmed's demand that Jassim disband his troops and pledge his loyalty to the Ottomans was met with refusal. In March, Mehmed imprisoned Jassim's brother and 13 prominent Qatari tribal leaders on the Ottoman corvette Merrikh as punishment for his insubordination. After Mehmed declined an offer to release the captives for a fee of 10,000 liras, he ordered a column of approximately 200 troops to advance towards Jassim's Al Wajbah Fort under the command of Yusuf Effendi, thus signalling the start of the Battle of Al Wajbah.[54]

Effendi's troops came under heavy gunfire by a sizable troop of Qatari infantry and cavalry shortly after arriving at Al Wajbah. They retreated to Shebaka fortress where they were again forced to draw back from a Qatari incursion. After they withdrew to Al Bidda fortress, Jassim's advancing column besieged the fortress, resulting in the Ottomans' concession of defeat and agreement to relinquish their captives in return for the safe passage of Mehmed Pasha's cavalry to Hofuf by land.[83] Although Qatar did not gain full independence from the Ottoman Empire, the result of the battle forced a treaty that would later form the basis of Qatar's emerging as an autonomous country within the empire.[84]

By the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, the Ottomans agreed to renounce their claim to Qatar and withdraw their garrison from Doha. However, with the outbreak of World War I, nothing was done to carry this out, and the garrison remained in the fort at Doha, although its numbers dwindled as men deserted. In 1915, with the presence of British gunboats in the harbour, Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani (who was pro-British) persuaded the remainder to abandon the fort, and when British troops approached the following morning they found it deserted.[85][86]

Qatar became a British protectorate on 3 November 1916[87] when the United Kingdom signed a treaty with Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani to bring Qatar under its Trucial System of Administration. The treaty reserved foreign affairs and defence to the United Kingdom but allowed internal autonomy. While Abdullah agreed not to enter into any relations with any other power without the prior consent of the British government, the latter guaranteed the protection of Qatar from aggression by sea and provide its 'good offices' in the event of an attack by land. This latter undertaking was left deliberately vague.[85][88]

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