Qatar was once controlled by the sheikhs of Bahrain, but in 1867, war broke out
between the people and their absentee rulers. To keep the peace in the Persian
Gulf, the British installed Muhammad ibn Thani al-Thani, head of a leading
Qatari family, as the region's ruler. In 1893, the Ottoman Turks made incursions
into Qatar, but the emir successfully deflected them. In 1916, the emir agreed
to allow Qatar to become a British protectorate.
Oil was discovered in the 1940s, bringing wealth to the country in the 1950s and
1960s. About 85% of Qatar's income from exports comes from oil. Its people have
one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. In 1971, Qatar was to join
the other emirates of the Trucial Coast to become part of the United Arab
Emirates. But both Qatar and Bahrain decided against the merger and instead
formed independent nations.
Qatar permitted the international forces to use Qatar as a base during the 1991
Persian Gulf War. A border dispute erupted with Saudi Arabia that was settled in
Dec. 1992. A territorial dispute with Bahrain over the Hawar Islands remains
unresolved, however. In 1994, Qatar signed a defense pact with the U.S.,
becoming the third Gulf state to do so.
In June 1995, Crown Prince Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani deposed his father,
primarily because the king was out of step with the country's economic reforms.
The emir was not stripped of his title, and much of the power was already in his
son's hands. The new emir lifted press censorship and instituted other liberal
reforms, including democratic elections and women's suffrage (1999). In 2003
Crown Prince Jassim, who declared he had never wanted to be king, abdicated in
favor of his younger brother, Prince Tamim.
Qatar is the home of Al Jazeera, the immensely popular and controversial Arabic
satellite television network.
Qatar introduced its first constitution on June 9, 2005. It guarantees freedom
of expression, assembly, and religion and calls for a 45-seat parliament. Thirty
of the seats will be filled in democratic elections; the emir will appoint the
remaining seats.
Sheik Abdullah bin Khalifa Al Thani resigned as prime minister in April 2007.
The emir named former foreign minister Sheik Hamad bin Jassem al Thani as his
replacement.