Interesting facts about Qatar
Since 1955 Qatar has been the official state of the independent emirate. With an area of around 4,400 square miles or 1, 1400 square kilometers Qatar is a large and barren peninsula in the Persian Gulf sharing common border with Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.
Doha is the capital of Qatar. The economy of Qatar is heavily dependent on the Oil and natural gas reserves and accounts for almost 70% in terms of income generated through exports. The revenues generated from oil and gases have been utilized in diversifying the economy to a large extent and in the development of steel, chemicals, fertilizers, cement industries and banking system. The local inhabitants (Qataris) constitute mere 20 % of the entire population while majority of the others are Arabs, Indians, Pakistanis and Iranians. Even if Arabic is the official language of Qatar still English is also widely spoken. Monarchy is prevalent in this country.
History suggests that Qatar was ruled by Bahrain in the early 1700th and mid-1800th centuries and there used to be the regular conflicts between the Great Britain and the Ottoman Empire to have a control of this peninsular region. Qatar was under British protectorate from 1916 onwards and in the year 1971 it became an independent nation. The territorial disputes with Saudi Arabia and Bahrain in the period of 1980s and 90s brought this nation again into the limelight. The Persian Gulf War in year 1991 led to deployment of international coalition forces in the soils of Qatar.
Qatar is currently under the rule of Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who empowered by dethroning his father in the year 1995. In the late 1990s Sheikh Hamad eased press censorship and had been instrumental in promotion of ties with Iran and Israel. Since the year 2001 onwards U.S. forces have been allowed entry into the AL Udeid air base by Qatar and made the headquarters of U.S. during the invasions of Iraq in the year 2003.
Qatar is a small geographical state in the Arab Gulf and has significantly low population and is situated midway along the western coast of Arabian Gulf and has an approximate land area of 11,437 square kilometers. The coastline is 550 kilometers in length and bounds the country from north and east. The State of Qatar has several islands included within its territory. Halul is one of the main islands of Qatar. The terrain in Qatar is flat arid desert. The deserts are predominant in the low-lying areas with a few exceptions of hills in the northwest region and the southeast areas have rolling sand dunes.
Qatar has a climate that is characterized by hot summers and mild winters. Winters have slight rainfall but the temperatures can increase to extreme during summer. The weather is quite pleasant in the months of October till April.
The population of Qatar is approximately 650,000 and majority of these i.e. nearly 90% reside in the capital city of Doha. The remaining population resides in towns and villages that include Mesaieed, Dukhan, Al Khor and Al Wakra. Even though Arabic is the official language lots of people widely speak English as well. Islam is official religion of Qatar and the Islamic Sharia is the legislative authority in the country. The major cities of Qatar are Doha, Al Rayyan, Al Khor, Mesaieed, Dukhan, Al Wakra and Ras Laffan, which house the major residential, industrial or gas and oil-producing units, shopping hubs.