Qatar's noted history dates back to approximately the 16th Century. It shares maritime boundaries and land boundaries with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. Discoveries, though, indicate that humans were in areas near Qatar the Stone Age or Neolitic periods.
The Peninsula of Qatar became one of the richest places in the Gulf due to trade and commerce during the 3rd and 2nd millennium B.C. Trade between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley was channeled through the Gulf; the western coast of Qatar played a role in the transshipment of commercial goods. Archaeological evidence found in Qatar suggests the Greek and Roman influences in the Peninsula particularly at Ras Abaruk, where some stone structures, including a dwelling, a cairn, a hearth and a low mound containing a large quantity of fish bones were located. Pearls and dried fish were the major items for exportation from Qatarduring the Greco-Roman period.
The whole Arabian Gulf region emerged as the most important trade centre linking between the West and the East, during the time of the Persian Sasanid Empire in the 3rd century A. D. Cargoes of copper, spices, sandalwood, teak, blac kwood, etc. arriving from the East were exchanged for shipments of purple dye, clothing, pearls, dates, gold and silver. Qatar contributed at least two of these commodities to the Sasanid trade: purple dye and precious pearls.
It was not an easy industry. Men would leave their homes for months, although financial reward was far from certain. The process was dangerous, for the waters were shared with jellyfish, barracuda, sword fish and sharks. Men would close their noses with clips made out of bone and wood, and grasp a stone to take them to the bottom of the sea. Once there, they would grasp the oysters, cutting them from rocks if necessary, and put them into bags attached to the line. When their bags were full, or they were exhausted, they would jerk the line sharply and their handler would pull them to the surface.
Each dive could last up to two minutes, and a diver would make 60 to 100 of these dives in a day. With depths of up to 200 feet, divers could suffer from hallucinations, earaches and the bends. These afflictions were attributed to evil djinns, and the sailors would treat the suffering diver by covering him with a sail, sitting upon him, reading him verses from the Koran and burning incense under his nose.
Yaqut al-Hamawi, an Arabian historian, who died in 1229, considered Qataras a village and famous for camel and horse breeding centre during the Umayyad period.
During the ascendancy of the Abbasid in Baghdad the pearling industry in the rich waters around Qatar developed considerably and the demand for Qatari pearls increased in the East, extending as far as China. By 1515, the Portguese held Qatar, exporting gold, silver, silks, musk, cloves, pearls, amber, horses, etc., through various ports in the Gulf, including Qatar. In 1652, the Imam of Muscat (above) drove the Portuguese out.
With the establishment of the East India Company's Factory at Basra in 1635, in came the British. Qatar was held under the pretext of protection of the shipping lines in the Gulf.
In 1766, the al-Khalifa families moved from Kuwait to Qatar, and held rein over the area even during the Persian invasion of 1783.
During the mid-1800s, while pearl extraction was controlled by the al-Khalifa family, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for the pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues.
Al-Bida (late Doba) is established as the capital of the realm of ath-Thani, when the leader of the family, Shaykh Muhammadi bni Th-Thani, claims the role of emir. In 1867, he signed a treaty with the British in order to protect him from the Khalifas of Bahrain.
In 1872, Emir Qasim signed a treaty with the Turks allowing them to establish a garrison in Doha. Qasim managed to remain independent of the British and the Turks, but nominally he acted as a representative of the Ottoman sultan. Qasim became one of the strongest leaders of eastern Arabia.
