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Archaeologists have uncovered evidence that the Qatar Peninsula, jutting north into the
Persian Gulf from
Saudi Arabia, was initially inhabited during the
Middle East Stone Age.
The Islamic history of this strategic land was influenced over many centuries by the
British, Ottomans and
Portuguese, as well as by a long series of nomadic Arab tribes.
In 1777 the Persians took control of Qatar prompting many merchants and families to migrate to Zubarah, which was a town founded by the Bani Utbah tribe in 1732. Zubarah ultimately became an important center for trade, and thrived with the pearling of the
Persian Gulf.
This brought on the attention of the two main powers during those times, the Persia and
Oman, and
Bahrain also provided a great deal of wealth due to the mass amounts of pearls in their waters.
Consequently, all of this attention sparked a war between the Zubarah based Al-Khalifa traders and
Bahrain in 1782. The battle of Zubarah was a brutal one, and lasted through the early 19th century dragging
Kuwait,
Iran, the
Omanis and the Ottomans in as well.
Due to a growing interest in
India, and an ambition to secure a passage for the East India Company,
British forces arrived in the
Persian Gulf bringing with them their own imposition of order by way of the General Treaty of Peace.
However, this didn't stop
Bahraini forces from attacking the city of Doha in 1867, and in turn provoking the Qatari to counterattack.
It was
British Colonel Lewis Pelly who presented a peace treaty to
Bahrain and Qatar, which ultimately resulted in a huge milestone for Qatar as they were recognized as a separate entity from
Bahrain.
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