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Country :Qatar Official name: Dawlat Qatar (State of Qatar) Head of State: Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani Head of government: Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Khalifa al Thani Area: 11,437 square km Population: 649,600 (2004) Capital: Doha Official language: Arabic Currency: Rial (QR) = 100 dirhams Exchange rate: QR3.64 per US$ (fixed) GDP per capita: US$30,438 (2003) GDP real growth: 8.50% (2003) Labour force: 280,122 (2003) Unemployment: 2.70% (2003) Inflation: 2.00% (2003) Oil production: 917,000 bpd (2003) Balance of trade: US$7.00 billion (2003) Foreign debt: US$15.40 billion (2003)

Historical profile

The area was inhabited as early as 4,000 BC.

666 AD Advent of Islam.

1872 The Qatar peninsula became part of the Turkish Ottoman Empire. Previously it was ruled by the Khalifa family of Bahrain.

1915 Turkish forces were expelled by the British.

1916 Became a British protectorate. Treaty signed recognising Sheikh Abdullah bin Jassim al Thani as ruler of Qatar.

1930 Collapse of the pearl trade devastated the economy – Qatar had been a centre of pearl trade since the eighth century.

1939 Oil was discovered.

1949 Qatar began exporting oil.

1968 Britain announced its intention to withdraw from the Gulf by 1971. The British plan was to form a single state consisting of Bahrain, Qatar and the Trucial States, but the idea failed to take off.

1971 Qatar and Bahrain became independent states.

1972 Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al Thani became Emir after deposing his uncle.

1995 In a bloodless coup, Sheikh Khalifa's eldest son, the deputy Emir and heir apparent, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, took over the leadership. He also became minister of defence.

1996 Qatar began exporting liquefied natural gas.

1998 Male citizens over the age of 18 were allowed to vote in the municipal council elections. Only half the 40,000 eligible to vote actually registered. The councils have advisory powers only.

2001 The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled that the land dispute between Qatar and Bahrain should be ended by dividing the region equally between them – the Hawar Islands, including the Dibal and Jarada shoals to Bahrain; and the Zubarah town and land strip in northern Qatar, to Qatar. In the same year, a border dispute with Saudi Arabia was settled.

2003 Qatar was a US military base for the 2003 Iraq War. In April, a referendum approved a new constitution which guaranteed equal rights to all citizens and introduced new democratic reforms. In August, the Emir named his younger son, Prince Tamim, as crown prince, replacing his other son Prince Jassim.

2004 In June, the first written constitution was issued, to come into effect in 2005.

2005 On 19 March, there was a suicide bombing in Doha, which was the first major terrorist attack in Qatar.

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