Weather
Arid; mild, pleasant winters; very hot, humid summers.
Terrain
Mostly flat and barren desert covered with loose sand and gravel.
Currency
Qatari Rial (QAR)
Languages
Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language
Religion
Muslim 95%
Ethnic groups
Arab 40%, Pakistani 18%, Indian 18%, Iranian 10%, other 14%
History
Ruled by the Al Thani family since the mid-1800s, Qatar transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the amir, who had ruled the country since 1972. He was overthrown by his son, the current Amir HAMAD bin Khalifa Al Thani, in a bloodless coup in 1995. In 2001, Qatar resolved its longstanding border disputes with both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Oil and natural gas revenues enable Qatar to have one of the highest per capita incomes in the world.
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