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This tiny oil-rich sheikdom on the Persian Gulf is finally opening up to tourism. The government has been encouraging foreign investment, and Qatari women enjoy more freedom than their counterparts in some other Gulf states. Al Jazeera, the Arab world's version of CNN, broadcasts without censorship from its headquarters in Doha.

Qatar (pronounced KAH-tar) is on its way to becoming an appealing tourist destination. The country no longer regards the cultural influence of outsiders as a problem. However, Qataris adhere closely to the tenets of Islam: Women are seldom seen without a veil, and the country's justice system is based on a strict, literal reading of the Quran.

Geography

History

Burial cairns at Umm al-Ma, on the western coast, indicate that people have lived in Qatar since 4,000 BC. The land has been administered in turn by Canaanite Arab tribes, Turks, the Khalifa family of Bahrain and the British (who ruled for 99 years until independence was achieved in 1971). For most of its history, Qatar was known as a center of the pearl industry. The introduction of cultured pearls in the 1930s, however, was the beginning of the end for Qatar's pearl workers. Fortunately, oil was discovered in Qatar around the same time, and it quickly replaced pearls as the country's biggest source of income.

In 1995, Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad al-Thani, who had ruled Qatar since 1972, was deposed in a bloodless coup by his son, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, who moved quickly to make his mark on the region. Although the Gulf states traditionally act in concert on foreign policy, Qatar takes a more independent line. It hosts a major U.S. military base, but also offered political assylum to Sadam Hussein just before the second Gulf War in 2003 (an offer Sadam must now regret turning down).

Snapshot

Potpourri

Though Qatar sees relatively few tourists, millions of people connect to the country everyday through Al Jazeera, an Arabic-language television news channel. Al Jazeera ("the island" in Arabic) began broadcasting in 1996 and quickly established itself as one of the best sources of unbiased information in the region. The channel, known as the Arab CNN, is now beamed into satellite dishes throughout the world, including the U.S. and Canada.

Camel racing has become a big-money operation. With gambling forbidden by Islam, the authorities have circumnavigated the law by allowing "forecasting." The sheikhs take the sport so seriously that they've set up a camel reproduction research center, which is trying to genetically engineer the world's fastest racing camel. If you attend a race, remember that taking photographs of the camels before a race is considered bad luck.

Women in Qatar are enjoying far more freedom under Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani than under the previous regime. It is now widely accepted that women may refuse a marriage proposal, an act of defiance unheard of in the early 1990s. In 1996, Sheikh Hamad appointed the first woman official to the Qatari government when he made Sheikha al-Mahmoud secretary of education. In 1999, Qatari women voted in a local election—a first for females in any Gulf state.

Only about one-quarter of Qatar's residents are Qatari. The rest are guest workers from India, Pakistan and Iran, as well as many Palestinian expatriates. Still, the country has one of the smallest populations of any of the Gulf states, though it's growing quickly.

Oil money and central planning have altered the Qatari map: Several cities (notably Al Khuwair and Al Arish) now lay abandoned and make for interesting excursions.

The towers built atop some traditional houses are ancient cooling devices called wind towers. Openings in the tower catch the wind and funnel it down into the dining area. Some modern shopping malls have incorporated the design.

When setting up camp in the desert, be sure your tent faces the south. Women traditionally stay on the western side and men on the east. All Doha tour operators offer overnight desert camping tours.