'Gazetteer of Arabia Vol. II' [‎1515] (588/688)

QATAR
1515
A tabular estimate of the principal resources of Qatar follows below, from which the
property of Bedouins is excluded:—
Town or village.
Number
of pearl
boats.
Number
of
other
sea-going
boats.
Number
of fishing
boats.
Camels.
Horses.
Dha'ain ..
70
10
10
60
10
Dhakhirah ..
15
2
5
10
Nil.
Dhaluf (Abu)
20
5
10
30
Nil.
Dohah
350
60
90
800
150
Fuwairat..
35
9
12
100
20
Hassan (Khor)
• 20
Nil.
5
20
Nil.
Lusail
9
2
3
70
20
Ruwais ..
18
2
10
20
4
Shaqlq (Khor)
80
20
30
100
Nil.
Sumaismah
50
10
10
70
6
Wakrah ..
150
20
30
150
40
Totals
817
140
215
1,430
250
The boats, it may be remarked, are built by carpenters who come over from Bahrain
and from Persia. The Qatar pearl fleet carries about 13,000 men, the average crew of
each pearl boat being about 16 men.
Such foreign trade as Qatar possesses is carried on chiefly with Bahrain and Lingeb.
Pearls are the only export of value.
Routes. —See Routes in Arabia, 1915.
Political conditions. —Prior to 1766 A. D. the peninsula of Qatar, it is believed, was
included in the dominions of the Bani Khalid Shaikhs, whose head-quarters, were at that
time in Hasa and whose jurisdiction then extended as far north as Kuwait; and it is
probable that the 'Utub, when they arrived at Zubarah 18th-century town located 105 km from Doha. in 1766, found the A1 Musallam
occupying a pre-eminent, though not a paramount position in the country. In the course
of about 20 years the pre-eminence of the Al Musallam appears to have been transferred
to the 'Utub ; but the attention of the latter was for some time held in another quarter
by their conquest of Bahrain. By the middle of the 19th century, however, the Shaikh
of Bahrain had established a suzerainty — more apparent than real — over Qatar, and
was represented at Bida' (Dohah) by a political agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. who was a member of his own
family. In 1868 direct negotiations took place between the British Government and
the tribal Shaikhs of Qatar ; and, in the result, the interest of the Shaikh of Bahrain in
Qatar was limited to the receipt of tributes probably on behalf of the Wahhabi Govern
ment of Najd. In 1872 the Turks established a garrison in Dohah ; and with the cessa
tion of the Wahhabi Zakat the political connection, such as it was, between Bahrain and
Qatar came to an end.
The Ottoman troops consisted of about 300 men under a major, with a few guns,
quartered in the fort; but the authority of the commander did not extend beyond the
9h2