Zubarah
Encyclopedia
Qatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
peninsula about 105 km from the Qatari capital of Doha
Doha
Doha is the capital city of the state of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf, it had a population of 998,651 in 2008, and is also one of the municipalities of Qatar...
, part of Madinat ash Shamal
Madinat ash Shamal
ash-Shamal is a municipality in the state of Qatar. Its capital is called Madinat ash-Shamal and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar. The name means "City of the north" - although the population is barely over 3,000...
municipality. It was also a fortified town with an inner and an outer wall.
Bani Utbah Tribe
Zubarah was originally the center of power of the QatarQatar
Qatar , also known as the State of Qatar or locally Dawlat Qaṭar, is a sovereign Arab state, located in the Middle East, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. Its sole land border is with Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its...
.
The Utub, settled at Zubarah in the second half of the eighteenth century and established the town of Zubarah and its port making it one of the most important port and pearl trading centers in the Persian Gulf
Persian Gulf
The Persian Gulf, in Southwest Asia, is an extension of the Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.The Persian Gulf was the focus of the 1980–1988 Iran-Iraq War, in which each side attacked the other's oil tankers...
in the 18th Century. built a fort outside the town of Zubarah and named it Murair
Murair
Qal'at Murair is a ruined and deserted fortified castle located a mile and a half to the south eastern part of the town of Zubarah.- Al-Khalifa built the Fort of Murair :...
.
20th and 21st century
In the 20th century by July 1937, Zubarah, by then largely in ruins, was taken by the Qatari Al Thani family and remained a possession of Qatar after independence in 1971. Bahrain continued to dispute Qatari sovereigntySovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
over Zubarah until the issue of Zubarah was settled to Qatar's side, other territorial issues have also been settled to Bahrain's side such as the Hawar Islands by the International Court of Justice
International Court of Justice
The International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
in 2001. For more, see Foreign relations of Qatar
Foreign relations of Qatar
Qatar achieved full independence on 3 September 1971 in an atmosphere of cooperation with the United Kingdom, the United States of America and friendship with neighbouring states. Most Arab states were also among the first countries to recognise Qatar, and the state promptly gained admittance to...
.
Zubarah Fort
Zubarah is noted for its old fortressFortification
Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and military bases. Humans have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a variety of increasingly complex designs...
built in 1938 under orders of Qatari Sheikh
Sheikh
Not to be confused with sikhSheikh — also spelled Sheik or Shaikh, or transliterated as Shaykh — is an honorific in the Arabic language that literally means "elder" and carries the meaning "leader and/or governor"...
'Abdu'llah bin Qasim Al-Thani and restored in 1987 as a museum
Museum
A museum is an institution that cares for a collection of artifacts and other objects of scientific, artistic, cultural, or historical importance and makes them available for public viewing through exhibits that may be permanent or temporary. Most large museums are located in major cities...
. It is different from the Murair
Murair
Qal'at Murair is a ruined and deserted fortified castle located a mile and a half to the south eastern part of the town of Zubarah.- Al-Khalifa built the Fort of Murair :...
fort that was built outside the town of Zubarah.
Bahrain - Qatar Friendship Bridge
The planned Qatar–Bahrain Friendship BridgeQatar–Bahrain Friendship Bridge
The Qatar Bahrain Causeway is an often announced, often delayed planned causeway between the two Arab states of Qatar and Bahrain. It was announced on the 13th of December 2008 that construction would start in early 2009, and would cost approximately US$2.3 billion to complete...
, slated to be the longest fixed link in the world, will connect the northwest coast of Qatar near Zubarah with Bahrain south of Manama
Manama
Manama is the capital and largest city of Bahrain, with an approximate population of 155,000 people.Long an important trading center in the Persian Gulf, Manama is home to a very diverse population...
.
See also
- History of Kuwait: The Anazia and Bani Utub (Early Migration and Settlement)
- Bani UtbahBani UtbahThe Bani Utbah is a tribe, or tribal federation of Alrab lans that originated from the region of Najd in central Arabia. The tribe is thought to have been formed when a group of disparate clans migrated from Najd to the Persian Gulf coast sometime in the late seventeenth century.Utub is the...
- MurairMurairQal'at Murair is a ruined and deserted fortified castle located a mile and a half to the south eastern part of the town of Zubarah.- Al-Khalifa built the Fort of Murair :...
- 1783 Bani Utbah Liberation of Bahrain
- History of QatarHistory of QatarQatar has been inhabited for several millennia. The Al Khalifa family of Bahrain dominated the area from the mid 1850s until 1868 when, at the request of Qatari sheikhs, the British negotiated the termination of the Bahraini claim, except for the payment of tribute. The tribute ended when the...
- History of BahrainHistory of BahrainBahrain is a island country in the Persian Gulf. Although Bahrain became an independent country in 1971, the history of these islands starts from ancient times...
- Ahmed Al-Fateh