History in Qatar is not as well chronicled as it might be in some countries, with still little known of its early past, and with records sparse until the arrivals of the Europeans. Nevertheless, now is a time when the boundaries of what we do know are being pushed back, with many new archeological discoveries being made. Some of these discoveries now suggest that human life in Qatar existed some 700,000 - 800,000 years ago.
Later history should be easier to piece together, but is not helped by often contradictory information from secondary sources. What is clear, though, is that Qatar was a place of haven for Christians, even after the early adoption of Islam by the then ruler of Qatar, Al Tamimi.
Later on, Qatar entered a bloody period in its history, with constant battles - both on sea and on land. One particular enemy was Bahrain, and indeed the enmity between these two countries was only finally solved in 2001 after a judgement by the World Court in 2001. The court case, which has been called the longest in history, was itself spurred by a skirmish between Bahrain and Qatar when gunboats opened fire and prisoners were taken.
In our latest article, Qatar History, we have provided an overview of the history of the peninsula. Of course, no overview can do justice to the detail of such a vast period of time, so we have linked to more detailed articles for many of the different sections.
