Home > Countries > Asia > Qatar
Country Name
Qatar, or officially the State of Qatar.
Location
Qatar is a country in Western Asia. It shares a boundary with Saudi Arabia only. Qatar is situated in the Persian Gulf and is mostly surrounded by it. It also shares maritime borders with Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and the UAE.
Capital
Doha.
Reason for Naming
Pliny the Elder, a Roman historian, wrote the first description of the peninsula’s people in the mid-first century AD, referring to them as the Catharrei. This name may have arisen from the name of an important local hamlet. Ptolemy made the earliest known map of the peninsula, referring to it as Catara, a century later. The map also included “Cadara,” a settlement to the east of the peninsula. The word ‘Catara’ (inhabitants, Cataraei) was used solely until the 18th century when ‘Katara’ became the most well-recognized spelling—after various changes, including ‘Katr,’ ‘Kattar,’ and ‘Guttur,’ the modern derivation Qatar was chosen as the country’s name.
Flag
Qatar’s flag was approved on July 9, 1971. The flag is made up of two colors: white on the left side of the flag and maroon on the right side of the flag. The two hues are divided by a serrated line made up of nine white triangles. The maroon color represents the bloodshed during several wars, and the white color represents peace.
*Flag Facts:
-The flag is very similar to the flag of Bahrain, which has fewer points, and a red color instead of maroon. Qatar’s flag is the only national flag having a width of more than twice its height.
Language
Qatar’s official language is Arabic, with Qatari Arabic being the local dialect. Qatari Arabic is also known as Gulf Arabic or Khaliji. English is widely used as a second language and a rising lingua franca, particularly in trade, to the point that efforts are being made to protect Arabic against English encroachment. Many additional languages, reflecting the country’s multicultural makeup, are also spoken, including Persian, Baluchi, Brahui, Hindi, Malayalam, Urdu, Pashto, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu, Nepali, Sinhalese, Bengali, Tagalog, and Indonesian.
Religion
In Qatar, Islam is the main religion and the official religion. The majority of Muslims in Qatar are Sunni, with Shiites constituting just roughly 10% of the Muslim population. Christians, Hindus, and Buddhists are among the other minorities. The majority of Christians are immigrants from Europe, South and North America. Hindus and Buddhists are South Asian and Southeast Asian immigrants.
Currency
Riyal (QAR).
Time Zone
+03:00 GMT.
Government Regime
Unitary absolute monarchy.