Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Qatar: by Miguel Rosado
Qatar: by Miguel Rosado
By Miguel Rosado
Physical Features
• Most of Qatar is a flat and rocky, sandy plain. Low hills punctuate the
landscape, west and central, with massive sand dunes in the southeast.
• A few salt pans line the western coastal areas, and within Qatar there are no
perennial rivers or lakes.
• The Hawar islands serve as a loading terminal for oil from the western oil
fields.
• Qatar's highest point is Qurayn Abu al Bawl, which peaks at 338 ft (103 m).
•
Landscapes
• A constitutional emirate with one advisory body, Qatar is ruled by a hereditary emir from the Āl
Thānī. Members of the ruling family hold almost all the major ministerial posts, which are
appointed by the emir. The family, however, is large and fragmented. As oil revenues rose
after World War II, contention within the ruling family grew, and there have been several
bloodless palace coups
•
• The emir’s power is constrained by the need to maintain the support of important family
members, many of whom occupy high governmental posts. The homogeneity of the ruling
family and the country’s wealth contribute to Qatar’s political stability. The emir has also
cautiously expanded political participation, allowing the first municipal elections to take place
in 1999, with an electorate that included both female and male Qataris. Under a provisional
constitution enacted in 1972, the emir ruled in consultation with a Council of Ministers (Majlis
al-Wuzarāʾ) and an appointed Advisory Council (Majlis al-Shūrā).
History