QATAR

SHEIKHDOM OF QATAR
The Qatar peninsula - inhabited by different Arabic tribes - was part of the domains
of the al-Khalifah (see Bahrain) from ca 1766 to 1868, when one of the local rulers,
Muhammad at-Thani, was recognized as independent sheikh by the British authorities
of the Persian Gulf residency. (1)
This first contact with the British was very brief as in 1871 the at-Thani accepted
Osmanli rule and Qatar was proclaimed a Kaza of the Sandjak al-Ahsa in the Vilayet
of Basra.
Osmanli rule was terminated by the British in 1914 and two years later the at-Thani
accepted British protection.

(1) Originally at-Thani authority was limited to the towns of Doha and Wakrah,
    and it was only later expanded to include the whole peninsula. 
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HEADS OF STATE
Sheikhs (2)

House at-Thani

1868 - 1878   Muhammad ibn Thani (before taxe-collector of 
              the al-Khalifah in Qatar since ca 1850)        1... - 1878
1878 - 1913   Qasim ibn Muhammad at-Thani, son (3)           1825 - 1913
1913 - 1949   Abdullah ibn Qasim at-Thani, son               1876 - 1953        

(2) Since their recognition of Osmanli authority in 1871, the rulers also had
    the Osmanli rank of Qaimaqam (= administrative head of a Kaza)

(3) Qasim became effective ruler during the last years of his father's reign.
    From 1893 to his assassination in 1906, his brother Ahmad ibn Muhammad at-
    Thani (1... - 1906) was the effective ruler. It was under Qasim that at-
    Thani's rule was extended over the whole peninsula, only Zubara remaining
    under Bahraini authority until occupied in 1937.


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