Qatar
A tiny peninsula with outsized wealth and ambition
Qatar is a small thumb of desert peninsula jutting into the Persian Gulf, transformed by some of the world's largest natural gas reserves into one of the richest nations per capita and an outsized player on the global stage. Home to the Al Jazeera media network, a busy diplomatic mediating role, and the first World Cup hosted in the Arab world, it pairs Bedouin heritage with skyline-altering ambition. Most of its residents are foreign workers drawn by its boom.
The country is mostly flat, low desert and gravel plains with salt flats and the modest rise of Tuwayyir al Hamir as its high point. There are no rivers, and the climate is extremely hot and arid, with desalination supplying nearly all fresh water. Qatar shares the colossal offshore North Field gas reservoir with Iran, making it a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, the foundation of its wealth and a sovereign investment fund of global reach.
The Al Thani family has led Qatar since the nineteenth century, the pearling and fishing settlement becoming a British protectorate before independence in 1971. Gas revenues from the late twentieth century funded breakneck development, education and research initiatives, and an assertive foreign policy that drew both influence and a 2017 blockade by Gulf neighbors, since resolved. The capital, Doha, has risen from a modest harbor into a glittering metropolis of towers and museums.