Brief Information about Qatar - Research Paper Example

Qatar Abstract Qatar is one of the prominent Middle Eastern countries which is blessed with oil resources, marine products, tourism, real estate etc. It is an Islamic state ruled like other Arab emirates in the Middle East. It became a sovereign state in 1971. Qatar is famous for sports activities, recreational facilities, traditional clothing etc. This paper briefly explains the history, geography, education, religion, recreational activities, marine life, and sports activities in Qatar. Introduction (Corsi, 2009) Qatar is ruled by the al-Thani family since the mid-1800s. It transformed itself from a poor British protectorate noted mainly for pearling into an independent state with significant oil and natural gas revenues. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the Qatari economy was crippled by a continuous siphoning off of petroleum revenues by the Amir, who had ruled the country since 1972.(Qatar Population, 2009) Like most of the other gulf countries, oil resources are the major revenue sources for Qatar. Apart from oil resources, tourism and marine products are also contributed heavily to the Qatar economy. Even though Islam is the major religion, most of the other religions like the Christians, Hindus etc are also present in Qatar at present who came there as expatriate workforce. ‘Qatar airways’ is one of the finest airliners of the world. Many business entrepreneurs all over the world have invested heavily in Qatar. Qatar: Geography Qatar is located in between Arabian Peninsula (north), Saudi Arabia (south) and Persian Gulf (east and west). Bahrain is another neighbor of Qatar separated by the Persian Gulf. Its geographic coordinates are 25 30 N, 51 15 E. Its land area is 11,437 sq km. Qatar has land boundaries of around 60 kms and it has around 563 kms as coastline. Mild, pleasant winters, very hot and humid summers are the major climatic conditions in Qatar. Qatar land consist s mostly of desert with loose sand and gravel (Qatar Population, 2009). Doha is the capital of Qatar. Qatar Population As of July 2009, Qatar has a population of 833,285 people. Those who below 14 years were 21.8%, in which 93805 were male and 88048 were female. Around 76.8% were between 15 and 64 in which 454714 were male and 185004 were female. Only 1.4% were above 65 years out of which 6792 were male and 4930 were female as of from July, 2009 census. The population growth rate in Qatar is 0.957 as per the 2009 statistics. Moreover the birth rates were 15.69 births/1,000 population and the death rates were 2.47 deaths/1,000 population. The number of males in Qatar is more than the females and the life expectancy of Qatar people were around 75 years as per the 2009 statistics (Qatar Population, 2009) Qatar: Religion Qatar consists of around 40% Arabs, 18%, Indian, 18% Pakistani, 10%, Iranian and 14% others. 77.5% were Muslims, 8.5% were Christians and 14% were others as per the 2004 statistics. Arabic is the major language even though English and Hindi were also commonly used (Qatar Population, 2009). The non-Muslims of Qatar population is mainly the expatriate workforce who came to Qatar for exploring the treasures of Qatar. In fact this expatriate workforce is playing a major role in the development of Qatar economy. Most of the people working in the business sector, especially in the construction sector are from countries like India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Philippines, Bangladesh etc. Qatar: Traditions/Clothing The culture of Qatar can be seen almost everywhere the county uses Wahhabi law as which is a version of Islam which takes a literature of the Holy Quran and the Sunnah (Culture of Qatar, n. d). Qatari culture or traditions are mainly associated with the traditions of the Muslim community. Arabic culture is evident in all the segments of life in Qatar. The entry of expatriate workforce and Europeans and Americans has influenced the Qatari traditions and culture a lot and it is undergoing certain changes at present. Even in the dressing, food habits, recreational activities and education the influence of foreign culture is evident in Qatar at present. Qatar is a beautiful place with lot of natural sceneries and building constructed with traditional architecture. Qatari people are famous for their peculiar dressing habits. The males use the Ghutra and Ogaal which can wore in many different ways. Young men like to tilt their Ogaal rakishly to show off their daredevil character, while more conservative and older men like to wear it straight. It does seem to require constant readjustment - especially in shopping malls in front of young ladies! Women's clothing in particular has become richer and more decorated, especially with regard to wedding clothes. Gold thread and jewellery now embellish the clothes, replacing the traditional silver of poorer times (Qatar Clothing, 2000) Qatari people are very proud of their dressing habits. They use their dresses to exhibit their personality and traditional values to the external world. As many women in the other parts of the world, Qatari women are also wish to wear decorated dresses. For the daily life, the Qatari people wear their traditional dresses. For men it is a long, white shirt, worn over white trousers. A head covering, gutra, secured with four black, tasseled cords which have been intricately braided is also worn by the men. On the other hand Women wear a long black flowing dress, abayah, and some women choose to wear a veil (Jasir, 2007) Qatar: Economy As mentioned earlier, Qatar economy is mainly depending on the oil resources. Petroleum and natural gas products are immensely available in Qatar which caused major economic growth in Qatar. Because of the high oil prices in the last few decades, Qatar has witnessed rapid economic progresses. Oil and gas account for more than 50% of GDP, roughly 85% of export earnings, and 70% of government revenues. Oil and gas have made Qatar the second highest per-capita income country - following Liechtenstein - and one of the world's fastest growing. Proved oil reserves of 15 billion barrels should enable continued output at current levels for 37 years (Qatar Population, 2009) Apart from oil revenue, business, tourism and marine products are some other areas which contribute heavily to the Qatari economy. Qatar: Marine life About 150 different species of fishes were recorded in the seacoast of Qatar. It has been shown that the richest fishing grounds are situated to the north east of Qatar where the catch consists primarily of various carangids (jacks), sweet lips, emperors and snappers, together with lesser quantities of goatfish, shark, groupers, barracudas, thread fins, lizard fish and rabbit fish (Qatar, 2005) Blessed with a wide coastal area, Qatar is famous for the marine products. Fishing is one of the traditional revenue sources for the Qatari people before the invention of oil resources. Some of the rare fish wealth which is unavailable at other parts of the world is available in Qatar. Several researches have been done on the marine fish wealth in Qatar. Qatar: Education Qatar is doing everything to give good education to its people. Even though educational facilities available in Qatar matches with any other gulf countries in the region, many of the Qatari students rely on American and British universities for their higher education. In fact some universities from America has opened satellite campuses in Qatar. Weill Medical College, Carnegie Mellon University, Georgetown University, Virginia Commonwealth University, Texas A&M University, Universities from Canada including College of the North Atlantic etc are some of the foreign universities operating in Qatar. The supreme educational council and the ministry of education are controlling the educational activities in Qatar. Qatar: Recreations and food facilities Recreational facilities are immense in Qatar which includes, play grounds, gyms, theatres, water sports facilities etc. Internet and other communication facilities are one of the most advanced in Qatar compared to the other Middle Eastern countries. Horse racing, camel racing is some of the traditional recreational activities performed in Qatar. Various kinds of food centres are also available in Qatar. It includes from Indian, Chinese, traditional Qatari foods, western etc. Since many of the population in the Qatar belong to the expatriate community, in order to cater their eating needs, various types of foods are available in Qatar. “If you want to feel true Qatar then try traditional food in Qatar. Traditional food in Qatar Restaurants include several seafood dishes the most popular food of Qatar is fishes like the lobster, crab, shrimp, tuna, kingfish and red snapper. But the favourite food in Qatar of the locals is the traditional meat of Lamb and mutton accompanied by milk from cows or goats which is made in yogurt” (Food in Qatar, n. d) Qatar: Sports/Asian games Qatar is giving more importance to sports and Games. Football is a kind of religion in Qatar like cricket in India or Pakistan. Qatari people adorn the famous football players and most of the youths are very much interested in football. Apart from football, volleyball, basket ball, tennis, athletics, golf, swimming, boxing, weight lifting, equestrian etc are also common sports activities in Qatar. 15 th Asian games was held in Doha, the capital city of Qatar in 2006. The organization of these Asian games was proved Qatar interests and abilities in conducting big sports events. Forty-five counties participated in the Doha Asian Games. The ceremony was opened by Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani on December 1, 2006 at the famous Khalifa International Stadium. The Opening Ceremony was one of the most stunning sport event ceremonies. The last medal tally showed that China had won 165 gold medals. Japan came second with 58 gold medals and total of 168 medals. Japan got the bronze medal for winning 50 gold medals. The host of Doha Asian Games secured the ninth position with 9 gold medals. The closing ceremony of Doha Asian Games was held on 15 December (Doha Asian Games, n. d) Conclusions Qatar is one of the beautiful Middle Eastern countries, which is a paradise for the tourists. The multicultural environment and diversity in life and natural resources available in Qatar encouraged the foreign business entrepreneurs to try their luck in Qatar. The transportation, energy, water and other infrastructure facilities available in Qatar is one of the bests among the region. Even though Islam is the official religion, many other people from different religions are present in Qatar. Apart from oil resources, tourism, marine products, business etc are some of the revenue sources. Lots of foreign universities operating in Qatar at present and hence the educational levels of the people are high. In short, Qatar is one of the prosperous and peaceful countries in the Middle East region. References 1. Culture of Qatar, (n. d), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.middleeasthub.com/qatar/culture/ 2. Corsi Jerome R. (2009), Qatar acquires stake in UK's 3rd-largest bank, Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.google.co.in/imgres?imgurl=http://www.wnd.com/images/qatar.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.wnd.com/index.php/index.php%3FpageId%3D68459&h=300&w=546&sz=59&tbnid=V2J0Kh1dS_B05M:&tbnh=73&tbnw=133&prev=/images%3Fq%3DQatar&usg=__VuDe5BoLMXiReNgEprCBflhtT_I=&ei=Ge4mS6qjEori7APH6YzCBg&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=6&ct=image&ved=0CB0Q9QEwBQ 3. Doha Asian Games(n. d), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.middleeasthub.com/qatar/events-exhibitions/doha-asian-games.html 4. Food in Qatar(n. d), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.middleeasthub.com/qatar/culture/food-in-qatar.html 5. Jasir Buhzan, (2007), Clothing, Qatar Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.odyssei.com/travel-tips/9771.html 6. Qatar Population,(2009), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://flagcounter.com/factbook/qa 7. Qatar Clothing, (2000), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.qatarvisitor.com/index.php?cID=412&pID=985 8. Qatar, (2005), Retrieved on 15 December 2009 from http://www.qatarembassy.net/environment.asp Read More