Qatar

Qatar, oil-rich emirate in Arabia. It comprises a low limestone peninsula, about 120 mi (193 km) long, that juts north into the Persian Gulf from eastern Saudi Arabia. Its 4,416 sq mi (11,337 sq km) consist of barren desert that receives under 4 in (10 cm) of rainfall a year. The only natural vegetation is scrub. Oil accounts for the majority of exports and government income. Most of Qatar's workers are employed in the oil fields; others are goat and camel herders, fishers, or pearl divers. The merchants and industrial workers live in Doha, the capital, in eastern Qatar. Industry has expanded since 1939, when an oil strike led to the growth of the Dukhan oil field in western Qatar, one of the richest in the Middle East. In 1971 Qatar ceased to be a British protectorate and became a fully independent member of the UN.