قبر مؤسس دولة قطر
 Qatar (pronounced KAH-tar) is a peninsular nation, the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined, is mostly desert, flat, and barren. Qatar is situated on the Persian Gulf coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, the largest of the United Arab Emirates. The port city of Doha, on the east coast, is the capital and major commercial center. More than 70 percent of the population lives there. Most of the rest live in the industrial town of Umm Said, the oil-field region of Dukhan, and the east coast towns of Waqra (Al Wakrah) and al-Khor.
Temperatures during the summer months regularly rise to a blistering 120° F. (48° C), and dust storms and sandstorms are commonplace and blinding. The growing season is so short—it lasts only from January to March—that Qataris must import most of their food. The need for fresh water requires Qataris to maintain costly facilities that take the salt out of seawater.
Qataris have endured despite these hardships. Their ancestors eked out a living by herding, fishing, and pearling. By contrast, present-day Qataris are the beneficiaries of a powerful oil-driven economy. In four decades, revenues from Qatari oil and natural gas have lifted their nation out of poverty and transformed it into a modern welfare state.
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