QATAR - Dawlat Qaṭar

Qatar (Arabic: قطر‎ Qaṭar}  officially the State of Qatar (Arabic: دولة قطر‎ Dawlat Qaṭar), is a country located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula. Whether the sovereign state should be regarded as a constitutional monarchy or an absolute monarchy is disputed. sole land border is with neighbouring Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) monarchy Saudi Arabia to the south, with the rest of its territory surrounded by the Persian Gulf. The Gulf of Bahrain, an inlet of the Persian Gulf, separates Qatar from nearby Bahrain. Qatar has been ruled by the House of Thani since Mohammed bin Thani signed a treaty with the British in 1868 that recognised its separate status. Following Ottoman rule, Qatar became a British protectorate in the early 20th century until gaining independence in 1971. In 2003, the constitution was overwhelmingly approved in a referendum, with almost 98% in favour. Pliny the Elder, a Roman writer, documented the earliest account pertaining to the inhabitants of the peninsula around the mid-first century AD, referring to them as the Catharrei, a designation which may have derived from the name of a prominent local settlement. A century later, Ptolemy produced the first known map to depict the peninsula, referring to it as Catara. The map also referenced a town named "Cadara" to the east of the peninsula. The term 'Catara' (inhabitants, Cataraei) was exclusively used until the 18th century, after which 'Katara' emerged as the most commonly recognised spelling. Eventually, after several variations – 'Katr', 'Kattar' and 'Guttur' – the modern derivative Qatar was adopted as the country's name.

Qatar had special treaty relations with Great Britain from 1916 until 3 September 1971, when it became an independent state. From 18 May 1950 British residents were able to send mail through the office of the British Political Officer in Doha. The first three sendings of mail had Bahrain or British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia stamps which were cancelled by a circular office stamp but later mail had the stamps cancelled at Bahrain until a Doha canceller was introduced in July 1950. Before 1950, foreign residents made their own arrangements for mail to be sent to Bahrain from where it entered the postal system.

In August 1950 the post office became a separate organisation open to the public and a further post office was opened at Umm Said oil terminal on 1 February 1956. British stamps overprinted BAHRAIN were used at first, followed by stamps of the British Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia.^[1] Mian Muhammad Rafique Ahmed, a Pakistani, was Qatar's first Postmaster General, appointed in 1955. Muscat issues were introduced to Qatar in May 1950 when the Doha post office opened under British administration. Until then, the small amounts of mail had been channeled through the Bahrain post office using Bahrain stamps. Additional offices opened at Umm Said on 1 February 1956 and at Dukhan on 3 January 1960. The Muscat issues continued until 1957 when British stamps overprinted QATAR were introduced. The first stamps specific to Qatar were issued on 2 September 1961 with five types ranging from five naye paise to ten rupees. The Qatar Post Department assumed full control of the service on 23 May 1963.

On 1 April 1957, twelve British stamps from the Wilding series were issued, along with overprinted high value 'castles' stamps. Later in 1957, three stamps from the British Scouting Jubilee series were issued and in 1960 a further series of Wilding stamps were issued with a different watermark. All were overprinted QATAR and the value in Indian currency. The first stamps issued inscribed Qatar, rather than British stamps overprinted Qatar, were a definitive stamp series of 11 issued on 2 September 1961 depicting sheikh Ahmad bin Ali Al Thani.On 23 May 1963 the Qatar Post Department took responsibility for postal services in Qatar and from 1966 the currency used on stamps was changed from Indian Rupees to Dirhams and Riyals.

Qatar became independent on 3 September 1971 and this was marked with a set of four stamps issued on 17 January 1972. Regular commemorative and definitive stamps have been issued since then, mostly on subjects relevant to Qatar. A postage stamp booklet was issued in 1977. Q-Post is the post office of Qatar. It is headquartered at the Doha Corniche. In 2009, it was announced that Qatar won the bid to host the 25th Universal Postal Union Congress (UPU) in 2012. The event was held from September to October 2012.