1839 QATAR - Cooking pots in Souq Waqif in Doha

A souq is an open-air marketplace or commercial quarter in Middle Eastern and North African cities. Historically, they were held outside cities at locations where incoming caravans stopped and merchants displayed their goods for sale. Later, due to the importance of marketplaces and the growth of cities, the major locations of souqs shifted to urban centers. Souqs are traditionally divided into specialized sections dealing in specific types of product. The main souq was one of the central structures of a large city, selling durable goods.

0796 QATAR - Skyscrapers of Doha

In 1939 were first discovered the oil reserves in Qatar Peninsula, located on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula. In 1971, Qatar officially gained its independence from the United Kingdom, and three years later the Qatar General Petroleum Corporation took control of all oil operations in the country, and Qatar rapidly became a rich country. In 2012, it has the highest GDP per capita in the world, and approximately 14% of households are dollar millionaires. Probably the most visible and simultaneously the most impressive evidence of the country's economic success are the buildings erected in recent decades especially in its capital, Doha, a relatively young city, founded in 1825.