Egypt is described as “the gift of the Nile,” and we can describe Qatar as actually the “gift of the sea.” It is an oasis with fresh water, but not in the middle of the desert, as is customary, but in the middle of the sea. A distinctive environmental identity that shaped the history of the inhabitants of the Qatar peninsula over the ages, between agriculture and fishing.
The inhabitants of the peninsula understood the unique changes around them and adapted to them, so their adaptation to its ever-changing nature had its effect on forming personalities capable of challenging and quickly adapting.
Qatar is actually "the gift of the sea", as it is an oasis with fresh water, but not in the middle of the desert, as is usual, but in the middle of the sea.
The paradox of the map
In early 2018, the Louvre Abu Dhabi Museum, during its opening, displayed a historical map of the Arabian Gulf in which the Qatar peninsula was absent, and this sparked a wave between ridicule and resentment and negative reactions in many countries. Literary pioneers from around the world in Paris.
But the truth is that what is absent from that map is not the peninsula of Qatar, but the scientific understanding of the environmental and climatic changes in the Arabian Gulf region, especially the sandy eastern coasts of the Arabian Peninsula, including the story of Qatar’s gradual transformation from a crusty Gulf to a peninsula surrounded by shallow water.
The sea level changed significantly during the Little Ice Age, which was approximately in the period between 1300 and 1800, as sea water receded from the land due to the increase in the ice mass in the North and South Poles (which acts as a sponge absorbing part of the sea water), which led to an increase in the land area and the difficulty of access of the coastal strip and determining its properties by optical measurements of the French, Portuguese and British naval ships that drew the coasts during that period.
Looking at the old historical maps, we will notice the presence of coasts that clearly delineate the borders of all the Arab Gulf states today, except for the Qatar Peninsula, although its size is almost 10 times the size of the state of Bahrain, which is clearly drawn on all maps.
Looking at the old historical maps, we will notice the presence of coasts that today delineate the borders of all the countries of the Arabian Gulf
Looking at the northern Arabian Gulf region, specifically the Iranian coast, we will find that all the historical maps are accurate descriptions of these coasts, meaning that the islands in these maps with their sizes, shapes and length of the coastline shape are very similar to the current satellite images, while when comparing the current satellite images with historical maps. We will find that the coasts in the south of the Arabian Gulf differ from the shape of the current coastal strip.
The secret of this disappearance lies in the fact that the coasts of the east of the Arabian Peninsula - headed by Qatar - have experienced and are still one of the largest and most important environmental and climatic changes in the world. In all maps over the past thousand years, as a result of the difficulty of accessing it by ships to draw it, and also as a result of its rapid change in shape with any slight change in sea level.
The sea level changed significantly during the Little Ice Age, which was approximately in the period between 1300 and 1800, as sea water retreated from the land due to the increase in the ice mass in the North and South Poles (which acts as a sponge absorbing part of the sea water), which led to an increase in the area of The land and the difficulty of accessing the coastal strip and determining its properties by optical measurements of the French, Portuguese and British naval ships that drew the coasts during that period.
Qatar appeared in its form known today as a peninsula for the first time on maps in the late 16th century, and this does not mean that it was hidden before that, especially since the Arabian Gulf region was one of the most important sea routes in the ancient world to this day, and regions or cities cannot disappear in it. Without a recorded date.
Qatar, in its form known today as a peninsula, was first shown on maps in the late 16th century, and this does not mean that it was hidden before that.
But the secret lies in the nature of Qatar’s coasts, which are so low that the seabed and the sand dunes buried under the water can be clearly seen through satellite images. These coasts are surrounded by vast areas of shallow water full of coral reefs, especially in the eastern and southern regions. In addition to the absence of topography that makes the process of mapping and locating the coastal strip difficult for the ancient explorers due to the inability to determine directions and draw land due to the difficulty of accessing them and the difficulty of drawing shallow marine areas that the great ships could not navigate, and thus they painted Qatar in the old form of a coast and this is what He explains the writing of the name "katara" in historical maps on this ancient coast and not on the Qatar Peninsula in its current form.
The reason for the continuous and rapid change in the shape of the Qatari coasts, which was monitored by aerial photographs since 1947, up to the current high-resolution satellite images, is currently being studied in cooperation between the Qatar Foundation, the University of Southern California and the Tunisian Institute of Oceanography. Qatar is one of the few countries in the world that has lived - and still Environmental changes across the country as a whole, not just a part of it.
From the dry bay to the peninsula
Since the water crossed the Strait of Hormuz about 18,000 years ago, after the last ice age and the beginning of the formation of the Arabian Gulf Sea, the water began to gradually flood the area that was a depression with fresh rivers and lakes as a result of the melting of the ice age snows, and the primitive civilizations that lived in this basin retreated towards The coasts surrounding the Gulf, where this depression was completely submerged, and the formation of the Gulf as we know it today about 8 thousand years ago, and since that time the coast of Qatar began a series of transformations from the coast of shallow waters to a peninsula and these changes are still going on until today.
Preliminary studies indicate the presence of 4 possible factors that cause the continuous change in the shape of the coasts of Qatar, the first of which is the change in the rise in the level of the Gulf waters, which is a clearly observed factor, and this change was less than a meter in the past thousand years, in addition to the recent decline of the land in the last 3 decades In the northern coastal region due to the movement of groundwater, and the third factor is the movement of faults that raise or lower the coasts, and finally the erosion of the beaches due to the lack of rain.
Among these four forces, the Qatari coasts were formed and changed in this important way, and the story of the people of the peninsula is the story of their coexistence and their innate understanding of these changes. Therefore, buildings were not built directly on the coasts, but were built in relatively high areas that do not touch the sea, unlike coastal cities in other areas of the Gulf.
Qatar Gift of the Sea or ("sweet" water in the middle of the sea)
The shallow waters formed the natural protective shield that protected the ancient inhabitants of the Qatar peninsula from many invasions of multiple cultures such as the Portuguese and others whose great ships were sinking in the shallow waters due to the presence of dense coral reefs.
And the sailors who lived on the peninsula knew how to navigate in those shallow areas rich in fisheries, and were able to build light boats that could float in them. The residents’ understanding and awareness of the surrounding environment was the most powerful weapon in self-defense from great powers that tried to invade that area due to its abundance of marine resources. And its presence in an important navigational route, in the absence of topography to determine directions, the reliance on the seabed for orientation was unique and has not been sufficiently codified or studied to this day.
This rare environmental heritage created an important diversity of resources in the middle of this unique desert environment, which made the population associated with that region for centuries despite the continuous environmental and climatic change, and one of the most important of these distinctive resources is the sweet “fresh” water springs that were and still spring on the land and even in the middle of the sea in The northern region of Qatar and between Qatar and Bahrain.
And because it is lighter in weight and density than salt water, it floats on the surface (like oil spots), and the ancient sailors distinguished it by the shape of the waves and headed directly to it during their trips to drink from it, and this is the only sea that you can eat and drink from at the same time, hence the name On the nearest land to it after the name Bahrain, because they imagined the existence of two seas on top of each other, one sweet and the other salty.
In addition, the Qatar Peninsula is an area downstream of the groundwater aquifer system of the eastern Arabian Peninsula, and therefore its water resources reflect all the environmental and climatic change that occurred in the depths of the Arabian Peninsula for thousands of years, and whatever borders exist between countries, groundwater crosses from under Earth knows no bounds.
Qatar is also distinguished by the presence of hundreds of depressions (similar to meteorite craters on the surface of the moon) in which seasonal rains gather with groundwater, and these areas are very suitable for agriculture.
An identity that defies changes
Just as the Nile River had a profound impact on the identity of Egypt and its people, and just as the Atlas Mountains affected the identity of the Moroccan people, the changing coasts of Qatar also affected the Qatari personality, which is linked to the sea at one time and the land at other times, which gave it a distinctive environmental identity, which is the ability to adapt, adapt and prepare for the challenge.
And all the peoples who lived challenges with nature developed their psychological, physical and technical ability to fight battles with other challenges, and the people of the Qatar Peninsula lived the struggle between the shore and the land and between water and desertification and adapted to these environmental and climatic changes in an uncharacteristic manner at the time and is still the focus of study and understanding.
Perhaps this identity of "adaptation and challenge" was the reason why Qatar quickly adapted to rearrange its living affairs with the blockade imposed on it by neighboring countries in June 2017 for a period of 4 years. Before this blockade, it was surrounded by sea waters, and the challenges of nature still do not stop to this day.
Today, many of us may not know this history. It is necessary to recall this distinctive environmental and climatic history of this country, because it represents and translates the history of the challenge and understanding experienced by the inhabitants of this part of the land and contributes to the formation of Arab awareness of the importance of environmental and climatic changes surrounding us, where these issues occupy space It is important and growing in the interest of the Arab street and the international community, and this understanding also helps us explain why there are no ancient monuments in the dry land that represents the current borders of the state, because these effects may simply be buried today in flooded areas, as indicated by several published researches.
However, a large part of Qatar's distinguished environmental system, such as groundwater, remains in need of further studies, as it is part of the ecological balance and one of Qatar's exceptional strategic resources and the dominant factor in the development of its coasts.
The change of the Qatari coasts at this pace is a unique case, and the heritage confirms this. Not so long ago, people moved between Qatar and Bahrain on foot before the area between them turned into a submerged sea.
Qatar after 200 years
In some areas, sea water can enter a distance of between 10 to 50 meters on land within a year, and the map of Qatar in its current form changes approximately by approximately 1% every 20 years, where there is erosion and erosion of the northern and eastern coasts of the peninsula due to the entry of sea water into it for a few meters. In the southern regions, at Khor Al Adaid, there is an increase in the area of the peninsula as a result of sand dunes that flow into the sea.
This means that after 200 years from now and according to the observed rates, the northern Qatari coasts may erode some kilometers from the north, while the area of the country will increase from the south by a distance of a few kilometers, and the shape of the Qatar map may change relatively, but it will still remain a peninsula. In front of a coastal map that has changed almost 100% over the course of two thousand years.
The change of the Qatari coasts at this pace is a unique case, and in the heritage confirms this. Not long ago, people moved between Qatar and Bahrain on foot before the area between them turned into a submerged sea.
The conclusion is that the Qatar Peninsula is a “marine oasis” full of secrets that still needs further study, and this was revealed by the first field study of our scientific team in the Qatari desert years ago, which will be published next month in the prestigious ISPRS- Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing ".
Today, as we Arabs talk about climatic changes, which many of us still do not believe in, we see that some of us made or formed from these changes their national identity, and knowledge of them was the basis for survival and the first shield for defending the Qatar Peninsula for thousands of years. The most powerful weapon is the human mind and its ability to perceive the variables of its environment. If we lose it, we lose part of our humanity.