Fort Al Zubarah

Located 110 kilometers from Doha in northern Qatar (25° 58' 60 N, 51° 1' 60 E) lies a small ruin that has a unique and interesting history for the Qatar nation. Built in 1938 by Abdullah bin Jassim Al Thani (the third of the Al Thani Shaikh) Fort Al Zubara was actually built on the ruins of an older fort.

The original town of Al Zubarah was founded by two sections of the Bani Utub ( Al Khalifa and Al Jalahima) who migrated from Kuwait. The city became an important trading center focusing on pearling, fishing and breeding of livestock. It is believed that in 1638 the town could have held as many as 700 with more than 150 houses, not an easy feat in the desert region and time period. Due to the insecurity and rivalry between tribes, walls and eventually a fort was built to protect themselves from raiding Bedouins.

Sadly the town and original fort named Murair were destroyed long ago and all that exists is the fort that was rebuilt by Shaikh Abdullah. The current fort (one of only a few left of the rivalry raiding days of a bygone era) was used by the military until the mid 1980s when it was abandoned and restored in 1987 to be used as a the Al Zubarah Regional Museum. Inside you will find a collection of photos of the region and of the some of the pottery and tools that have been excavated from the ruins of the town that once existed there.

It wouldn't be hard for a young boy growing up in the United States watching old westerns to find this place interesting and full of childhood memories (I kept looking around waiting for Clint Eastwood to step around the corner in his poncho). The fort is square with circular towers in three corners and a rectangular tower in the fourth. Entrance to the fort is gained by a single door inset in the larger double door to the fort. Inside the fort is a cistern well that is covered with a rebar metal hatch, as well as many rooms and alcoves to explore and view. Built in the traditional Qatari style of joining coral rock and limestone with mud mortar, a gypsum-based plaster was used to protect the wall from the elements. The outside of the fort even boasts a cannon pointing out seaward toward Bahrain.

This region so famous to have been included in ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy's map of the Arab world (Al Zubarah was Qatar’s main trading port right up until the 19th century) there is little left of it. However the area could soon be as booming as the other petro towns dotting the countryside. The Arab states of Qatar and Bahrain announced in December 2008 that the Qatar-Bahrain Causeway would be built between the two. The distance between the two would be approximately 40 km (5 miles) in length making it the longest fixed link in the world. The Qatar end of the causeway will be located at Ras Ashairij approximately 5 km south of the current city of Zubarah.

Well this concludes my first real entry to this blog! Finally I got started...sorry to those who have been looking for this. Till next time!