The history of Qatar and the Gulf States goes back many thousands of years. There were several more or less independent sheikdoms in the Gulf until they were absorbed into the Ottoman Empire in the late-19th century. After World War I, they became British protectorates and most, although excluding Qatar, were grouped into an entity named the Trucial States. However, in 1968, the British announced they would be withdrawing their forces from regions ‘east of Suez’ by 1971.
There followed moves to establish a confederation of Gulf states comprising all the sheikdoms that had previously enjoyed British protection. This did not in the end come to pass, instead Qatar emerged as an independent state alongside Kuwait, Bahrain,
