Jutting out from the east side of Saudi Arabia, the Qatari peninsula — all 4,400 miles of it, about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island combined — makes up in commerce what it lacks in size. In centuries past the Qatari people made up much of the gulf region’s fishing and pearling industry. As the other states in the region, it functioned under a more or less autonomous government after WW II, following an agreement with British. And when the agreement expired, Qatar, like several of its neighbors briefly entertained the idea of joining the United Arab Emirates.

On this day, September 3, in 1971, seeing no progress made in negotiations between the other Arabian kingdoms, Qatar decided to become an independent state.

Where its pearling industry declined with the introduction by Japan of the cultured pearl, the discovery of oil made Qatar one of the richest countries on the planet. Oil makes up some 60% of the government income. Largely on the strength of oil, Qatar’s GDP is estimated by the State Department to grow by 15% a year, with an estimated per capita income of $67,000 considered the fifth highest in the world in 2007. That will not likely change soon: at the current rate of production the country has enough oil to last another 40 years.