The walled coastal city of Al Zubarah on the Persian Gulf flourished as a commercial and mother-of-pearl center in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, before being destroyed in 1811 and abandoned in the early twentieth century. Founded by merchants from Kuwait, Al Zubarah had industrial links in the Indian Ocean, Arabia and Western Asia. A layer of sand washed away by the desert has protected the remodeling of the site’s palaces, mosques, streets, courtyard houses and fishermen’s huts; its port and double defensive walls, a canal, walls and cemeteries. The excavations were located on only a small component of the site, giving exceptional testimony to an urban culture of industry and pearl fishing that sustained the region’s major coastal towns and led to the progression of small independent states that flourished outside the Ottoman, European and Persian empires and eventually led to the rise of modern Gulf states.
The fortified coastal town of Al Zubarah on the Persian Gulf became a thriving center of pearl fishing and trade in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, before being destroyed and abandoned in 1811. Established through Kuwaiti traders, Al Zubarah had industrial links with the Indian Ocean, Arabia and Western Asia. A layer of desert sand houses remains of palaces, mosques, souks, courtyard houses, the port and its defensive walls, a canal, protective walls and cemeteries, as well as fishermen’s huts. Only a small One component of the site has been excavated. It testifies to the remarkable form of pearl culture and publicity that sustained the coastal cities of the Persian Gulf, which led to the progression of small independent states that flourished independently of the domination of the Ottomans, Europeans and Persian empires, and that are the ancestors of the current Gulf states.
De ommuurde kustplaats Al Zubarah in de Arabische Golf werd gesticht door kooplieden uit Koeweit. In de laat 18e en start 19e eeuw bloeide ze uit tot centrum van handel en de parelindustrie. De handelsconnecties strekten zich uit over de Indische Ocean, Arabië en West-Azië . Al Zubarah werd in 1811 verwoest en start 1900 verlaten. Een laag woestijnzand heeft de overblijfselen van paleizen, moskeeën, straten, huizen en vissershutten beschermd. Daarnaast resteren de Haven, dubbele verdedigingsmuren, een gracht en begraafplaatsen. De opgravingen getuigen van stedelijke handel en parelduiken ; Activiteiten die de grote regionale kuststeden ondersteunden en uiteindelijk hebben geleid tot de opkomst van de huidige Golfstaten.
Brief summary
The walled coastal city of Al Zubarah on the Persian Gulf flourished as a center of pearls and industry for a short period of about fifty years in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
Founded through Kuwait’s Utub merchants, its prosperity was connected with its involvement in the high-value goods industry, adding the export of pearls. At the height of its prosperity, Al Zubarah had industrial links with the Indian Ocean, Arabia and Western Asia.
Al Zubarah, part of a long line of fortified and filthy rich trading cities around the coast in what is now Qatar, and elsewhere in the Persian Gulf, evolved from the early Islamic period, around the ninth century A. D. , and established a symbiotic dating with settlements in the interior. Individually, those trading peoples probably competed with each other during the many centuries in which the Indian Ocean industry took place.
Al Zubarah was largely destroyed in 1811 and yet deserted in the early twentieth century, after which the remaining rubble and mortar buildings collapsed and were gradually covered with a protective layer of sand washed away by the desert. A small part of the city was The heritage is composed of the remains of the villa, with its palaces, mosques, streets, courtyard houses and fishermen’s huts, port and double defensive wall, and, on the land side, a canal, two protective walls and cemeteries. a short distance away are the remains of Fort Qal’at Murair, with evidence of control and coverage of the desert water supply, and some other forts built in 1938.
What distinguishes Al Zubarah from other trading cities in the Persian Gulf is that it lasted a short time, secondly that it was abandoned, thirdly that it has remained largely intact since it was covered by desert sands, and fourthly that it is wider. The context can still be read through the remains of small satellite settlements and the remains of probably rival cities nearby. along the coast.
Al Zubarah’s design has been preserved under the desert sands. The entire city, still in its desert interior, is a living reflection of the progression of an eighteenth- and nineteenth-century commercial society in the Gulf region and its interaction with the surrounding desert landscape.
Al Zubarah is not exceptional because it was unique or in some way stood out from those other settlements, but rather because of the way it can be seen as a remarkable testament to an urban culture of trade and pearl fishing that has underpinned the region’s major coastal areas. peoples. from the beginning of the Islamic era or before the twentieth century, and to illustrate the series of urban foundations that rewrote the political and demographic map of the Persian Gulf in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and led to the progression of small independent states flourishing abroad. under the control of the Ottoman, European and Persian empires and which eventually led to the rise of the fashionable Gulf States.
Criterion (iii): The Al Zubarah desert agreement, as the comprehensive urban renovation plan of an Arab pearl-merchant city, is a remarkable testimony to the commercial and pearl culture of the Persian Gulf in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the near-definitive flowering of a culture that sustained the region’s major coastal peoples from the beginning of the Islamic era or before the twentieth century.
Criterion (iv): Al Zubarah, as a walled city connected to the settlements of its interior, illustrates the series of urban foundations that rewrote the political and demographic map of the Persian Gulf in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries based on the strategic position of the region as a conduit of publicity. Therefore, Al Zubarah can be regarded as an example of the small independent states that were founded and flourished in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries outside the control of the Ottoman, European and Persian empires. This era can now be regarded as a vital moment in human history, when the Gulf States that exist today were founded.
Criterion (v): Al Zubarah provides exclusive testimony to human interaction with the sea and the region’s harsh desert environment. The fishermen’s weights of pearls, imported pottery, depictions of dhows, fish traps, wells and agricultural activities show how the progression of the city was driven by industry and commerce, and how much the city’s population was connected to the sea and its desert interior.
Al Zubarah’s urban landscape and relatively untouched seascape and desert interior are not inherently noticeable or unique among Persian Gulf settlements, nor do they exhibit uncommon land control techniques. What makes them exceptional is the evidence that they provide a general abandonment for the last 3 generations. This makes it imaginable to perceive them as a fossilized mirror image of how coastal commercial cities harvested the resources of the sea and their desert interior at one express time.
Integrity
Al Zubarah fell into ruins after its destruction in 1811. Only a small part of the original domain was re-established in the late nineteenth century. As a result, Al Zubarah’s eighteenth-century urban design has been preserved almost entirely in situ.
The assets of the entire city and its immediate interior. The boundary encompasses all attributes that explain location and functions. The buffer zone covers part of its desert environment and context.
Physical remains are highly vulnerable to erosion, both those that have not yet been disturbed and those that have been excavated. However, detailed studies and experiments conducted in recent and ongoing seasons address optimal stabilization and coverage approaches. Total assets are surrounded by a forged fence. The integrity of the broader framework is adequately protected.
Authenticity
Only a small part of the city has been excavated in 3 phases: early 80s, between 2002 and 2003 and since 2009. The restoration paintings made during the 80s referred to the reconstruction of the walls and, in some cases, the use of cement that had a destructive effect. effect. Lack of maintenance in the twenty-five years prior to 2009 also led to significant degradation of exposed walls. Therefore, the authenticity of the remains revealed through the early excavations has been compromised to some extent. Small percentage of the remains, the overall effect is limited.
Since 2009, new excavations have been filled. Starting in 2011, a task began to stabilize wall strategies designed after extensive testing and research, and the latest available data and technologies. These strategies deserve to consolidate parts of the excavated domain so that they can be observed by visitors.
Protection and control requirements
Al Zubarah is designated as an archaeological site according to the Antiquities Act No. 2 of 1980 and its amendment, Law No. 23 of 2010. As such, it is legally owned.
The buffer zone has been legally approved by Qatar’s Ministry of Municipalities and Urban Development. This ensures that no lease will be granted for any economic or real estate progression in the buffer zone.
Al Reem Biosphere Reserve and Northern Qatar National Heritage Park, which includes the Al Zubarah archaeological site, have the prestige of legal areas. These well make a greater coverage to the wider environment. The structural plan of Madinat Ash Shamal to be approved in 2013 will ensure the protection of the site against urban encroachment from the northeast.
The Qatar National Master Plan (QNMP) states that the coverage of cultural heritage sites, of which the Al Zubarah archaeological site is the largest in the country, is of great importance to Qatar (BE Policy 16). “Conservation spaces” are established to provide this cover and political movements expressly stipulate that this includes Qatar’s northern coast (Coastal Zone Protection Area) and the domain between Al Zubarah and Al Shamal (Al Shamal Conservation Area). The plan also states that expansion will be limited by spaces and that planned road networks will avoid the buffer zone.
A site control unit for the assets will be jointly controlled through the allocation of Qatar Islamic Heritage and Archaeology (QIAH) and the Qatar Museum Authority (QMA) until 2015. A QIAH appointed site director works in collaboration with a deputy site director appointed through the AQM National Committee. A for assets includes representatives of stakeholder groups, adding the local community, ministries and universities in Qatar and Copenhagen, and is chaired by the Vice President of QMA. It aims to facilitate discussion and advise QMA on coverage. and asset tracking.
An approved control plan will be implemented in 3 stages over nine years. The first phase (2011-2015) focuses on archaeological research, conservation and preparation of a master plan for tourism progression, adding the elaboration of plans and design of a guest center to open in 2015, and capacity building; The current phase (2015-2019) is a medium-term strategy for capacity building and presentation, but will come with more archaeological investigations and the progression of a threat prevention strategy, while in the third phase (from 2019) the QMA will assume the full duty of control of the assets to be conserved and presented at that time.
The Qatar Islamic Heritage and Archaeology Project (QIAH) jointly presented through QMA and the University of Copenhagen in 2009. This ten-year allocation aims to search for the assets and their interior and maintain their fragile remains.
A conservation strategy has been developed, in particular adapted to the characteristics of the earthen architecture and designed to meet the wishes of the ruins of Al Zubarah. Its objective is to protect urban remains so that they are preserved for generations in the long term; take a safe number of annual visitors; and let them be understandable in terms of explaining the history of the city. It is identified that due to environmental situations and the composition of historic buildings, conservation paints cannot absolutely prevent deterioration and a normal maintenance and monitoring program is planned. A The conservation manual has been ready which includes the concept of conservation and a conservation manual and generally allows the extensive studies and studies that have been carried out and the agreed conservation strategy to be readily available to all, in a simple, readily available but highly professional way. .
A qualified organization known as the Heritage Conservation Strategy Group meets to monitor conservation activities and optimize the implementation of the conservation strategy. A conservation skills education program has been introduced to create a specially trained professional workforce to adopt all recovery activities on the property.
The demanding situations faced by the conservation of very fragile remains in a hostile climate are immense. The approaches devised for study, research and conservation, as well as guest management, are intended to be exemplary.