Private Swap - Qatar

My first card received from Qatar – a new country for my collection!

Qatar is a sovereign Arab state, located in Western Asia, occupying the small Qatar Peninsula on the northeasterly coast of the much larger Arabian Peninsula.

Qatar has been ruled as an absolute monarchy by Al Thani family since the mid-19th century. Formerly a British protectorate noted mainly for pearling, it became independent in 1971, and has become one of the region's wealthiest states due to its enormous oil and natural gas revenues. (source)

The flag of Qatar is maroon with a broad white serrated band (nine white points) on the hoist side.The meaning of Qatar's flag is: the white - the internationally recognized symbol of peace; maroon - the blood shed during the several wars Qatar had undergone; nine-point serrated line - Qatar is the 9th member of the "reconciled Emirates" of the Persian Gulf in the wake of concluding the Qatari-British treaty in 1916.

A popular but fanciful tale referring to the maroon color and the similarity to the red Bahrain flag, is that purple is what becomes of red fading in the Gulf sun. The legend goes that Qatar's flag used to be red, and that a new type of dye was used for the original flags. However after being left in the sun, the color changed to maroon, which was then regarded to be a more beautiful color (by coincidence). That is also why this specific shade of maroon is called "Qatar Red". (source)

Thank you Sonya and Travis! Have a look at their fantastic travel blog sonyaandtravis.com!