Little is known of Qatar's early history although Qatar was respectively inhabited by stone age people, the Kingdom of Dilmun, probably visited by the Greeks and Romans and periodically by travelling nomads.
Since 2004, Qatar has been divided into seven municipalities (Arabic: baladiyah).
Qatar is a peninsula in the east of Arabia, bordering the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia, in a strategic location near major petroleum deposits. Qatar occupies 11,437 km2 (4,416 sq mi) on a peninsula that extends approximately 160 km (99 mi) north into the Persian Gulf from the Arabian Peninsula.