Qatar, located on the western shore of the Persian Gulf, has been settled since the Stone Age. The country has experienced dramatic economic changes since the discovery of oil in 1939. Prior to that, the Qatari economy was based on pearling, fishing, and trade. Historically, Qatar was most notably connected with the federation of Dilmun until Islam arrived in the seventh century and the area came under the control of a series of Arab caliphates. Heavily influenced at times by the Ottomans, Iran, and Saudi Arabia, most Qataris belong to the Wahhabi sect of Islam. The Thani dynasty, first under the sufferance of the Ottomans and later under a British protectorate, ruled Qatar as an absolute monarchy - until very recent reforms - since the early nineteenth century. While gas reserves, expected to last well over a century, will sustain Qatar’s economic base, over two-thirds of the population are not citizens. The influence of foreign rule and nomadic peoples, coupled with traditional Bedouin values, have combined to create a dynamic modern Qatari culture that embraces reform yet maintains a conservative society.