The states on the south coast of the Persian Gulf were once part of the Ottoman Empire, even if only loosely so. Unfortunately, their history is rarely considered to be closely tied with that of the Ottomans. However, the ‘discovery’ of the Gulf by the Portuguese and the ultimate arrival of the British meant that the body of water would become a point of contact between the two empires. Zekeriya Kursun’s book explores the roots of the Anglo-Ottoman conflict in Qatar. Kursun starts by describing the Ottoman expansion into Qatar and takes the reader through the nineteenth century, when Ottoman control weakened due to British activity and into the twentieth century when Ottoman rule in the Arab world would finally cease. In addition to the main text, Kursun includes a collection of transcribed documents from the Ottoman archives and a selection of historical maps of Qatar.