Qatar Municipalities

Qatar is a thumb of land pushing north from the Arabian coast into the Gulf, and nearly all of its people live in the capital and the strip of coast around it. Its eight municipalities (baladiyat) are the units the census, the planning authority and the country's address system are organised around, and they cover the peninsula without a gap.

The quiz: Name to place, on the map
Grouped by: Greater Doha, the North and the South West
In the game: 8 municipalities

Start

What you are looking at

The municipalities of today, named in their usual English spelling. Doha is the smallest by far, a compact city on the east coast, and the others fan out around it: Al Rayyan to the west and south, Al Daayen and Umm Salal to the north, and Al Wakrah down the coast. Al Shamal fills the northern tip, and Al Khor runs along the north east coast beneath it.

The groups are not an official classification. They are the three parts of the peninsula it is usually described in, and a way to learn the map a piece at a time.

How to place one

Start with Doha. It is the small coastal municipality on the east coast, about halfway up, and every other name is easiest to find relative to it.
Look at what wraps it. Al Rayyan lies to its west and south, Umm Salal and Al Daayen to its north, Al Wakrah to its south.
Go up the east coast. Al Khor is the long coastal block above Al Daayen, and Al Shamal is the northern tip above that.
Fill the west last. Al Shahaniya is the wide central and western municipality, reaching to the coast on the Gulf of Salwa side.

Every municipality, by group

Greater Doha4 municipalities: Al Daayen, Al Rayyan, Doha, Umm Salal
North2 municipalities: Al Khor, Al Shamal
South West2 municipalities: Al Shahaniya, Al Wakrah

Worked examples

Doha

The capital

Doha is the smallest municipality and the one most people come to find: a patch of coast on the east side, with Al Rayyan behind it and Umm Salal and Al Daayen to the north.

Al Shamal

The northern tip

Al Shamal is the whole northern end of the peninsula, the one municipality with no neighbour above it.

Al Shahaniya

The west

Al Shahaniya is the large central and western municipality, bordered by Al Rayyan to the south and east and by Umm Salal and Al Khor to the north.

Frequently asked questions

How many municipalities does Qatar have?

Eight, and together they cover the whole of the peninsula, so the game has no territory outside them.

Does Qatar group its municipalities into regions?

Not in a way this game relies on. The groups here are the three parts of the peninsula they are commonly described in, and they will not match every list you find.

Why are some names spelled differently elsewhere?

Arabic names have several romanisations. The game uses Al Shahaniya, Umm Salal and Al Wakrah, which you will also see as Al Sheehaniya, Umm Slal and Al Wakra.