Doha spun off Al Bidda and became Qatar’s capital in 1971
Doha is Qatar’s capital, largest city, and financial hub on the eastern Persian Gulf. The settlement branched from older Al Bidda during the 1820s and became the official capital when Qatar left British protection in 1971. Arabic dohat—“roundness”—likely nods to the curved bays.
The name is usually traced to Arabic dohat, roundness, for the curved bays along the shore. Doha grew out of the older settlement of Al Bidda, noted by Carmelites in 1681 and marked as Guttur on Carsten Niebuhr’s 1765 map. In 1801 the British resident David Seaton tried to shell what he called Bedih but found the water too shallow for his warship. Buhur bin Jubrun of the Al-Buainain founded Doha in the 1820s and met the British resident John MacLeod there in January 1823.
Unrest followed. After his successor killed a Bahraini in 1828, the Al Khalifa destroyed the tribe’s fort, and the town became a pirate refuge. Isa bin Tarif took over in 1843 and died fighting Bahrain at Fuwayrit, and from 1847 the Al Thani under Mohammed bin Thani gained control. In 1867 about 2,700 Bahraini and Abu Dhabi troops sacked Doha and Al Wakrah, leaving them temporarily blotted out, and Colonel Lewis Pelly’s 1868 settlement recognised Qatar as distinct from Bahrain.
In December 1871 100 Ottoman troops occupied the Musallam fort with Jassim Al Thani’s consent, and an 1872 report counted about 1,000 houses and 4,000 people. Quarrels over tribute led to the Battle of Al Wajbah in March 1893, when Jassim cut the water to Al Bidda Fort and the Ottomans surrendered. Pearling then carried the town: in 1907 it housed 350 boats with 6,300 crew, before a market collapse that year forced the harvest to be sold at half price.
Doha became the capital at independence in 1971, now holds over 80 percent of Qatar’s people, and has hosted the 2006 Asian Games and the 2012 UN climate talks.
Source: Doha
