Qatar's Amiri Diwan (Presidential Office) has been based in Al Bidda since 1915, after being converted from an abandoned Ottoman fort.

[3] The earliest documented mention of Al Bidda was made in 1681, by the Carmelite Convent, in an account which chronicles several settlements in Qatar.

[5] David Seaton, a British political resident in Muscat, detailed one of the earliest English accounts of Al Bidda in 1801: Account by David Seaton: — In January 1823, political resident John MacLeod visited Al Bidda to meet with the ruler and initial founder of Doha, Buhur bin Jubrun, who was also the chief of the Al-Buainain tribe.

Abu Dhabi joined on Bahrain's behalf due to the conception that Al Wakrah served as a refuge for fugitives from Oman.

[13][14] A British record later stated "that the towns of Doha and Wakrah were, at the end of 1867 temporarily blotted out of existence, the houses being dismantled and the inhabitants deported".

Around early 1871, the town became a base of operations for Bedouins resisting Ottoman rule after they established a foothold in Eastern Arabia that year.

[15] By December 1871, emir Jassim bin Mohammed authorized the Ottomans to send 100 troops and equipment to Al Bidda.

[16] Shortly after, Qatar was assimilated as a province in the Ottoman Empire, and Al Bidda was recognized as the official provincial capital.

Lorimer's Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf first published in 1908, he describes Al Bidda as a large town which is a natural harbor due to its reefs, but states that vessels of more than 15 feet draft cannot pass.

The majority of its inhabitants, who were said to be involved in pearl fishing, were composed of Qatari tribes, such as the Al-Soudan, Bahraini shopkeepers and immigrants from Al-Hasa.