Al-Adhbah (; also spelled as ''Al Athbah'') is a village in

Qatar Qatar, officially the State of Qatar, is a country in West Asia. It occupies the Geography of Qatar, Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it shares Qatar–Saudi Arabia border, its sole land b ...

, located in the

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Ash Shamal Al Shamal () is a municipalities of Qatar, municipality in Qatar. Its seat is Madinat ash Shamal and it is considered to be one of the major cities in Qatar, although its population is barely over 7,000. The seat's name translates to "city of th ...

. It previously served as

Bedouin The Bedouin, Beduin, or Bedu ( ; , singular ) are pastorally nomadic Arab tribes who have historically inhabited the desert regions in the Arabian Peninsula, North Africa, the Levant, and Mesopotamia (Iraq). The Bedouin originated in the Sy ...

camping ground and had 5 masonry wells in the early 1900s.

Etymology

Al Adhbah translates to 'sweet' in English. It was given this name because its fresh water was of good quality, with little salinity.

Geography

Al Adhbah is located near the northeast coast. It forms part of the northern

interior plain The Interior Plains is a vast physiographic region that spreads across the Laurentian craton of central North America, extending along the east flank of the Rocky Mountains from the Gulf Coast region to the Arctic Beaufort Sea. In Canada, it e ...

region. As such, the area around Al Adhbah is characterized by relatively flat terrain, typical of Qatar's interior regions. Historically, the main villages situated directly on the coast such as

Al Ghariyah Al Ghariyah () is a village on the northeast coast of Qatar located in the municipality of Al Shamal. It was founded in 1885 by settlers from the town of Al Wakrah. It was a site of contention between Qatari tribes allied with the Ottomans and S ...

and

Fuwayrit Fuwayrit (; also spelled as Fuwairat) is a Qatari coastal village in the municipality of Ash Shamal approximately north of the capital Doha. It is an important site for Qatar's oil industry. Archaeological evidence suggests that it may have been ...

often experienced water shortages because

saltwater intrusion Saltwater intrusion is the movement of saline water into freshwater aquifers, which can lead to groundwater quality degradation, including drinking water sources, and other consequences. Saltwater intrusion can naturally occur in coastal aquifers, ...

restricted direct access to the groundwater. Furthermore, the water that could be obtained was highly saline. As a result, Al Adhbah established a trade relationship with these villages in which it would receive maritime goods such as fish and pearls in exchange for its potable water.

References

Al Shamal {{Qatar-geo-stub