Establishment According to oral traditions, Abu Dhalouf was settled by the
Al Mannai tribe after they left the nearby settlement of
Yusufiyah, where they had earlier constructed a fortress known as Qal'at Al Yusufiyah. That fort, built in 1738, was located west of
Ar Ru'ays and featured four towers, three round and one rectangular, according to archaeological traces. It was used for protection against both land and sea raids. Upon relocating to Abu Dhalouf, the Al Mannai constructed a new defensive fort, commonly referred to as Qal'at Abu Dhalouf or Qal'at Al Mannai. The fort was positioned on the southwestern edge of the village and had four prominent towers, one on each corner. According to oral testimony, the fort included a large central chamber used as a shelter for the women of the Al Mannai during times of attack, while the men took defensive positions in the towers. The fort had two gates, one facing north and the other south. By the mid-20th century, the fort had begun to fall into disrepair. Archaeological remnants of the northern gate reportedly survived into the 1970s. He wrote down the following notes about Abu Dhalouf, which he referred to as
Boodeshoof: Map of Qatar Peninsula in 1824 - Abu Dhalouf.jpg|Abu Dhalouf as
Boodeshoof in an 1824 map of the Qatar Peninsula based upon Brucks' research.
20th century Captain Francis Prideaux, who was the
British political resident in Bahrain, remarked in 1906 that, although
Al Bidda was firmly under
Al Thani-rule, the tribes of northern settlements, including Abu Dhalouf, did not pay tribute to the sheikh
Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, nor did they consider themselves subjects of his. After investigating an act of piracy that took place off Abu Dhalouf, Prideaux learned the tribespeople of the village pledged their allegiance to the sheikh of Bahrain instead, as stated 80 years earlier by Brucks.
J. G. Lorimer's
Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf gives an account of Abu Dhalouf in 1908: Reiterating details present in G. B. Brucks' earlier report, Lorimer also stated that prior to 1856, the village was inhabited by about 50 men of the Bu Kuwara (Kuwari) tribe. During anthropological fieldwork conducted in 1950, an estimated 200 tents belonging to the Al Mannai tribe were recorded in the area. ==Geography==