<Tr> <Th> Metro </Th> <Td> N / A </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Th> Time zone </Th> <Td> AST (UTC + 3) </Td> </Tr> <P> Doha (Arabic: الدوحة ‎ ‎, ad - Dawḥa or ad - Dōḥa, pronounced (addawħa), literally in MSA: "the big tree", locally: "rounded bays") is the capital city and most populous city of the State of Qatar . Doha has a population of 1,351,000 in a city proper with the population close to 1.5 million . The city is located on the coast of the Persian Gulf in the east of the country . It is Qatar's fastest growing city, with over 50% of the nation's population living in Doha or its surrounding suburbs, and it is also the economic center of the country . </P> <P> Doha was founded in the 1820s as an offshoot of Al Bidda . It was officially declared as the country's capital in 1971, when Qatar gained independence from being a British Protectorate . As the commercial capital of Qatar and one of the emergent financial centers in the Middle East, Doha is considered a world city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network . Doha accommodates Education City, an area devoted to research and education . </P>

Doha is the capital city of which country