UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE; Arabic: الإمارات العربية المتحدة‎ al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyah al-Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates (Arabic: الإمارات‎ al-ʾImārāt), is a sovereign state in Western Asia at the northeast end of the Arabian Peninsula, in the south of the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east, and Saudi Arabia to the south and west, as well as sharing maritime borders […]

The United Arab Emirates (UAE; Arabic: الإمارات العربية المتحدة‎ al-ʾImārāt al-ʿArabīyah al-Muttaḥidah), sometimes simply called the Emirates (Arabic: الإمارات‎ al-ʾImārāt), is a sovereign state in Western Asia at the northeast end of the Arabian Peninsula, in the south of the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east, and Saudi Arabia to the south and west, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north. The sovereign absolute monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al Quwain. Their boundaries are complex, with numerous enclaves within the various emirates.[10] Each emirate is governed by a ruler; together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the rulers serves as the President of the United Arab Emirates.[11] In 2013, the UAE’s population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates.[12][13][14] However, the UAE population in 2020 has seen an increase as per the official reports.

The land of the Emirates has been inhabited for thousands of years. Stone tools recovered from Jebel Faya in the emirate of Sharjah reveal a settlement of people from Africa some 127,000 years ago and a stone tool used for butchering animals discovered at Jebel Barakah on the Arabian coast suggests an even older habitation from 130,000 years ago.[24] There is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time lively trading links developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia, Iran and the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by the trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, which commenced around 3,000 BCE.[25] Sumerian sources talk of the UAE as home to the ‘Makkan’ or Magan people.[26]

There are six major periods of human settlement with distinctive behaviours in the UAE before Islam, which include the Hafit period from 3,200–2,600 BCE; the Umm Al Nar culture spanned from 2,600–2,000 BCE, the Wadi Suq people dominated from 2,000–1,300 BCE. From 1,200 BCE to the advent of Islam in Eastern Arabia, through three distinctive Iron Ages: (Iron Age 1 – 1,200–1,000 BCE; Iron Age 2 – 1,000–600 BCE; Iron Age 3 (600–300 BCE) and the Mleiha period, (300 BCE onward) – the area was variously occupied by the Achaemenids and other forces, and saw the construction of fortified settlements and extensive husbandry thanks to the development of the falaj irrigation system.

 

In ancient times, Al Hasa (today’s Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia) was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman (today’s UAE and Oman). From the second century CE, there was a movement of tribes from Al Bahreyn towards the lower Gulf, together with a migration among the Azdite Qahtani (or Yamani) and Quda’ah tribal groups from south-west Arabia towards central Oman.

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