The Basics

Having a total area of over 3,750 square kilometers, Dubai stretches along the Arabian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates.

A 10-kilometer long snake-like creek splits the southern section of Bur Dubai from the northern area of Deira in the capital of Dubai City. Bur Dubai is traditionally considered the heart of the capital and is home to a variety of important buildings including the Ruler’s office, a number of head offices of major companies, Port Rashid, the Dubai World Trade Center, customs, broadcasting stations, and the postal authority.

Dubai’s major port is made up of gently slopping sand dunes that skirt the foothills of the dry Hajar Mountains, which rise up in the east.

The largest free-trade zone in Arabia and a gargantuan man-made port are both located in Jebel Ali. Jebel Ali is also home to a number of international corporations that take advantage of the zone for manufacturing and redistributing. New companies are finding a home in the zone everyday.

Only Tokyo’s international airport shuttles more daily transit passengers than Dubai’s International Airport. Dubai’s harbor is the most significant in the Middle East and is second only to Seattle, Washington in the United States in terms of sea-air traffic.

Until fairly recently, Dubai was simply a tiny trading port, centralized near the mouth of Dubai City’s creek. Presently, following a period of intensive self-development, Dubai is a thoroughly modern jurisdiction.

Dubai has been settled since the distance past, as early as the first millennia BC. Then around the 18th century, Dubai was a small fishing village settled by the Bani Yas tribe.

From 1820, Great Britain signed numerous treaties with various leaders throughout the area in an effort to protect its ships in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean. Britain was also given permission to handle foreign relations for the area known as "Trucial Oman" or "the Trucial States" as a result of the Perpetual Maritime Truce that Arab ratified with the British in 1853. Roughly eighty years later, the United Arab Emirates became completely independent. By the beginning of the 20th century, Dubai was prosperous enough to attract settlers from a variety of other areas including India and Iran.

The population has grown exponentially since the 1960s and Dubai is now home to over one million inhabitants. Expatriate workers and tourists, who are an important pillar of the economy, call the country’s hundreds of hotels home. The expatriate and tourists populations are so great that less than one quarter of Dubai’s population is ethnically Emirati and Dubai is home to one of the most cosmopolitan population mixtures in the world.

While one might suspect that Dubai suffers from ethnic tensions, the incredible amount of diversity seems to have the opposite effect in Dubai and it remains fairly free of the ethnic tensions that plague the North. Although there are large groups of Indians, Pakistanis, Iranians and Southeast Asians, the population is 95% Muslim. As to be expected, Arabic is the official language of Dubai. Nevertheless, English is widely spoken as are Urdu, Malayalam and from the Philippines, and Tagalong.

The Economy and Government

As with other Middle Eastern nations, the entire economy of the United Arab Emirates, and Dubai by extension is largely dominated by petroleum. Petroleum has provided all of the emirates with a great deal of wealth, which the United Arab Emirates has in turn invested in capital improvements and social services. Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the bus of petroleum production.

There is not a great deal of industrial development throughout the United Arab Emirates and what industrial development does exist is primarily related to petroleum. Generally speaking, industrial development has been hindered by a lack of trained personnel and raw materials.

Being located between both Africa and the Middle East as well as between Europe and the Far East has given the emirate of Dubai a great strategic advantage. In order to take the greatest advantage of its location, Dubai has developed a world-class infrastructure. As a result Dubai is a major link in the global transport and distribution system as well as a gateway for over one and a half billion consumers.

Nearly 200 shipping lines and 100 airlines that provide links to a vast number of cities throughout the world service Dubai. The leading regional and international freight forwarders, insurers, and shipping agents of the area are the foundations of Dubai’s flourishing shipping and transportation sector. Dubai is also home to a quickly developing high quality manufacturing sector as well as a resilient and successful domestic market. Simply put, Dubai’s infrastructure and services are on par with the highest international standards.

Although Dubai has a relatively small population, the country regularly imports a significant amount of non-oil products. The reason behind their success is largely the fact that Dubai is the most important re-export center in the region, and most of the economies that Dubai serves are at early stages of development in comparison to other economies, offering room for significant diversification and expansion in the future. Equally important is Dubai’s role as a supplier to emerging markets including Central Asia, South Africa, the CIS, and India.

Dubai does not impose any controls on foreign exchange operations nor are there any quota or other forms of trade barriers. Although numerous products are completely exempt from import duties, some products are subject to very low import duties.

Dubai is an emirate; hence there are neither elections nor legal political parties in this jurisdiction. All power to govern rests in the hands of the seven hereditary sheikhs, who are known as emirs. Each sheikh rules over one of the the seven traditional sheikhdoms - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ras al-Khaimah and Fujairah, which is named after its principal town. The sheikhs appoint a president from among themselves.

In addition to the president, Dubai also has a Vice President and a Prime Minister who rule Dubai. A Deputy Prime Minister, a cabinet, and several other officers aid them. The cabinet, which acts as government ministers, and its posts are situated throughout the entire Emirates. Since 1972, the United Arab Emirates has had a parliament, which is called the Federal National Council (FNC). Although the FNC offers advice to the Cabinet and Supreme Council, they cannot overrule them.

The constitution makes provisions for forty members in the FNC. Each emirate is given a certain number of representatives in proportion to their population, and the sheikh of each emirate appoints representatives.