Meydan Racecourse
Meydan Racecourse is a racecourse in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The grandstand is over a mile in length, can accommodate over 60,000 spectators. Meydan opened on 27 March 2010, replacing Nad Al Sheba Racecourse, which occupied the same site, it includes a horse racing museum and five-star hotel and nine-hole golf course. When not in use for racing it serves as a business and conference centre; the track's interior was used as a filming location for the film Star Trek Beyond depicting the docking bay where the U. S. S. Enterprise is moored including the bar scene during the film's climax which contains a ship construction bay; the 7.5 million m² Meydan Racecourse includes Meydan Marina, The Meydan, the world's first five-star trackside hotel with 285 rooms, two race tracks and the Grandstand, which consists of a hotel, restaurants, a racing museum and 72 corporate suites for entertaining throughout the year. It has a left-handed 8.75-furlong dirt course. It operates from November through March and features the Winter Racing Challenge, Dubai International Racing Carnival and the Dubai World Cup Night.
The Dubai World Cup is the world's richest race day with over US$26.25 million in prize money. The Racecourse district occupies 67 million ft², it is divided into four sub-districts: Meydan Racecourse, Meydan Metropolis, Meydan Horizons, Meydan Godolphin Parks. Meydan is affiliated with Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, UAE Vice President and Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai. Lady Gaga performed there on 10 September 2014 as part of ArtRave: The Artpop Ball; the racecourse has hosted concerts by Elton John, Kylie Minogue, Janet Jackson and Sia. The Dubai World Cup is run at Meydan on the last Saturday of March. Nad Al Sheba Racecourse Meydan Racecourse Dubai Racing Club
Furlong
A furlong is a measure of distance in imperial units and U. S. customary units equal to one eighth of a mile, equivalent to 660 feet, 220 yards, 40 rods, or 10 chains. Using the international definition of the inch as 25.4 millimetres, one furlong is 201.168 metres. However, the United States does not uniformly use this conversion ratio. Older ratios are in use for surveying purposes in some states, leading to variations in the length of the furlong of two parts per million, or about 0.4 millimetres. This variation is too small to have practical consequences in most applications. Five furlongs are about 1.0 kilometre. The name furlong derives from the Old English words lang. Dating back at least to early Anglo-Saxon times, it referred to the length of the furrow in one acre of a ploughed open field; the furlong was the distance. This was standardised to be 40 rods or 10 chains; the system of long furrows arose because turning a team of oxen pulling a heavy plough was difficult. This offset the drainage advantages of short furrows and meant furrows were made as long as possible.
An acre is an area, one furlong long and one chain wide. For this reason, the furlong was once called an acre's length, though in modern usage an area of one acre can be of any shape; the term furlong, or shot, was used to describe a grouping of adjacent strips within an open field. Among the early Anglo-Saxons, the rod was the fundamental unit of land measurement. A furlong was forty rods, an acre four by 40 rods, or four rods by one furlong, thus 160 square rods. At the time, the Saxons used the North German foot, 10 percent longer than the foot of today; when England changed to the shorter foot in the late 13th century and furlongs remained unchanged, since property boundaries were defined in rods and furlongs. The only thing that changed was the number of feet and yards in a rod or a furlong, the number of square feet and square yards in an acre; the definition of the rod went from 15 old feet to 16 1⁄2 new feet, or from 5 old yards to 5 1⁄2 new yards. The furlong went from 600 old feet from 200 old yards to 220 new yards.
The acre went from 36,000 old square feet to 43,560 new square feet, or from 4,000 old square yards to 4,840 new square yards. The furlong was viewed as being equivalent to the Roman stade, which in turn derived from the Greek system. For example, the King James Bible uses the term "furlong" in place of the Greek stadion, although more recent translations use miles or kilometres in the main text and give the original numbers in footnotes. In the Roman system, there were 625 feet to the stadium, eight stadia to the mile, three miles to the league. A league was considered to be the distance a man could walk in one hour, the mile consisted of 1,000 passus. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, medieval Europe continued with the Roman system, which the people proceeded to diversify, leading to serious complications in trade, etc. Around the year 1300, by royal decree England standardized a long list of measures. Among the important units of distance and length at the time were the foot, rod and the mile.
The rod was defined as 5 1⁄2 yards or 16 1⁄2 feet, the mile was eight furlongs, so the definition of the furlong became 40 rods and that of the mile became 5,280 feet. A description from 1675 states, "Dimensurator or Measuring Instrument whereof the mosts usual has been the Chain, the common length for English Measures four Poles, as answering indifferently to the Englishs Mile and Acre, 10 such Chains in length making a Furlong, 10 single square Chains an Acre, so that a square Mile contains 640 square Acres." —John Ogilby, Britannia, 1675 The official use of the furlong was abolished in the United Kingdom under the Weights and Measures Act 1985, an act that abolished the official use of many other traditional units of measurement. In Myanmar, furlongs are used in conjunction with miles to indicate distances on highway signs. Mileposts on the Yangon -- Mandalay Expressway use furlongs. In the rest of the world, the furlong has limited use, with the notable exception of horse racing in most English-speaking countries, including Canada and the United States.
The distances for horse racing in Australia were converted to metric in 1972. The city of Chicago's street numbering system allots a measure of 800 address units to each mile, in keeping with the city's system of eight blocks per mile; this means that every block in a typical Chicago neighborhood is one furlong in length. Salt Lake City's blocks are each a square furlong in the downtown area; the blocks become less regular in shape further from the center, but the numbering system remains the same everywhere in Salt Lake County. Blocks in central Logan, in large sections of Phoenix, are a square furlong in extent. City blocks in the Hoddle Grid of Melbourne are one furlong in length. Much of Ontario, was surveyed on a ten-furlong grid, with major roads being laid out alon
Southern Hemisphere
The Southern Hemisphere is the half of Earth, south of the Equator. It contains parts of five continents, four oceans and most of the Pacific Islands in Oceania, its surface is 80.9% water, compared with 60.7% water in the case of the Northern Hemisphere, it contains 32.7% of Earth's land. Owing to the tilt of Earth's rotation relative to the Sun and the ecliptic plane, summer is from December to March and winter is from June to September. September 22 or 23 is the vernal equinox and March 20 or 21 is the autumnal equinox; the South Pole is in the center of the southern hemispherical region. Southern Hemisphere climates tend to be milder than those at similar latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere, except in the Antarctic, colder than the Arctic; this is because the Southern Hemisphere has more ocean and much less land. The differences are attributed to oceanic heat transfer and differing extents of greenhouse trapping. In the Southern Hemisphere the sun passes from east to west through the north, although north of the Tropic of Capricorn the mean sun can be directly overhead or due north at midday.
The Sun rotating through the north causes an apparent right-left trajectory through the sky unlike the left-right motion of the Sun when seen from the Northern Hemisphere as it passes through the southern sky. Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise throughout the day and sundials have the hours increasing in the anticlockwise direction. During solar eclipses viewed from a point to the south of the Tropic of Capricorn, the Moon moves from left to right on the disc of the Sun, while viewed from a point to the north of the Tropic of Cancer, the Moon moves from right to left during solar eclipses. Cyclones and tropical storms spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere due to the Coriolis effect; the southern temperate zone, a subsection of the Southern Hemisphere, is nearly all oceanic. This zone includes the southern tip of South Africa; the Sagittarius constellation that includes the galactic centre is a southern constellation and this, combined with clearer skies, makes for excellent viewing of the night sky from the Southern Hemisphere with brighter and more numerous stars.
Forests in the Southern Hemisphere have special features which set them apart from those in the Northern Hemisphere. Both Chile and Australia share, for example, unique beech species or Nothofagus, New Zealand has members of the related genera Lophozonia and Fuscospora; the eucalyptus is native to Australia but is now planted in Southern Africa and Latin America for pulp production and biofuel uses. 800 million humans live in the Southern Hemisphere, representing only 10–12% of the total global human population of 7.3 billion. Of those 800 million people, 200 million live in Brazil, the largest country by land area in the Southern Hemisphere, while 141 million live on the island of Java, the most populous island in the world; the most populous nation in the Southern Hemisphere is Indonesia, with 261 million people. Portuguese is the most spoken language in the Southern Hemisphere, followed by Javanese; the largest metropolitan areas in the Southern Hemisphere are São Paulo, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Sydney.
The most important financial and commercial centers in the Southern Hemisphere are São Paulo, where the Bovespa Index is headquartered, along with Sydney, home to the Australian Securities Exchange, home to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and Buenos Aires, headquarters of the Buenos Aires Stock Exchange, the oldest stock market in the Southern Hemisphere. Among the most developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere are Australia, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$51,850 and a Human Development Index of 0.939, the second highest in the world as of 2016. New Zealand is well developed, with a nominal GDP per capita of US$38,385 and a Human Development Index of 0.915, putting it at #13 in the world in 2016. The least developed nations in the Southern Hemisphere cluster in Africa and Oceania, with Burundi and Mozambique at the lowest ends of the Human Development Index, at 0.404 and 0.418 respectively. The nominal GDP per capitas of these two countries don't go above US$550 per capita, a tiny fraction of the incomes enjoyed by Australians and New Zealanders.
The most widespread religions in the Southern Hemisphere are Christianity in South America, southern Africa and Australia/New Zealand, followed by Islam in most of the islands of Indonesia and in parts of southeastern Africa, Hinduism, concentrated on the island of Bali and neighboring islands. The oldest continuously inhabited city in the Southern Hemisphere is Bogor, in western Java, founded in 669 CE. Ancient texts from the Hindu kingdoms prevalent in the area definitively record 669 CE as the year when Bogor was founded. However, there is some evidence that Zanzibar, an ancient port with around 200,000 inhabitants on
Dirt
Dirt is unclean matter when in contact with a person's clothes, skin or possessions. In such case they are said to become dirty. Common types of dirt include: Dust: a general powder of organic or mineral matter Filth: foul matter such as excrement Grime: a black, ingrained dust such as soot Soil: the mix of clay and humus which lies on top of bedrock A season of artworks and exhibits on the theme of dirt was sponsored by the Wellcome Trust in 2011; the centrepiece was an exhibition at the Wellcome Collection showing pictures and histories of notable dirt such as the great dust heaps at Euston and King's Cross in the 19th century and the Fresh Kills landfill, once the world's largest landfill. When things are dirty they are cleaned with solutions like hard surface cleaner and other chemicals solutions. In a commercial setting, a dirty appearance gives a bad impression. An example of such a place is a restaurant; the dirt in such cases may be classified as temporary and deliberate. Temporary dirt is detritus that may be removed by ordinary daily cleaning.
Permanent dirt is ingrained stains or physical damage to an object, which require major renovation to remove. Deliberate dirt is that which results from design decisions such as decor in dirty orange or grunge styling; as cities developed, arrangements were made for the disposal of trash through the use of waste management services. In the United Kingdom, the Public Health Act 1875 required households to place their refuse into a container which could be moved so that it could be carted away; this was the first legal creation of the dustbin. Modern society is now thought to be more hygienic. Lack of contact with microorganisms in dirt when growing up is hypothesised to be the cause of the epidemic of allergies such as asthma; the human immune system requires activation and exercise in order to function properly and exposure to dirt may achieve this. For example, the presence of staphylococcus bacteria on the surface of the skin regulates the inflammation which results from injury; when no visible dirt is present, contamination by microorganisms pathogens, can still cause an object or location to be considered dirty.
For example, computer keyboards are dirty as they contain on average 70 times more microbes than a lavatory seat. People and animals may eat dirt; this is thought to be caused by mineral deficiency and so the condition is seen in pregnant women. People may become obsessed by dirt and engage in fantasies and compulsive behaviour about it, such as making and consuming mud pies and pastries; the source of such thinking may be genetic, as the emotion of disgust is common and the location for this activity in the brain has been proposed. Cleaner Terence McLaughlin, Dirt: a social history as seen through the uses and abuses of dirt and Day, ISBN 9780812814125 Suellen Hoy, Chasing Dirt: The American Pursuit of Cleanliness, Oxford University Press, ISBN 9780195111286 Pamela Janet Wood, Dirt: filth and decay in a new world arcadia, Auckland University Press, ISBN 9781869403485 Ben Campkin, Rosie Cox, Dirt: new geographies of cleanliness and contamination, I. B. Tauris, ISBN 9781845116729 Virginia Smith.
Dirt: The Filthy Reality of Everyday Life, Profile Books Limited, ISBN 9781846684791 Media related to Dirtiness at Wikimedia Commons Dirt season at the Wellcome Collection
United Arab Emirates
The United Arab Emirates, sometimes called the Emirates, is a country in Western Asia at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Persian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north. The sovereign constitutional monarchy is a federation of seven emirates consisting of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ras Al Khaimah and Umm Al Quwain, their boundaries are complex, with numerous enclaves within the various emirates. Each emirate is governed by a ruler. One of the rulers serves as the President of the United Arab Emirates. In 2013, the UAE's population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. Human occupation of the present UAE has been traced back to the emergence of anatomically modern humans from Africa some 125,000 BCE through finds at the Faya-1 site in Mleiha, Sharjah. Burial sites dating back to the Neolithic Age and the Bronze Age include the oldest known such inland site at Jebel Buhais.
Known as Magan to the Sumerians, the area was home to a prosperous Bronze Age trading culture during the Umm Al Nar period, which traded between the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia as well as Iran and the Levant. The ensuing Wadi Suq period and three Iron Ages saw the emergence of nomadism as well as the development of water management and irrigation systems supporting human settlement in both the coast and interior; the Islamic age of the UAE dates back to the expulsion of the Sasanians and the subsequent Battle of Dibba. The UAE's long history of trade led to the emergence of Julfar, in the present day emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, as a major regional trading and maritime hub in the area; the maritime dominance of the Persian Gulf by Emirati traders led to conflicts with European powers, including the Portuguese and British. Following decades of maritime conflict, the coastal emirates became known as the Trucial States with the signing of a Perpetual Treaty of Maritime Peace with the British in 1819, which established the Trucial States as a British Protectorate.
This arrangement ended with independence and the establishment of the United Arab Emirates on 2 December 1971 following the British withdrawal from its treaty obligations. Six emirates joined the UAE in 1971, the seventh, Ras Al Khaimah, joined the federation on 10 February 1972. Islam is the official religion and Arabic is the official language of the UAE; the UAE's oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the world's seventeenth-largest. Sheikh Zayed, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the first President of the UAE, oversaw the development of the Emirates and steered oil revenues into healthcare and infrastructure; the UAE's economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city and an international aviation and maritime trade hub. The country is much less reliant on oil and gas than in previous years and is economically focusing on tourism and business; the UAE government does not levy income tax although there is a system of corporate tax in place and value added tax was established in 2018 at 5%.
The UAE's rising international profile has led to it being recognised as a regional and a middle power. It is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OPEC, the Non-Aligned Movement and the Gulf Cooperation Council; the land of the Emirates has been occupied 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 older habitation from 130,000 years ago. There is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time lively trading links developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley; this contact persisted and became wide-ranging motivated by the trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, which commenced around 3,000 BCE. Sumerian sources talk of the UAE as home to Magan people. There are six major periods of human settlement with distinctive behaviours in the pre-Islamic UAE, which includes the Hafit period from 3,200-2,600 BCE.
From 1,200 BC to the advent of Islam in Eastern Arabia, through three distinctive Iron Ages and the Mleiha period, the area was variously occupied by Achaemenid 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 adjoined Greater Oman. From the second century AD, there was a movement of tribes from Al Bahreyn towards the lower Gulf, together with a migration among the Azdite Qahtani and Quda'ah tribal groups from south-west Arabia towards central Oman; the spread of Islam to the North Eastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is thought to have followed directly from a letter sent by the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, to the rulers of Oman in 630 AD, nine years after the hijrah. This led to a group of rulers travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful u
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are considered "hot-blooded" horses that are known for their agility and spirit; the Thoroughbred as it is known today was developed in 17th- and 18th-century England, when native mares were crossbred with imported Oriental stallions of Arabian and Turkoman breeding. All modern Thoroughbreds can trace their pedigrees to three stallions imported into England in the 17th century and 18th century and to a larger number of foundation mares of English breeding. During the 18th and 19th centuries, the Thoroughbred breed spread throughout the world. Millions of Thoroughbreds exist today, around 100,000 foals are registered each year worldwide. Thoroughbreds are used for racing, but are bred for other riding disciplines such as show jumping, combined training, dressage and fox hunting.
They are commonly crossbred to create new breeds or to improve existing ones, have been influential in the creation of the Quarter Horse, Anglo-Arabian, various warmblood breeds. Thoroughbred racehorses perform with maximum exertion, which has resulted in high accident rates and health problems such as bleeding from the lungs. Other health concerns include low fertility, abnormally small hearts and a small hoof-to-body-mass ratio. There are several theories for the reasons behind the prevalence of accidents and health problems in the Thoroughbred breed, research is ongoing; the typical Thoroughbred ranges from 15.2 to 17.0 hands high. They are most bay, dark bay or brown, black, or gray. Less common colors recognized in the United States include palomino. White is rare, but is a recognized color separate from gray; the face and lower legs may be marked with white, but white will not appear on the body. Coat patterns that have more than one color on the body, such as Pinto or Appaloosa, are not recognized by mainstream breed registries.
Good-quality Thoroughbreds have a well-chiseled head on a long neck, high withers, a deep chest, a short back, good depth of hindquarters, a lean body, long legs. Thoroughbreds are classified among the "hot-blooded" breeds, which are animals bred for agility and speed and are considered spirited and bold. Thoroughbreds born in the Northern Hemisphere are considered a year older on the first of January each year; these artificial dates have been set to enable the standardization of races and other competitions for horses in certain age groups. The Thoroughbred is a distinct breed of horse, although people sometimes refer to a purebred horse of any breed as a thoroughbred; the term for any horse or other animal derived from a single breed line is purebred. While the term came into general use because the English Thoroughbred's General Stud Book was one of the first breed registries created, in modern usage horse breeders consider it incorrect to refer to any animal as a thoroughbred except for horses belonging to the Thoroughbred breed.
Nonetheless, breeders of other species of purebred animals may use the two terms interchangeably, though thoroughbred is less used for describing purebred animals of other species. The term is a proper noun referring to this specific breed, though not capitalized in non-specialist publications, outside the US. For example, the Australian Stud Book, The New York Times, the BBC do not capitalize the word. Flat racing existed in England by at least 1174, when four-mile races took place at Smithfield, in London. Racing continued at fairs and markets throughout the Middle Ages and into the reign of King James I of England, it was that handicapping, a system of adding weight to attempt to equalize a horse's chances of winning as well as improved training procedures, began to be used. During the reigns of Charles II, William III, George I, the foundation of the Thoroughbred was laid; the term "thro-bred" to describe horses was first used in 1713. Under Charles II, a keen racegoer and owner, Anne, royal support was given to racing and the breeding of race horses.
With royal support, horse racing became popular with the public, by 1727, a newspaper devoted to racing, the Racing Calendar, was founded. Devoted to the sport, it recorded race results and advertised upcoming meets. All modern Thoroughbreds trace back to three stallions imported into England from the Middle East in the late 17th and early 18th centuries: the Byerley Turk, the Darley Arabian, the Godolphin Arabian. Other stallions of oriental breeding were less influential, but still made noteworthy contributions to the breed; these included the Alcock's Arabian, D'Arcy's White Turk, Leedes Arabian, Curwen's Bay Barb. Another was the Brownlow Turk, among other attributes, is thought to be responsible for the gray coat color in Thoroughbreds. In all, about 160 stallions of Oriental breeding have been traced in the historical record as contributing to the creation of the Thoroughbred; the addition of horses of Eastern bloodlines, whether Arabian, Barb, or Turk, to the native English mares led to the creation of the General Stud Book in 1791 and the practice of official registration of horses.
According to Peter Willett, about 50% of the foundation stallions appear to have been of Arabian bloodlines, wit
Dubai
Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. On the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf, it is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, one of the seven emirates that make up the country. Dubai is a global business hub of the Middle East, it is a major global transport hub for passengers and cargo. Oil revenue helped accelerate the development of the city, a major mercantile hub, but Dubai's oil reserves are limited and production levels are low: today, less than 5% of the emirate's revenue comes from oil. A growing centre for regional and international trade since the early 20th century, Dubai's economy today relies on revenues from trade, aviation, real estate, financial services. Dubai has attracted world attention through large construction projects and sports events, in particular the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa; as of 2012, Dubai was the most expensive city in the Middle East. In 2014, Dubai's hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world.
Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word "Dubai". One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, similar to the souq in Ba. An Arabic proverb says "Daba Dubai", meaning "They came with a lot of money." According to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAE's history and culture, the word Dubai may have come from the word daba, referring to the slow flow of Dubai Creek inland. The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, but to its alternative meaning of "baby locust" due to the abundant nature of locusts in the area before settlement; the history of human settlement in the area now defined by the United Arab Emirates is rich and complex, points to extensive trading links between the civilisations of the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, but as far afield as the Levant. Archaeological finds in the emirate of Dubai at Al-Ashoosh, Al Sufouh and the notably rich trove from Saruq Al Hadid show settlement through the Ubaid and Hafit periods, the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods and the three Iron Ages in the UAE.
The area was known to the Sumerians as Magan, was a source for metallic goods, notably copper and bronze. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, becoming part of the city's present coastline. Pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 4th centuries. Prior to the introduction of Islam to the area, the people in this region worshiped Bajir. After the spread of Islam in the region, the Umayyad Caliph of the eastern Islamic world invaded south-east Arabia and drove out the Sassanians. Excavations by the Dubai Museum in the region of Al-Jumayra found several artefacts from the Umayyad period; the earliest recorded mention of Dubai is in 1095 in the Book of Geography by the Andalusian-Arab geographer Abu Abdullah al-Bakri. The Venetian pearl merchant Gasparo Balbi visited the area in 1580 and mentioned Dubai for its pearling industry. Dubai is thought to have been established as a fishing village in the early 18th century and was, by 1822, a town of some 7–800 members of the Bani Yas tribe and subject to the rule of Sheikh Tahnun bin Shakhbut of Abu Dhabi.
In 1833, following tribal feuding, members of the Al Bu Falasah tribe seceded from Abu Dhabi and established themselves in Dubai. The exodus from Abu Dhabi was led by Obeid bin Saeed and Maktoum bin Butti, who became joint leaders of Dubai until Ubaid died in 1836, leaving Maktum to establish the Maktoum dynasty. Dubai signed the General Maritime Treaty of 1820 along with other Trucial States, following the British punitive expedition against Ras Al Khaimah of 1819, which led to the bombardment of the coastal communities of the Persian Gulf; this led to the 1853 Perpetual Maritime Truce. Dubai – like its neighbours on the Trucial Coast – entered into an exclusivity agreement in which the United Kingdom took responsibility for the emirate's security in 1892. In 1841, a smallpox epidemic broke out in the Bur Dubai locality, forcing residents to relocate east to Deira. In 1896, fire broke out in Dubai, a disastrous occurrence in a town where many family homes were still constructed from barasti - palm fronds.
The conflagration consumed half the houses of Bur Dubai, while the district of Deira was said to have been destroyed. The following year, more fires broke out. A female slave was subsequently put to death. In 1901, Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum established Dubai as a free port with no taxation on imports or exports and gave merchants parcels of land and guarantees of protection and tolerance; these policies saw a movement of merchants not only directly from Lingeh, but those who had settled in Ras Al Khaimah and Sharjah to Dubai. An indicator of the growing importance of the port of Dubai can be gained from the movements of the steamer of the Bombay and Persia Steam Navigation Company, which from 1899 to 1901 paid five visits annually to Dubai. In 1902 the company's vessels made 21 visits to Dubai and from 1904 on, the steamers called fortnightly – in 1906, trading seventy thousand tonnes of cargo; the frequency of these vessels only helped to accelerate Dubai's role as an emerging port and trading hub of preference.
Lorimer notes the transfer from Lingeh'bids fair to become complete and permanent', that the town had by 1906 supplanted Lingeh as the chief entrepôt of the Trucial States. The'great storm' of 1908 struck the pearling boats of Dubai and the coastal emirates t
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