1.
United Arab Emirates
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In 2013, the UAEs population was 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million are Emirati citizens and 7.8 million are expatriates. The country is a federation of seven emirates, and was established on 2 December 1971, the constituent emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras al-Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain. Each emirate is governed by a monarch, together, they jointly form the Federal Supreme Council. One of the monarchs is selected as the President of the United Arab Emirates, Islam is the official religion of the UAE and Arabic is the official language. The UAEs oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the worlds 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, education and infrastructure. The UAEs economy is the most diversified in the Gulf Cooperation Council, while its most populous city of Dubai is an important global city, nevertheless, the country remains principally reliant on its export of petroleum and natural gas. The UAE is criticised for its rights record, including the specific interpretations of Sharia used in its legal system. The UAEs rising international profile has led analysts to identify it as a regional. It appears the land of the Emirates has been occupied for thousands of years, there is no proof of contact with the outside world at that stage, although in time it developed with civilisations in Mesopotamia and Iran. This contact persisted and became wide-ranging, probably motivated by trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, in ancient times, Al Hasa was part of Al Bahreyn and adjoined Greater Oman. Sassanid groups were present on the Batinah coast, in 637, Julfar was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sassanian Empire. The area of the Al Ain/Buraimi Oasis was known as Tuam and was an important trading post for camel routes between the coast and the Arabian interior. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the 1990s, a monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island. Thought to be Nestorian and built in 600 AD, the church appears to have been abandoned peacefully in 750 AD and it forms a rare physical link to a legacy of Christianity which is thought to have spread across the peninsula from 50 to 350 AD following trade routes. Certainly, by the 5th century, Oman had a bishop named John – the last bishop of Oman being Etienne, in 676 AD. This led to a group of travelling to Medina, converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids. Following the death of Prophet Muhammad, the new Islamic communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with insurrections against the Muslim leaders. The Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory with the battle of Dibba in which 10,000 lives are thought to have been lost
2.
Dubai
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Dubai is the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates. It is located on the southeast coast of the Persian Gulf and is the capital of the Emirate of Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Dubai are the only two emirates to have veto power over critical matters of national importance in the countrys legislature. The city of Dubai is located on the northern coastline. Dubai will host World Expo 2020, Dubai has emerged as a global city and business hub of the Middle East. It is also a transport hub for passengers and cargo. By the 1960s, Dubais economy was based on revenues from trade and, to an extent, oil exploration concessions. Oil revenue first started to flow in 1969, Dubais oil revenue helped accelerate the early development of the city, but its reserves are limited and production levels are low, today, less than 5% of the emirates revenue comes from oil. The emirates Western-style model of business drives its economy with the main revenues now coming from tourism, aviation, real estate, Dubai was recently named the best destination for Muslim travellers by Salam Standard. Dubai has recently attracted attention through many innovative large construction projects and sports events. The city has become iconic for its skyscrapers and high-rise buildings, in particular the worlds tallest building, Dubai has been criticised for human rights violations concerning the citys largely South Asian and Filipino workforce. As of 2012, Dubai was the 22nd most expensive city in the world, in 2014, Dubais hotel rooms were rated as the second most expensive in the world, after Geneva. Dubai was rated as one of the best places to live in the Middle East by U. S. global consulting firm Mercer, Many theories have been proposed as to the origin of the word Dubai. One theory suggests the word was used to describe the souq, another theory states that the name came from a word meaning money, as people from Dubai were commonly believed to be rich due to the thriving trading centre of the location. An Arabic proverb says Daba Dubai, meaning They came with a lot of money, according to Fedel Handhal, a scholar on the UAEs 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, an inhabitant or native of the city is a Dubaian. Although stone tools have been found at archaeological sites, little is known about the UAEs early inhabitants as only a few settlements have been found. Many ancient towns in the area were trading centres between the Eastern and Western worlds, the remnants of an ancient mangrove swamp, dated at 7000 BC, were discovered during the construction of sewer lines near Dubai Internet City. The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries
3.
Port
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A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land. Port locations are selected to optimize access to land and navigable water, for commercial demand, Ports with deeper water are rarer, but can handle larger ships. Since ports throughout history handled every kind of traffic, support and storage facilities vary widely, may extend for miles, some ports have an important military role. One of the worlds oldest known artificial harbors is at Wadi al-Jarf on the Red Sea, along with the finding of harbor structures, ancient anchors have also been found. Guangzhou was an important port during the ancient times as far back as the Qin Dynasty, canopus was the principal port in Egypt for Greek trade before the foundation of Alexandria. Athens port of Piraeus was the base for the Athenian fleet, lothal is one of the most prominent cities of the ancient Indus valley civilisation, located in the Bhāl region of the modern state of Gujarāt and dating from 3700 BCE. Ostia Antica was the port of ancient Rome with Portus established by Claudius, Ports often have cargo-handling equipment, such as cranes and forklifts for use in loading ships, which may be provided by private interests or public bodies. Often, canneries or other processing facilities will be located nearby, some ports feature canals, which allow ships further movement inland. Access to intermodal transportation, such as railroads and highways, is critical to a port, so that passengers, Ports with international traffic have customs facilities. Harbor pilots and tugboats may maneuver large ships in tight quarters when near docks, the terms port and seaport are used for different types of port facilities that handle ocean-going vessels, and river port is used for river traffic, such as barges and other shallow-draft vessels. An inland port is a port on a lake, river, or canal with access to a sea or ocean. An example of this is the St. Lawrence Seaway which allows ships to travel from the Atlantic Ocean several thousand kilometers inland to Great Lakes ports like Duluth-Superior, a fishing port is a port or harbor for landing and distributing fish. It may be a facility, but it is usually commercial. A fishing port is the port that depends on an ocean product. In recent decades, regulations to save fishing stock may limit the use of a fishing port, a dry port is an inland intermodal terminal directly connected by road or rail to a seaport and operating as a centre for the transshipment of sea cargo to inland destinations. A warm-water port is one where the water does not freeze in wintertime, because they are available year-round, warm-water ports can be of great geopolitical or economic interest. A seaport is further categorized as a port or a cargo port. Additionally, cruise ports are known as a home port or a port of call
4.
Port of Jebel Ali
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Jebel Ali is a deep port located in Jebel Ali, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Jebel Ali is the ninth busiest port and the largest man-made harbour. Port Jebel Ali was constructed in the late 1970s to supplement the facilities at Port Rashid, Jebel Ali port is located 35 km southwest of Dubai, in the Persian Gulf. Jebel Ali Port, credited to the efforts of Rashid bin Saeed Al-Maktoum, was constructed in the late 1970s, the village of Jebel Ali was constructed for port workers, and it has a population of 300 people. It is home to over 5,000 companies from 120 countries of the world, with 67 berths and a size of 134.68 square kilometres, Jebel Ali is the worlds largest man-made harbour and the biggest port in the Middle-East. The port of Jebel Ali has become the port most frequently visited by ships of the United States Navy outside the United States. Due to the depth of the harbour and size of the port facilities, due to the frequency of these port visits, semi-permanent liberty facilities have been erected adjacent to the carrier berth. Port Jebel Ali encompass over one million metres of container yard. In addition, Port Jebel Ali also consist of 960 thousand square metres of open storage, Port Jebel Ali is linked to Dubai’s expressway system and to the Dubai International Airport Cargo Village. The Cargo Village facilities capable of handling cargoes, making four-hour transit from ship to aircraft possible, the DPA’s commercial trucking service transport container and general cargo transport between Port Jebel Ali, Port Rashid, and the rest of UAE every day. Jebel Ali Port was ranked 7th in the worlds largest ports in 2007, Jebel Ali port is managed by state-owned Dubai Ports World. The expansion of Jebel Ali port commenced in 2001, which is the plan of the port. The project comprises 15 stages, which will be completed over the decade, the stage one was completed in 2007, which has increased the storage and handling capacity by 2.2 million TEUs and a Quay length of 1,200 m. The entire project includes 2.4 km of new berths, the yard behind the berths. The new port will be on reclaimed land extending seaward from the existing port, the current plan is expected to multiply the total capacity of Jebel Ali port by more than seven, making it the world’s biggest container port, surpassing the ports of Shanghai and Singapore. On 9 April 2011 Port of Jebel Ali won the Golden Award for Best Seaport Overall from the Higher Committee for UAE Civil Seaports and Airports Security, list of East Asian ports Dubai Ports World Shipping to Jebel Ali
5.
Dubai Metro
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The Dubai Metro is a driverless, fully automated metro rail network in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Red Line and Green Line are operational, with three further lines planned and these first two lines run underground in the city centre and on elevated viaducts elsewhere. All trains and stations are air conditioned with platform edge doors to make this possible, architecture firm Aedas designed the metros 45 stations, two depots and operational control centres. The Al Ghurair Investment group were the metros builders, the Dubai Metro is the first urban train network in the Arabian Peninsula and either the second in the Arab World or the third. A major expansion of the Red Line to add 15 kilometres of track, as of February 2017 the extension to the Red Line till Expo 2020 is fully operational. More than 110,000 people, or nearly 10 percent of Dubai’s population, the Dubai Metro carried 10 million passengers from launch on 9 September 2009 to 9 February 2010 with 11 stations operational on the Red Line. Engineering consultancy Atkins provided full multidisciplinary design and management of the works on Dubai Metro. Until 2016, The Dubai Metro was the worlds longest fully automated metro network with a route length of 75 kilometres. However, its route length have since been surpassed by the fully automated driverless Vancouver SkyTrain as of December 2016. Planning of the Dubai Metro began under the directive of Dubais ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who expected other projects to attract 15 million visitors to Dubai by 2010, in May 2005, a AED12.45 billion/US$3. This was to be completed by June 2010, a second phase contract was subsequently signed in July 2006 and includes extensions to the initial routes. The Red Line partially opened at 9 minutes and 9 seconds past 9 pm on 9 September 2009, inaugurated by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum. The construction cost of the Dubai Metro project has shot up by about 80 per cent from the original AED15.5 billion/US$4.2 billion to AED28 billion/US$7.8 billion, the authorities contradicted this, saying that the cost of the project did not overshoot. They attributed the increase in expenditure to the changes in the scope. Work officially commenced on the construction of the metro on 21 March 2006, in February 2009, a top RTA Rail Agency official said the US$4.2 billion Dubai Metro project would be completed on schedule despite the global crisis. However, only 10 out of 29 metro stations of the red line opened on 9 September 2009, Construction of all 29 metro stations on the Red Line was declared complete on 28 April 2010 by the acting chief of the RTA Rail Agency. Seven more stations on the Dubai Metro Red Line opened on 30 April 2010, ten new trains were pressed into service, giving a total of 22 trains in service when the stations opened. The seven stations are, Emirates Station, Airport Terminal 1 Station, Dubai Internet City Station, Al Karama Station, Emirates Towers Station, Marina Station and Ibn Battuta Station
6.
Ali
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‘Ali ibn Abi Talib was the cousin and son-in-law of the Islamic Nabi Muhammad, ruling over the Caliphate from 656 to 661 ACE, and was Imam of Shi‘ite from 632 to 661 ACE. ‘Ali was the first young male who accepted Islam, after migrating to Medina, he married Muhammads daughter Fatimah. Ali took part in the early caravan raids from Mecca and later in almost all the battles fought by the nascent Muslim community and he was appointed caliph by Muhammads Companions in 656, after Caliph Uthman ibn Affan was assassinated. ‘Alis reign saw wars and in 661, he was attacked and assassinated by a Kharijite while praying in the Great Mosque of Kufa. ‘Ali is important to various Sunni and Shi‘ite denominations politically, legislatively and spiritually, while Sunnis consider Ali the fourth and final of the Rashidun caliphs, Shi‘ites regard ‘Ali as the first Imam after Muhammad due to their interpretation of the events at Ghadir Khumm. Shias also believe that ‘Ali and the other Shi‘ite Imams are the successors to Muhammad. This disagreement split the Ummah into the Sunni and Shia branches, ‘Alis father, Abu Talib, was the custodian of the Kabah and a sheikh of the Banu Hashim, an important branch of the powerful Quraysh tribe. He was also an uncle of Muhammad, Alis mother, Fatima bint Asad, also belonged to Banu Hashim, making Ali a descendant of Ismail, the son of Ibrahim. Many sources, especially Shii ones, attest that Ali was born inside the Kaaba in the city of Mecca, according to a tradition, Muhammad was the first person whom Ali saw as he took the newborn in his hands. Muhammad named him Ali, meaning the exalted one, Muhammad had a close relationship with Alis parents. When Muhammad was orphaned and later lost his grandfather Abdul Muttalib, Ali was born two or three years after Muhammad married Khadijah bint Khuwaylid. When Ali was five or six years old, a famine occurred in and around Mecca, affecting the economic conditions of Alis father, Muhammad took Ali into his home to raise him. The second period of life began in 610 when he declared Islam at the age of 10. When Muhammad reported that he had received a revelation, Ali, then only about ten years old, believed him. According to Ibn Ishaq and some authorities, Ali was the first male to embrace Islam. Tabari adds other traditions making the claim of being the first Muslim in relation to Zayd ibn Harithah or Abu Bakr. Some historians and scholars believe Alis conversion is not worthy enough to him the first male Muslim because he was a child at the time. Hence the Shia say of Ali that his face is honoured, the Sunnis also use the honorific Karam Allahu Wajhahu, which means Gods Favour upon his Face
7.
Muhammad
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Muhammad is the prophet of Islam. From a secular historical perspective he was a religious, political, from an Islamic perspective, he was Gods Messenger sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is viewed as the prophet of God in all branches of Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, born approximately 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad gained few early followers, and met hostility from some Meccan tribes, to escape persecution, Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, in Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts, the attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill, before his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. The revelations, which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the Word of God and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammads teachings and practices, found in the Hadith and sira literature, are upheld by Muslims. The name Muhammad means praiseworthy and appears four times in the Quran, Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address, thus he is referred to as the enwrapped in Quran 73,1 and the shrouded in Quran 74,1. In Sura Al-Ahzab 33,40 God singles out Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets, the Quran also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad more praiseworthy. The name Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, begins with the kunya Abū, the Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, the Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammads chronological biography, most Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context. An important source may be found in the works by writers of the 2nd. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which additional information about Muhammads life. The earliest surviving written sira is Ibn Ishaqs Life of Gods Messenger written c.767 CE, although the work was lost, this sira was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early history source is the history of Muhammads campaigns by al-Waqidi, many scholars accept the earliest biographies as accurate, though their accuracy is unascertainable
8.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
9.
Nimitz-class aircraft carrier
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The Nimitz-class supercarriers are a class of ten nuclear-powered aircraft carriers in service with the United States Navy. The lead ship of the class is named for World War II United States Pacific Fleet commander Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz, the U. S. Navys last fleet admiral. As a result of the use of power, the ships are capable of operating for over 20 years without refueling and are predicted to have a service life of over 50 years. They are categorized as nuclear-powered aircraft carriers and are numbered with consecutive hull numbers between CVN-68 and CVN-77, all ten carriers were constructed by Newport News Shipbuilding Company in Virginia. USS Nimitz, the ship of the class, was commissioned on 3 May 1975, and USS George H. W. Bush. The angled flight decks of the use a CATOBAR arrangement to operate aircraft, with steam catapults and arrestor wires for launch. As well as speeding up flight deck operations, this allows for a wider variety of aircraft than with the STOVL arrangement used on smaller carriers. An embarked carrier air wing consisting of up to around 90 aircraft is normally deployed on board, after the retirement of the F-14 Tomcat, the air wings strike fighters are primarily F/A-18E and F/A-18F Super Hornets and F/A-18A+ and F/A-18C Hornets. In addition to their aircraft, the vessels carry short-range defensive weaponry for anti-aircraft warfare, the unit cost is about $8.5 billion in FY12 dollars US$8.86 billion inflation adjusted. The Nimitz-class carriers have a length of 1,092 ft. They have a beam at the waterline of 135 ft, the ships companies can number up to 3,200, not including an air wing of 2,480. Among other design improvements, the two reactors on Nimitz-class carriers take up less space than the eight reactors used on Enterprise. Along with a generally improved design, this means that Nimitz-class carriers can carry 90% more aviation fuel. The U. S. Navy has stated that the carriers could withstand three times the damage sustained by the Essex class inflicted by Japanese air attacks during World War II. The hangars on the ships are divided into three bays by thick steel doors that are designed to restrict the spread of fire. This addition has been present on U. S. aircraft carriers since World War II, the first ships were designed around the time of the Vietnam War, and certain aspects of the design were influenced by operations there. A major purpose of the ships was initially to support the U. S and they were initially categorized only as attack carriers, but ships have been constructed with anti-submarine capabilities since USS Carl Vinson. As a result, the ships and their aircraft are now able to participate in a range of operations, which can include sea and air blockades, mine laying
10.
Aircraft carrier
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An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and facilities for carrying, arming, deploying, and recovering aircraft. Typically, it is the ship of a fleet, as it allows a naval force to project air power worldwide without depending on local bases for staging aircraft operations. Aircraft carriers are expensive to build and are critical assets, there is no single definition of an aircraft carrier, and modern navies use several variants of the type. These variants are sometimes categorized as sub-types of aircraft carriers, Aircraft carriers may be classified according to the type of aircraft they carry and their operational assignments. Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, former head of the Royal Navy, has said, To put it simply, as of April 2017, there are 37 active aircraft carriers in the world within twelve navies. The United States Navy has 10 large nuclear-powered fleet carriers, the largest carriers in the world, the Royal Navy of Great Britain is building two 280-m / 920-ft carriers, the Queen Elizabeth, and the Prince of Wales scheduled to go into service in 2020-2023. These are the largest carriers capable of fast speeds, by comparison, escort carriers were developed to provide defense for convoys of ships. They were smaller and slower with lower numbers of aircraft carried, most were built from mercantile hulls or, in the case of merchant aircraft carriers, were bulk cargo ships with a flight deck added on top. Light aircraft carriers were fast enough to operate with the main fleet, three nations currently operate carriers of this type, ten by the United States, and one each by France and Brazil for a total of twelve in service. Short take-off but arrested-recovery, these carriers are generally limited to carrying lighter fixed-wing aircraft with more limited payloads, currently, Russia, China, and India possess commissioned carriers of this type. Short take-off vertical-landing, limited to carrying STOVL aircraft and this type of aircraft carrier is currently in service with Italy. Some also count the nine US amphibious assault ships in their secondary light carrier role boosting the total to thirteen. Helicopter carrier, Helicopter carriers have an appearance to other aircraft carriers. Some are designed for addition of, or may include, a ski jump ramp allowing for STOVL operations or may have a ski jump installed before retirement of STOVL aircraft. In the past, some conventional carriers were converted and called commando carriers by the Royal Navy, some helicopter carriers with a resistant flight surface can operate STOVL jets. Currently the majority of carriers, but not all, are classified as amphibious assault ships. The US has nine of this type, France and Japan three, Australia two, the UK one, the Republic of Korea one and Spain one, the US and Spains amphibious assault ships operate STOVL jets in normal deployment. Supercarrier Fleet carrier Light aircraft carrier Escort carrier Several systems of identification symbol for aircraft carriers, two months later, on 18 January 1911, Ely landed his Curtiss pusher airplane on a platform on the armored cruiser USS Pennsylvania anchored in San Francisco Bay
11.
Emirate of Abu Dhabi
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The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, is one of seven emirates that constitute the United Arab Emirates. It is the largest emirate by area, accounting for approximately 87 percent of the land area of the federation. Abu Dhabi also has the largest population of the seven emirates, in June 2011, it was estimated to be 2,120,700 people, of which,439,100 people were Emirati citizens, which has risen to 2.3 million in 2012. Abu Dhabi is the city of the emirate, after which it is named. Abu Dhabi’s Gross Domestic Product estimates, in 2014, amounted to AED960 billion at current prices, mining and quarrying accounts for the largest contribution to GDP. Construction related industries are the next largest contributor, GDP grew to AED911.6 billion in 2012, or over 100,000 USD per capita. In the early 1970s, two important developments helped the emirate achieve leaps on the path of development, the first was the establishment of the United Arab Emirates in December 1971 with Abu Dhabi as its political and administrative capital. Dhabi is the Arabic name of a species of native gazelle that was once common in the Arabian region. Abu Dhabi means father of the Dhabi and it is thought that this name came about because of the abundance of Gazelles in the area and a folk tale involving Shakhbut bin Dhiyab al Nahyan. Parts of Abu Dhabi were settled as far back as the 3rd millennium BC, modern Abu Dhabi traces its origins to the rise of an important tribal confederation, the Bani Yas, in the late 18th century, which also assumed control of Dubai. In the 19th century the Dubai and Abu Dhabi branches parted ways, most dwellings in Abu Dhabi city were, at this time, constructed of palm fronds, with the wealthier families occupying mud huts. In 1939, Sheikh Shakhbut Bin-Sultan Al Nahyan granted petroleum concessions, at first, oil money had a marginal impact. His brother, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, saw that oil wealth had the potential to transform Abu Dhabi, the ruling Al Nahyan family decided that Sheikh Zayed should replace his brother as ruler and carry out his vision of developing the country. On August 6,1966, with the assistance of the British, with the announcement by the UK in 1968 that it would withdraw from the Persian Gulf area by 1971, Sheikh Zayed became the main driving force behind the formation of the United Arab Emirates. After the Emirates gained independence in 1971, oil continued to flow to the area and traditional mud-brick huts were rapidly replaced with banks, boutiques. At present, Abu Dhabi boasts what is estimated to be the worlds highest absolute and per-capita level of sovereign wealth funds, the United Arab Emirates is located in the oil-rich and strategic Persian Gulf region. It adjoins the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman and it borders the emirate of Dubai and emirate of Sharjah to its north. The total area of the Emirate is 67,340 square kilometres, occupying about 87% of the area of the UAE
