General Information » United Arab Emirates Overview » History

Less than 50 years ago, the emirate of Abu Dhabi was little more than empty desert inhabited by nomadic Bedouin tribes, with a sprinkling of villages around the more fertile, oasis areas. The capital city, Abu Dhabi, spread from the northern side of the island, it originally consisted of two or three hundred palm (‘barasti’) huts, a few coral buildings and the large, white, Ruler’s Fort. It is hard to reconcile the modern emirate of Abu Dhabi, and its high rise capital city, with the scattered huts in the photos from the 1950s.



In 1761, the leader of the Bani Yas Bedouin tribe moved his people to the island. The abundant wildlife provided the island with its name (Abu Dhabi, translated, means ‘Father of the Gazelle’). There was little development till the discovery of oil in 1950, and, despite the opportunities for fishing and grazing, it was not until the discovery of freshwater, in 1793, that the ruling Al Nahyan family, based in the south of the country at the Liwa Oasis, moved to the island. In Liwa, on the edge of the stark Empty Quarter desert, the Al Nahyan family lived a traditional Bedouin life, with animal husbandry and small scale agriculture for their livelihood. Descendants of the Al Nahyan family, in alliance with other important Bedouin tribes in the region, have ruled the emirate of Abu Dhabi ever since.



By the 1800s, the town had developed considerably, supported by the income from pearling, which brought in important trade and revenue. From 1855 to 1909, under the reign of Sheikh Zayed bin Mohammed (also known as ‘Zayed the Great’), Abu Dhabi rose in prominence to become the most powerful emirate along the western coast of the Arabian Peninsula. His influence was profound and it was during his rule, in 1897, that Abu Dhabi and the emirates to the north accepted the protection of Britain. The British regarded the Gulf region as an important communication link with their empire in India and wanted to prevent other world powers, in particular France and Russia, from extending their influence in the region. The area became known as the Trucial States (or Trucial Coast), a name that remained until the departure of the British in 1971.



Zayed the Great's death led to a period of conflict and, as his descendants fought for the leadership, the emirate fell into decline. In the 1930s, the combination of world recession and the creation of the cultured pearl industry in Japan, resulted in the collapse of the Gulf pearl trade. Its major source of income removed, Abu Dhabi slid from it's position as the richest emirate, to that of the poorest...