Dubai History

When you were sitting at your world geography and history class, there’s nothing you can do but to yawn because of boredom. Most students are not fond of listening to the professor’s voice talking about facts that do not usually interest them. But it is the other way around if you are already a tourist exploring the places and monuments of that tourist destination with historical significance. The more you know about the history of the place or artifact, the more you will enjoy exploring the tourist destination bringing home with you not only souvenirs but interesting information at the same time.

Dubai is one of the best tourist destinations with a very colorful history. It is very obvious with all the architectural sites, cultures, and traditions of the emirate. Like any other country, it has also some intriguing and interesting facts that would definitely amaze you and give you added knowledge. The colorful history of Dubai has a lot to tell in its religion, economy, way of living rulers and more. Because of this, the locals of Dubai pay high respect to their religion, which is Islam, and to all the rulers who have been in-charge of the emirate.

Dubai’s history was mentioned as early as 1095 CE and can be read in the Arabic book called Mojam Ma Ostojam men Asmae Al belaad wal Mawadhea written by the author named Abdullah Bin Abdu Aziz Al Bakri Al Andalasi. According to this book, Dubai was known as the vast place since most areas are only sand dunes. After a few years, another person mentioned the emirate of Dubai. He is Gaspero Balbi, a pearl merchant from Venice. According to several history books, Gaspera Balbi mentioned that the emirate of Dubai is a place where most Venetians were working as divers seeking pearls.

Hundreds of decades ago, Dubai does not know yet that they have a natural fountain of oil waiting to be discovered. The prime way of living in Dubai used to be fishing, pearl diving as well as herding goats and sheep. It was only in the year 1966 that Dubai found out about its black gold. This is definitely one of the greatest events in the history of Dubai. Since then, the economy and the emirate’s profits have never been the same and so as the number of people in here. From 1968 to 1975, Dubai’s population increased by 300 percent because of the influx of workers coming from India, Lebanon, and Pakistan. Oil industry became the prime source of the emirate’s income and the rest is history.

Another interesting Dubai history fact is about the emirate’s religion. Islam has been the most dominant religion in Dubai since Muhammad’s minions spread the religion in the region. But before Islam, the natives of Dubai used to worship idols called Bajar or Bajir. It was because of the influence of the Sassanian Empire as well as the Byzantine Empire where Sassanians are controlling almost all areas of Dubai.

Of course the rulers who took over Dubai are part of the great history of the emirate. However, it was only the leaders from the year 1833 until 2007 are the only ones listed in the history books of Dubai. Some of the rulers include Sheikh Maktoum I ibn Bati ibn Suhayl who ruled from 1833 to 1852, Sheikh Said I ibn Bati who ruled from 1852 to 1859, Sheikh Saeed II bin Maktum who ruled twice in Dubai, and Sheikh Maktoum III bin Rashid Al Maktoum who ruled from October 1990 to January 2006. The current leader of Dubai is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.