Abu Dhabi UAE

Description: Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The city of Abu Dhabi is the capital of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and the UAE’s second-most populous city after Dubai. The city of Abu Dhabi is located on an island in the Persian Gulf, off the Central West Coast. Most of the city and the Emirate reside on the mainland connected to the rest of the country. As of 2021, Abu Dhabi’s urban area had an estimated population of 1.5 million, out of 2.9 million in the emirate of Abu Dhabi, as of 2016.

Population: 1,450,000

Demographics: The native-born population are Arabic-speaking Arabs who are part of a clan-based society. The Al Nahyan family, part of the al-Falah branch of the Bani Yas clan, rules the emirate and has a central place in society. There are also Arabs who are from other parts of the Arab World. The majority of the inhabitants of Abu Dhabi are migrant workers from Nepal, India, Pakistan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and various countries from across the Arab world.

History: The area surrounding Abu Dhabi is full of archaeological evidence from historical civilisations, such as the Umm Al Nar Culture, which dates back from the third millennium BC. Other settlements were also found farther outside the modern city of Abu Dhabi, including the eastern and western regions of the Emirate. “Abu” is Arabic for father, and “Dhabi” is the Arabic word for gazelle. Abu Dhabi means “Father of Gazelle.” 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. In the 19th century, as a result of treaties (known as “truces” which gave the coast its name) entered into between Great Britain and the sheikhs of the Arab States of the Persian Gulf, Britain became the predominant influence in the area. The main purpose of British interest was to protect the trade route to India from pirates, hence, the earlier name for the area, the “Pirate Coast”. After the suppression of piracy, other considerations came into play, such as a strategic need of the British to exclude other powers from the region. Following their withdrawal from India in 1947, the British maintained their influence in Abu Dhabi as interest in the oil potential of the Persian Gulf grew. In the mid to late 1930s, as the pearl trade declined, interest grew in the oil possibilities of the region. On 5 January 1936, Petroleum Development Trucial Coast Ltd (PDTC), an associate company of the Iraq Petroleum Company, entered into a concession agreement with the ruler, Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, to explore for oil. This was followed by a seventy-five-year concession signed in January 1939. However, owing to the desert terrain, inland exploration was fraught with difficulties. In 1953, D’Arcy Exploration Company, the exploration arm of BP, obtained an offshore concession which was then transferred to a company created to operate the concession: Abu Dhabi Marine Areas (ADMA) was a joint venture between BP and Compagnie Française des Pétroles (later Total).

Elevation: 27 m

Climate: Hot desert climate. Average annual temperature in Abu Dhabi is 28 C (82 F), the average for July is 36 C (96 F), the average for January is 18 C (64 F).

Attractions: Emirates Palace Mandarin Oriental, Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque Centre, Qasar Al Watan, National Aquarium Abu Dhabi, Observation Deck At 300, Louvre Abu Dhabi