I got this in my email today. I do not know who the author is but I think its a good presentation of Dubai in brief, so I am re posting it here.
1. Dubai was known for its pearl industry until the discovery of oil in the 1960’s.
2. In the 1820s, Dubai was referred to as Al Wasl by British historians.
3. English is spoken widely, even if the official national language is Arabic because of #4.
4. Only 20% of the population are locals, the rest of the population are foreigners (expatriates) from more than 200 different countries.
5. The man-woman ratio is 3:1.
6. There is no direct tax (no income taxes).
7. It is not hot the whole year! We actually have 7-8 months of great weather that’s not too hot and never too cold.
8. Dubai’s economy is largely based on tourism, not oil which makes up of only less than 6% of Dubai’s GDP.
9. On 2 December 1971 Dubai, together with Abu Dhabi and five other emirates, formed the United Arab Emirates
10. Religions aside from Islam are freely practiced. There is a Catholic church and churches of other Christian denominations as well
11. No matter in which part of Dubai you are in, you will hear calls to prayer at least five times a day. Even in shopping malls, the calls to prayer are put out over the speakers, to remind Muslims that it is time to pray.
12. Dubai has the largest population of all the United Arab Emirates.
13. Dubai is NOT a country! - It is one of the seven emirates of the UAE. So abroad, there’s no such establishment as “Dubai Embassy” and Dubai doesn’t have a capital. (I have been asked about this so many times)
it's all true. i can only add that Bahrain was the place to be (in the Gulf) up until the 90s. it developed early because oil was discovered earlier; I think it was in the 30s even though production didn't start a couple of decades later.
regardign pearling, it declined because the Japanese found a way to artificially grow pearls.
here's a good video on what pearl pearl-diving looked like
beautiful video! thanks for sharing
unfortunately the video doesn't seem to work now