Introduction to Dubai

 History of Dubai - from desert to The Richest City on planet.

My passion for Dubai started a few years ago with my first visit to this extraordinary city and going deep to its history. For the average traveler Dubai is the cradle of wealth and all people live there are rich. However, do not let that fool you and obscure the whole picture. Please follow this text to discover part of the history of this interesting city.

The history of Dubai is a fascinating one. Dubai is a city and emirate in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) known for luxury shopping, ultramodern architecture and a lively nightlife scene. The history of Dubai is believed to date back to the early 18th century. At that time, the area was inhabited by a tribe of nomadic Bedouins. The main activity of the Bedouins was pearling, which is why Dubai was originally known as the "Pearl of the Gulf".

The discovery of oil in 1966 brought wealth and prosperity to Dubai and the United Arab Emirates. The construction of the Dubai World Trade Centre (historically called Sheikh Rashid Tower) in 1979 was a turning point in the history of Dubai. It was the tallest building in the Middle East at the time and put Dubai on the map as a major business destination.The construction of the Palm Islands and the World Islands in the early 21st century further boosted Dubai's reputation as a tourist destination. Today, Dubai is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with over 15 million visitors per year.

Nowadays Dubai covers an area of 4,114 square kilometers. The population of Dubai is around 3.3 million. The majority of the population is made up of expatriates from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the Philippines. Muslims make up around 77% of the population, while Christians make up around 9%. The rest of the population is made up of Hindus, Buddhists, and Sikhs. The official language of Dubai is Arabic, but English is widely spoken and the currency of Dubai is the dirham (AED).The climate of Dubai is tropical desert. The temperature ranges from 21°C to 40°C in the winter and 28°C to 48°C in the summer.

The city consists of two parts the Deira area and the Bur Dubai area. The Deira area is the older part of the city, while the Bur Dubai area is the more modern part of the city.

In Bur Dubai area you can see all most known places and buildings like:

-Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building;

-Dubai Mall, the world’s largest shopping mall, with over 1,200 stores;

In Deira you can experience more historical Dubai like:

-Spice markets

-Gold Souk

There is also another face of the city but I will leave it for another post.

Like you can see Dubai is more diversified city as people think and there is a lot to look into.

Please stay focused for another posts about Dubai and a lot of its treasures.