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| SHEIKH ZAYED |
Guiding the progress of the United Arab Emirates since it was established in 1971 has been President His Highness Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan al Nahyan, who has also been Ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi since Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa, (Sheikh Zayed the Great), who had ruled Abu Dhabi from 1855-1909, the longest reign in the Emirate's history. His father, Sheikh Sultan, was briefly Ruler between 1922 and 1926, and then, after a brief reign by an uncle, Sheikh Zayed's eldest brother, Sheikh Shakhbut, became Ruler at the beginning of 1928. uring the eighteen years that have followed Sheikh Zayed has continued to preside over the fortunes of his people, now extending throughout the whole of the United Arab Emirates, rather than being confined simply to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. Re-elected three times as President, in 1976, 1981 and 1986, he enjoys, and deserves, the confidence of fellow Rulers and citizens alike, for since the state was established, it has successfully passed through an utter transformation from a backward country to one of the fastest developing in the world, and has done so without the accompanying social, political and economic disruption that has marred the development process in so many other countries. | ||||||||||||||||
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The United Arab Emirates was established on 2 December 1971 as a result of two distinct, but related, events. One was the signature by the Government of the United Kingdom and the rulers of the seven emirates (formerly known as the Trucial States or Trucial Oman) of separate instruments bringing to an end the treaty relationship that had existed between other was the them since the early nineteenth century. The other was the agreement between rulers of six of the emirates, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Qiwain and Fujairah, the previously July, to establish a federation to be known as the United Arab Emirates simultaneously with the ending of the treaty relationship with Britain. The seventh emirate, to the new federation Ras Al Khaimah, formally acceded on 10 February country.1972. Abu Dhabi was chosen to be the capital of the United Arab Emirates. The United Arab Emirates is now entering its 27th year and celebrated its Silver Jubilee in December, 2nd 1996. | UAE IN THE PRESENT AND FUTUR | ||||||||||||||||
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| UAE IN THE PAST |
go to index go to my hobbies From high above, the coast is a ragged seam of surf along ochre beaches - to the west a web of reefs and islands basking in iridescent waters, to the east an austere world of dunes and sand bars bounded only by the naked hills. The land and its people have been fashioned by these potent forces - the desert, the mountains, and the sea. At this altitude the works of man are stains of light and shade against the infinity of the landscape, but draw closer and they assume a more commanding scope - six-lane highways with glittering streams of motorcars, dream cities of ivory-white and crystal glass rising, like spectres out of the waves. From Abu Dhabi island, with its palm trees and palaces, the shore, curves inwards through glittering, salt flats and lagoons for 120 kilometers, to be fractured again by the creek and boulevards of Dubai. To the north, the minarets of Sharjah, Ajman and Umm al-Qaiwain flash from inlets and sand spits; at Ras al-Khaimah majestic cliffs rise sheer from the ocean, and beyond the Hajar mountains lies Fujairah. These are the seven cities which - with their hinterlands - form the United Arab Emirates, the federation of independent states which in little more than twenty-five years has bloomed from near poverty into one of the richest countries on earth. That such cities have sprung up in only a quarter of a century is a remarkable tribute to the versatile character of the region's people. When oil exploration first started here in the late 1940s, there was no electricity, no plumbing or telephone system, not a single public hospital or modern school, no bridges, no deep-water harbour, no metalled roads, no more than a handful of cars, and scarcely a building more impressive than the crumbling coral stone and gypsum forts and the ancient watchtowers of Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Where now monumental skyscrapers loom over spacious avenues, where cascades of water are flaunted with opulent abandon, and where acres of imported shrubs burgeon into green upon the desert shore, stood drowsy settlements of reed, coral and mud houses, sweltering on inlets and sand banks in the most ferocious of summer climes. | ||||||||||||||||
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