The
major part of the Dubai emirate
consists of rolling sand dunes
lapping the foothills of the
arid Hajar mountains in the
east. Until a decade or two
ago, the dunes were inhabited
by nomadic bedouin roaming
with their flocks and herds.
Today the nomads have all
settled, in villages in the
few fertile oases or valleys,
or else in the city.
Modern Dubai is the product
of the past 20 years of intensive
development. Prior to that,
Dubai was a small trading
port, clustered around the
mouth of the Creek.
It
had grown gradually from a
fishing village inhabited
in the 18th century by members
of the Bani Yas tribe. Its
origins, however, go back
into the far more distant
past. The town?s museum displays
a rich collection of objects
found in graves of the first
millenium BC at nearby Al-Qusais,
while a caravan station of
the sixth century AD was excavated
in the expatriate suburb of
Jumairah.
The
village really began to grow
in the early 19th century,
when some 800 members of the
Bani Yas tribe, the Al Bu
Falasah, moved north and settled
in Dubai. MORE
INFO
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