Dubai

Dubai is one of seven members of the emirates that are included in the United Arab Emirates the other as follows : Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Fujairah, Ajman, Al Qaiwain & Al Khaimah which occupy the corner of the Arabian Peninsula.  An emirate for those who don’t know is a political country that is ruled by what is called the Islamic Monarch. At one time there were many more emirates than the current number, but gradually one by one they disappeared leaving only the seven that we have today.

Dubai's main city is called Dubai City so it can be separated from the actual emirate of Dubai. Dubai has become the most populated emirate in the United Arab Emirates, but it is the second largest next to the emirate of Abu Dhabi. Dubai is different than the other emirates because the revenue that supports Dubai comes from the Jebel Ali Free Zone

The Jebel Ali Free Zone or JAFZ offers an economic zone that has very profitable business and tax incentives to business all across the emirates. The JAFZ is commanded by the Jebel Ali Free Zone Authority and it also supports and contributes to the Dubai port that is ranked number 13 in the world. They also provide warehouse and other distribution centers to local as well as global corporations.

Dubai also gets it's revenue from an oil account they have but that only generates about six or seven percent of the emirates revenue. Another major contributor to the revenue is money generated from tourism. 

History of Dubai

Not much is known about Dubai in the world other than what you may have learned in school or what you have heard in conjunction with their interest in buying one of our ports in New York City recently. Dubai is one of seven emirates belonging to the United Arab of Emirates. The earliest record of the city of Dubai is recorded around 1095 AD. The Arabic Book "Mojam Ma Ostojam men Asmae Al belaad wal Mawadhea" by Abdullah Bin Abdu Aziz Al Bakri Al Andalasi.

The author of the book mentions Dubai as a place where the Venetians worked as pearl divers in 1587 AD. Then town records dating back to 1799 surfaced. In the early 18th century the Al Abu Falasa family line including Bani Yas established themselves in Dubai, which at the time was a settlement of Abu Dhabi until the year 1833.

The British held territory in Dubai and declared a Treaty of Peace or most commonly called the General Maritime Treaty. In January 1820, the Sheikh of Dubai was one of the parties to sign the treaty. In 1833, the Al Maktoum dynasty of the Bas Yas tribe, took over the entire town of Dubai and since then they were established as an Emirate. There were several attempts at a take over of Dubai but none were successful. In 1835, another treaty was drawn up called the Perpetual Maritime Truce, this was signed by Britain and the city of Dubai came under the safety of the United Kingdom.

In December of 1971, Dubai joined up with seven other emirates to form the United Arab Emirates, this occurred when Britain no longer offered protection to the emirate. The current ruler of Dubai is His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, he is also the vice president and Prime minister of the United Arab of Emirates.

Language & Religion 

The official language of Dubai is Arabic but Hindu/Urdu, Tamil, German, English and Persian. The majority of the emirate of Dubai are Islamic. But the most common group of people are Sunnis and the minority are Shiites. There are also Hindus, Sikhs and even some Christians. As you can see there is a variety of religious groups, but Dubai is the only one of the seven emirates to have Hindu temples and Sikh Gurdwaras.

Actually in 2001 the ground became officially broken in Dubai for several churches to be build on a piece of land in Jebel Ali. The ground was given to the religious groups by the Dubai government. The churches will be for four Protestant and one Roman Catholic Church. Even construction on a Greek Orthodox Church began in 2005. That land was also donated to the church by the government.

Even though there are many non-Muslim religious groups, donations are collected by means of land for building churches, cemeteries and other religious facilities. They are allowed to collect money from their members and they can receive financial help from other countries but the government of Dubai will not contribute money to the churches. Only Christian churches are allowed to advertise an event or a function of the church - all others must use word of mouth of get their word out on an event.

Travel within Dubai

One of the best ways to travel in Dubai is by land. They have a large bus system that is run by the Dubai Municipality. The system has about 60 one of a kind bus routes during the week and has been estimated that over 200,000 people have ridden the bus during the work week. But as large as the bus system is, there aren't enough buses for the people that want to use them.

For travellers who use the bus, the government has given out e-go cards - these are like Metro type cards that can be seen in many Western countries around the world . The buses tend to be ridden by low-income people with the higher earners preferring to use their own transport or taxis.  The Dubai Transport Corporation runs many taxis of it's own and of course there are a number of privately owned taxi companies in Dubai serving the needs of the people.

Traffic is a huge problem in Dubai and in the United Arab Emirates in general and with the population increasing the situation can only get worse - although as we all know to our cost - this is not unique to Dubai.

There is a 4 billion dollar Dubai Metro project that is currently under way and by 2009 it will be fully functional - the project shall certainly help alleviate some of traffic problems on the roads today.

Economy

Despite what you may think, the oil reserves located in Dubai are only a small percentage of the economy for Dubai. Dubai and Deira are very important ports of call for the Western manufacturers. The banking for the city and the financial centers are also located at the ports.

Dubai was and still is, very important in the trade routes. They have a free trade clause in gold but until the 90's there was a lot of smuggling going on in the ports.

Today, Dubai is an important tourist spot and the port is home to the largest man made harbor in the world. The financial industry is also growing and the port area is developing it. Transportation is also growing; the Emirates Airline was started in 1985 and is still owned by the UAE. Over 12 million passengers fly out of Dubai International Airport every year.

The Dubai government has also set up free zones all over the city ( A free zone is a part of a city with amore relaxed attitude towards doing business particularly invoving tax matters )   There are other large companies that help towards boosting the economy of Dubai such as Dubai Internet City and Dubai Media City to name but two.  Such companies and many like them, are helping Dubai grow and look positively towards it's future. 

with more and more construction going up on both commercial and residential buildings, the more construction the economy improves bit by bit. Dubai is after all the fastest growing emirate in the world.

Education

The school system in Dubai has Arabic as it’s first language, but now days with Dubai’s standing in the World there is a strong emphasis on teaching English as a second language.  However, it is worth pointing out that most of the private schools in Dubai use English as their preferred method of teaching, catering for the many ex-pat families from around the world who live and work in the Emirate.

Such schools as Dubai English Speaking School,  Jumeirah Primary School, the Jebel Ali Primary School, Jumeriah English Speaking School, King’s School and Horizon School all offer a British primary education only up to the age of eleven.

Dubai’s colleges, Dubai British School, Dubai College, English College and Jumerirah College are all British schools that house secondary schools. There are many fast growing kindergartens through grade 12 schools that offer the American syllabus, with many others offering the British system. For the parents who do not want American or British systems there are some primary and indeed high schools that offer Canadian and Japanese syllabi.

In Dubai, there are many expatriates who have tended to send back home their children to get their higher education rather than study in Dubai, although there has been a shift recently as many new foreign accredited schools have set up to correct this from happening.