Abu Dhabi

Abu Dhabi-- Abu Dhabi is the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates. The entire emirate has only 420,000 citizens, each with a net worth of $17 million. Abu Dhabi has been described by CNN as the richest city in the world.

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Abu Dhabi's long coastline - the shallow waters of the Southern Persian Gulf, extending from the base of the Qatar Peninsula in the west to the border of the emirate of Dubai on the north east, was once the world's best waters for pearling. When the pearling industry declined, oil discovery in the offshore oilfields of the Southern Persian Gulf revived the economy of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi was also the first emirate to export oil from the Umm Shaif offshore field in 1962. On the land, it stretches south to the oases of Liwa where some of the world’s largest sand dunes can be found, and east to the ancient oasis of Al Ain. This makes Abu Dhabi the largest as well as the most populated of all the emirates.*

In the early 20th century the world pearl market collapsed, and the entire coast was plunged into abject poverty. In 1939, Sheikh Shakhbut, the ruler of Abu Dhabi, granted the first of several oil concessions on his territory. It was not until 1958, however, that oil was found in the emirate. With a population at the time of only 15,000, Abu Dhabi was on its way to becoming very rich.

Britain's 1968 announcement that it would leave the Persian Gulf in 1971 came as a shock to most of the ruling sheikhs. Negotiations eventually resulted in independence for Bahrain and Qatar and the creation of a new federal nation: the United Arab Emirates. The UAE, with Abu Dhabi as its capital, came into existence on 2 December 1971. When oil revenue started pouring in, the reed and mud-brick huts were rapidly replaced by banks and boutiques.

Abu Dhabi’s land surface measures 67,340 square kilometres, which is equivalent to about 80% of the UAE’s total land area. Only 30 percent of the emirate is inhabited, with the remaining vast expanses covered mainly by desert and arid land – constituting about 93% of the total land area. Land cultivation and irrigation for agriculture and forestation over the past decade has increased the size of “green” areas in the emirate to about five percent of the total land area, including parks and roadside plantations. About 1.2 percent of total land area is now used for agriculture. A small part of the land area is covered by mountains, containing several caves. The coastal area contains pockets of wetland and mangrove colonies. Abu Dhabi also has dozens of islands, mostly small and uninhabited, some of which have been designated as sanctuaries for wildlife.**

Map courtesy of ecofriend.org

External Links:

• wikipedia

• Abu Dhabi Chamber of Commerce and Industry

* Billionaire sheikh's investment fund pours in $2.7 billion to become its biggest shareholder.

• Abu Dhabi government

• Abu Dhabi: The Richest City on Earth - Chicago Tribune

• U.S. Embassy

• Traditional Architecture of Abu Dhabi

• Biography of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan


References:

* ThePersianGulf.org, http://www.thepersiangulf.org/cities/abudhabi.html, March 25, 2009.
** Visit Abu Dhabi, http://www.visitabudhabi.ae/en/uae.facts.and.figures/country.size.aspx, March 25, 2009.