History                                     

During the centuries of Greek and Roman domination, the gulf region was of limited interest to the major powers, but the area's importance as a strategic and trading center rose with the emergence of Islam in the seventh century A.D. 

The caliphate's military strength was concentrated at Hormuz (The Strait of Hormuz). Strategically sited at the mouth of the gulf, its authority extended over ports and islands of the Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. 

The strategic importance of Hormuz, however, did not survive the appearance of Western powers, initially the Portuguese who came to the gulf in the late fifteenth century after Vasco da Gama's discovery of the route to India via the Cape of Good Hope. The Ottomans and the Iranians also tried to dominate the gulf but faced opposition from local tribes in Bahrain and Muscat, reluctant to cede authority over their territories, which by then were the most important areas on the coast. 

Increasing British involvement in India beginning in the late eighteenth century quickened British interest in the gulf region as a means of protecting the sea routes to India. Before British intervention, the area was notorious for its pirates and slave trade and was called the Pirate Coast. 

The principal challenge to Britain arose from the 'Qasimis' tribal confederation originating in the area of the present-day United Arab Emirates (UAE). 

The 'Qasimis', who amassed a fleet of about 900 vessels, demanded tribute for the passage of merchant vessels and were regarded as pirates by the Europeans. Between 1809 and 1820, British sea power gradually brought about the destruction of the 'Qasimis' fleet. 

The British defeated the Qasimi in 1819, burning their ships and the town of Ras al Khaimah. This in turn led to the signing of agreements with Britain by the 'Qasimis' and other Sheikhs which suppressed the piracy and slave trade in the gulf region. 

In 1820 a peace treaty with the British government, followed by other agreements such as the Perpetual Maritime Truce of May 1853. Under the Exclusive Agreement of March 1892, the Trucial sheikhs agreed not to enter into any agreements or correspondence with other powers, receive foreign agents, or cede, sell, or give any part of their territory to another government and to abstain from piracy. 

In return, the British government assumed responsibility for the foreign relations of the emirates and promised to protect them from all aggression by sea and to lend its support against any land attacks. Before the end of the century, Britain extended protection to Bahrain and Kuwait; Qatar entered the system after it repudiated Ottoman sovereignty in 1916. 

The strategic importance of the Persian Gulf became increasingly apparent as the oil industry developed in the twentieth century. Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran all claimed some of the territory of the gulf states during the years between World War I and World War II, but Britain's firm resistance to these claims enabled the emirates to maintain their territorial integrity without resort to arms. 

Except for a small force of the British Indian Navy to ensure observance of the treaty conditions and maintain maritime peace in the gulf, Britain abstained from direct military involvement. As the wealth of the gulf's oil resources became clear, the size of the British military establishment expanded. By the end of the 1960s, Britain had about 9,000 men in Oman, Sharjah (an emirate of the UAE), and Bahrain, where British military headquarters was located. The Trucial Oman Scouts, a mobile force of mixed nationality that Britain supported and British officers commanded, became a symbol of public order in the UAE until Britain's withdrawal from the Persian Gulf in 1971. 

When Britain announced that it would withdraw from the Persian Gulf, the Foreign Office assumed that the UAE would include the Trucial Coast as well as Qatar and Bahrain. Those later two emirates, however, refused to join the UAE and became independent states when Britain left in 1971. 

Ras al-Khaimah also sought independence, but it lacked the resources and the international support to survive on its own. (Ras al-Khaimah joined a few months later.) 

During 150 years of British rule, (After World War II the British granted internal autonomy to the sheikhdoms. Discussion of federation began in 1968 when Britain announced its intended withdrawal from the Persian Gulf area by 1971.) the sheikhdoms of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm al-Quwain and Fujairah merged to form the UAE on December 2, 1971, under President Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi, one day after Britain ended its military presence in the area. Ras al-Khaimah joined the federation in 1972.

Unlike any other Middle Eastern state, the United Arab Emirates is a federation, consisting of seven tribally-based (The UAE has six principal tribes spread throughout the federation: the Bani Yas, the Manasir, Al Qasimi, the Al Ali, the Sharqi-yin and the Nu'aim. ) emirates that controls the southeastern portion of the Arabian peninsula south of Bahrain and Qatar. 

Today the UAE is composed of Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ras al Khaimah, Fujairah, Umm al-Qaiwan and Ajman.

Abu Dhabi:

The history of Abu Dhabi has been marked by violence within the ruling dynasty. Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan has ruled Abu Dhabi since 06 August 1966, when his older brother, Sheikh Shakhbut Al Nahyan (ruled:1928-66), was deposed by the British.
 
The Al Nahyan originally were beduin of the Bani Yas tribe and were based in the Al Liwa Oasis. An ancestor of the current ruler migrated to the island of Abu Dhabi in the late 1770s and established a commercial port there. Prior to 1966, Abu Dhabi remained a small town and residence site of the ruler, but it had not attracted most Al Nahyan sheikhs, who preferred to live in the interior oases. Even Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan favored the beduin lifestyle as a young man, and for several years under his brother's rule he was governor of Al Ain in the Al Buraimi Oasis.

Abu Dhabi was poor and undeveloped, with an economy largely based upon the traditional combination of fishing and pearl-diving along the coast, and simple agriculture in the scattered oases, like those at Liwa and Al Ain inland. When the world market for the Gulf's high-quality pearls collapsed in the late nineteen twenties and early nineteen thirties, owing to the invention by the Japanese of the cultured pearl and the world economic depression, the already poor emirate suffered a catastrophic blow to its economy.

The first exploration well in Abu Dhabi had been drilled at Ras Sadr in 1950, to be followed by others in what is now the Western Region, and then with other wells offshore. By 1958, the first commercial oil-fields were discovered, first onshore, in the Bab field, and then offshore, at Umm Shaif. The first export cargo of oil left Abu Dhabi in 1962. 

Beginning in the late 1960s, the oil-boom-induced transformation of Abu Dhabi into a cosmopolitan city prompted politically ambitious Al Nahyan members to settle in the capital, where many of them obtained positions in the expanding emirate and federal bureaucracies. 

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan designated his son, Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed  Al Nahyan ( 1949), as crown prince. In 1992 he served as president of Abu Dhabi's Executive Council and as head of the Department of Social Services. In addition, he was deputy commander in chief of the federal Union Defense Force. 

Sheikh Zayid bin Sultan had more than forty-five other children, although most of them were not involved actively in politics.

Dubai:

Along with the other sheikhdoms that now compose the federation, it became a British protectorate in the 19th cent. The Al Maktoum sheikhdom emigrated from Abu Dhabi to Dubai's creek in the 1830s and established there the port that eventually became Dubai. 

Dubai became the commercial capital of the sheikhdoms and was an important port of call for British steamers to India. 

The 'Al Maktoum' are a branch of the same Bani-Yas tribe that includes the Al Nahyan.

The late Sheikh Rashid bin Said succeeded to the rule of Dubai in 1958 following the death of his father, Sheikh Said bin Maktoum Al Maktoum (1912- 58). During the 1960s and 1970s, Sheikh Rashid bin Said presided over the transformation of Dubai into a wealthy oil emirate. 

Sheikh Rashid bin Said Al Maktoum (b. 1912), as ruler of Dubai and vice president and prime minister of the UAE, was the second most powerful Amir until his death on October 7, 1990. His eldest son, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid Al Maktoum, succeeded him in all his offices. 
 
Before taking over his father's offices, Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid (1941) was crown prince and had several other governmental responsibilities. Sheikh Maktoum bin Rashid's brother, Muhammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is UAE minister of defense and head of Dubai's armed forces.

Sharjah:

The Al Qasimi family of Sharjah is the larger of the two ruling houses. (The two branches of the Qasimi tribe rules Sharjah and Ras al Khaimah.) 

Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad Al Qasimi (1942) of Sharjah became ruler in 1972, following the assassination of his brother, Sheikh Khalid bin Muhammad Al Qasimi (1965-72), killed in an unsuccessful coup to restore his cousin, Sheikh Saqr bin Sultan Al Qasimi (1951-65), whom the British had deposed. 

Ras Al Khaimah:

Ras al Khaimah, emerged as a major maritime power during the eighteenth century. The 'Qasimis' control of trade in the Persian Gulf area led to conflict with Oman and eventually with Britain, which was consolidating its colonial empire in India.

Following several naval battles, the British finally defeated the Qasimi in 1819, burning their ships and the town of Ras al Khaimah. Because of this history, the Qasimi inherited a historical hostility toward the British. 

Sheikh Saqr bin Muhammad Al Qasimi has ruled the emirate since 1948.  He is a contemporary of the former ruler of Sharjah, Sheikh Saqr bin Sultan, and, like him, tends to be suspicious of the British. In 1971 he refused to accept Britain's compromise for resolving Iran's claims to Tunb al Kubra (Greater Tumb) and Tunb as Sughra (Lesser Tumb), two tiny islands in the Persian Gulf.  (More at page: International Disputes)

Sheikh Saqr bin Sultan has designated his son, Khalid bin Saqr Al Qasimi, as crown prince of the emirate.

Other Emirates:

The rulers of the other three emirates have limited influence within the UAE. Ajman, Al Fujairah, and Umm al Qaiwain are relatively small, poor, and dependent on their wealthier neighbors for development grants. 

Sheikh Humaid bin Rashid Al Nuaimi has ruled Ajman since 1981. 

Sheikh Rashid bin Ahmad Al Mualla has ruled Umm al Qaiwain since 1981 as well. 

In Al Fujairah, where a majority of the population claims membership in the dominant Al Sharqi tribe, Sheikh Hamad bin Muhammad Al Sharqi has ruled since 1974.