The history of the UAE

From scattered pearling and fishing towns on a hard desert coast, the UAE grew in a single generation into one of the world's great trading and travel hubs. Oil paid for the transformation, but the roots run back thousands of years. Every age left its mark on the country's cities and character. Follow the whole arc below, or jump straight to the era you want.

1. 1 5000 BC to 300 AD Early History: Magan and the Bronze Age Coast The ancient history of the UAE, from Stone Age hunters and the Hafit tombs to the Umm an-Nar copper workers, the land of Magan that supplied Mesopotamia, and the UNESCO oasis sites of Al Ain. Read the full story →
2. 2 630s AD The Coming of Islam How Islam reached the lands of the UAE in the 7th century, from the Battle of Dibba to the medieval port of Julfar, and how faith and Gulf trade shaped the society that followed. Read the full story →
3. 3 1600s to 1930s The Pearling Era For centuries before oil, pearl diving was the backbone of the Gulf economy. How the pearling era worked, the crews and divers aboard the dhows, the trade to India and Europe, and the 1930s collapse. Read the full story →
4. 4 1820 to 1971 The Trucial States and the British Before the UAE, the coast was a set of tribal sheikhdoms known as the Trucial States. How the Qawasim and Bani Yas, British sea power and a series of maritime truces shaped the country that came after. Read the full story →
5. 5 1971 to 1972 Union: The Birth of the UAE How the United Arab Emirates was born on 2 December 1971, when six emirates federated under Sheikh Zayed of Abu Dhabi and Sheikh Rashid of Dubai, with Ras Al Khaimah joining in 1972 to make seven. Read the full story →
6. 6 1958 to today Oil and the Modern UAE How oil transformed the UAE: Abu Dhabi's first exports in 1962, Dubai's discovery in 1966, and the leap from pearling and fishing towns to a global hub of trade, tourism and aviation within a single generation. Read the full story →