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From the timeless tranquillity of the desert to the lively bustle of the souk, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) offers a kaleidoscope of attractions for visitors. Dubai embraces a wide variety of scenery in a very small area. In a single day, the tourist can experience everything from rugged
mountains and awe-inspiring sand dunes to sandy beaches and lush green parks, from dusty villages and ancient houses with windtowers to luxurious residential districts and from the colourful souks (markets) to ultra-modern
shopping malls.
Indeed, one of Dubai’s greatest visitor attractions is its superb shopping. As an open port with low import duties, Dubai’s retail prices are reasonable and the variety of products available is virtually unrivalled.
Whatever your tastes - be it couture from Paris or Milan, hi-tech electronics from Japan, or a piece of silver Bedouin jewellery
- you will find it at the right price in Dubai.
Sometimes called the ’Manhattan of the Middle East’, Abu Dhabi City is essentially a modern and sleek city, filled with skyscrapers. The UAEs’ capital, located on an island connected to the mainland by two bridges, is often accused of being a rather soulless
place, but it does have its attractions: the Petroleum Exhibition and the Heritage Village, the beautiful Corniche (beach), the Al Hisn Fort, the old souk, the Breakwater
Island and Sheikh Zayed’s palace. The most picturesque place is undeniably the Batin, the oldest part of the town, where the small harbours receive the daily catch brought by the fishing dhows.
This group of small sheikhdoms on the coastline of the Persian Gulf was a backwater of the Islamic civilisation that prospered in the Middle East from the seventh century onwards. After attacks on British-owned shipping
by pirates operating in the Gulf region, they were brought under British suzerainty in the 19th Century. The sheikhdoms –
which became known as the Trucial States – carried on largely unmolested and ignored until the 1950s when the British started
to relinquish control as part of its post-imperial retrenchment.
The British plan for the Trucial States was to weld its seven distinct regimes into a single administrative bloc. The discovery
of oil in 1966, which gave the local economy a sudden and rapid boost, helped to ease the process and soon transformed the emirate
and its way of life. Dubai’s first oil exports in 1969 were followed by a period of rapid development that laid the foundations
for today’s modern society.
The UAE is a federation of seven states - Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm al Qaiwain -
formed in 1971 after independence from Britain. Although internal politics are prone to instability, because of the uncertain
nature of the federation and boundary disputes, the ruling families in the two main emirates, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, have managed
to stabilise the federation.
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Overview 
