Posted on August 6, 2018
This year, 2018, has been declared the "Year of Zayed," because it has been 100 years since the birth of Sheikh Zayed, the Founding Father of the United Arab Emirates.
Today is the anniversary, not of Zayed's birth, but of the day in 1966 when he assumed leadership of Abu Dhabi, one of the seven emirates that now make up the UAE - and the capital. The British had made much of the Arab peninsula into a protectorate but decided to back away from their commitment of administration and protection in the late 1960s. A matter of money and resources - the U.K. just couldn't afford to continue the protectorate.
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| The United Arab Emirates shown above in red. Below, you can see that the UAE and the rest of the Arabian peninsula are basically located between Africa and India. |
Of course, a discussion of money and resources, when it has anything to do with the UAE, has to mention petroleum! The UAE has the seventh largest oil reserves in the world and also substantial natural gas reserves. Because of the wealth that comes from this sort of resource, Zayed was able to invest in healthcare, education, and infrastructure for the brand new country, and now the UAE is the most diversified of the nations in that region. Business and tourism have boomed.
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| Above and below, the capital city, Abu Dhabi. |
And the nation's largest city, Dubai, is famously fabulous, with indoor skiing, beautiful beaches, the tallest building in the world, and loads of tourist attractions:
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