team+19+United+Arab+Emirates

= = The United Arab Emirates

Early History and Introduction of Islam
The UAE traces its earliest inhabitants to 5500 CE where there is early proof of interaction with early civilizations of Persia. Camel domestication at the end of 2nd millennium increase trade mirroring the general Arabian tradition, but it was not until the 1st century CE that there is evidence of trade to the Levant and Fertile Crescent. Foreign maritime trade was an important theme in the development of the country; the port city-state Omana (contemporary emirate Umm al-Qaiwain) was used to trade with the land of Sindh (contemporary India). After Muhammed, during the Ridda Wars a battle was fought (in a region and acceded emirate known as Dibba) resulting in the defeat of the non-Muslim Azd army led by apostate Laqit bin Malik Dhu at Taj and the completion of Islamic control of the Arabian Peninsula by caliph Abu Bakr. The apostates were lead to defiance soon after Muhammad died because they did not want to pay the Zakat, the pillar of Islam that calls upon all persons to give a percentage of what they have to charity. The city Julfar (contemporary Ras al Haima) was important in bringing the influence of Islam to Persian territories and was also an important early port city.

European Expansion and The Pirate Coast
The early 16th century introduced European explorers and conquerors to the western Arabian peninsula, and an Arab guide named Ahmed Ibn Majid is mentioned as a navigator for Vasco de Gama. The early Portuguese, who raced ahead of other Europeans to the Arab-controlled port cities of the East, spent 150 years in the Emirates battling Arab or Omani sheiks for control of the region. While they did finally dominate them for control of the strategic ports, the Portuguese were ultimately routed British and Ottoman influences for economic and political interests respectively. While parts of the modern territory of the UAE came under direct Ottoman control, the British involvement in the region lead to a series of treaties whose theme centered around Anglophile foreign ideology and British control of the seas. This was due to the rise of piracy in the region on the part of the raiding sheiks, encouraging British and some European histories to refer to it as the "Pirate Coast." In response, British and Omani navies patrolled the coast from the 17th century onwards, the latter very considerate of the importance of foreign maritime trade to the emirates and the former concerned for their Indian shipping-lanes. British forces attacked Julfar in 1819 as well as other port cities in an attempt to quell piracy at its source: the sheiks. [|Encyclopedia Britannica] [|Zayed University, UAE History and Culture]

British Supremacy to the United Emirates
The next year a treaty was signed to which all sheiks were supposed to adhere to that centered around halting piracy and raiding. The piracy and raids continued, however, throughout the first half of 19th century until the Perpetual Maritime Truce of 1853, which finally bound the trucial sheikdoms to respect British maritime supremacy, as well as aspects of collective foreign policy amongst the sheikdoms. The Treaty of 1892 reaffirmed British supremacy by giving the collective "Trucial Coast" a protectorate status; sheiks could not interact with foreign governments without British consent and could not bestow territory on non-British entities, foreign policy aligned to British intentions, British troops were pledged to defend the Trucial Coast in case of attack, and British navies patrolled the coast to deter piracy. This treaty reflects many models the United Kingdom created during the time period as it echos the themes of eastern colonialism; the treaty granted economic control, military access, foreign policy, and settlement rights to a foreign power. The Trucial Coast became the United Arab Emirates on December 2nd of 1971, a day after the United Kingdom terminated its protectorate status giving the sheikdoms independence. Al Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Al Shariqah, Al Fugaira, Umm al Quwwayn together formed the new United Arab Emirates with Ras al Haima joining on February 11th of 1972. British intentions to grant the protectorate independence existed as early as 1968, allowing dialogue between the sheikdoms and the contemporary Qatar and Bahrayn.

[|JSTOR, The United Arab Emirates: Statehood and Nation-building in a Tradional Society] [|JSTOR, United Arab Emirates]



=__**Modern Day UAE: Political System **__=

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The emirates of this nation are formed under a federal government, with some special powers reserved for each emirate. Since its formation in the early 1970s, the emirate nation has not undergone hardly any political instability, which is very different from some of its Middle Eastern neighbors. Also, the emirates have kept strong political and economic ties with Britain, which has helped them prosper. According to the [|UAE Interact] website, the central federation follows a constitution and holds power in situations of foreign affairs, national security and defense,nationality and immigration issues, education, public health, currency, postal, telephone and other communications services, air traffic control and licensing of aircraft, along with other specific sectors. The central branch is known as the Supreme Council, which contains seven different rulers for each emirate, including the president and vice president. ====== []/

__//Supreme Council//__ Within the Supreme Council, the chief of state is President Khalifa bin Zayid Al-Nuhayya, also the ruler of Abu Dhabi, the capital, since November 4th, 1994. The Head of Government is Vice President and Prime Minister, Mohammad bin Rashid since January 5th, 2006. There are also five other sheikhs from the Emirates Sarjah, Ra's al-Khaima, Fujairah, Umm al-Qaiwain, and Ajman. The Supreme Council has legislative powers as well as executive powers. Mainly, it conducts the general policy and decides upon laws and decrees. It also determines who shall be the Prime Minister.

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source:[| UAE Interact Website], [|CIA World Factbook,] ======



//__Council of Ministers, aka the Cabine__// __//t//__ The Cabinet is the largest department of the federal government, and it is the executive authority of the federation. It is run by the prime minister (currently bin Rashid), and is responsible for electing the president and vice president for renewable terms of five years, and they recently elected President Khalifa bin Zayid al-Nuhayya for the next term.

The structure of the federal government still relies upon heredity, as in the traditional way. This is one of the internal problems that the emirates face in which the people are divided in two different sides: the "new rentiers," reformers who are calling for change, and the "old rentiers," who take a more conservative approach. As the nation's socio-economic status rapidly develops, the president is looking to make a few reforms within the UAE, known as the UAE Government Strategy.  Its aim is to meet the need of the rising population, and to be sufficient to cope with new changes along with national development. This is being done through the help of the Federal National Council (FNC), and the main goal is to help the society and political structure modernize at an equal rate to the changing environment surrounding it.

__//The Federal National Council //__ This is an advisory council that represents the citizens works with the federation largely through discussions, debates, and recommendations. Their topics include constitutional amendments and new possible laws, reviewing the annual draft budget for the Federation, and other such topics on international affairs. All of the members have been nominated from 1972 to 2006. Twenty of these members were chosen by the people through an electoral college in 2006. These elections themselves were part of the reform movement, as it strengthened the bond between local and federal government, as well as encouraging more voter participation.

[|http://www.uaeinteract.com/government/political_system.asp] []

** Discovery of Oil **
==== Oil was first discovered in the UAE in the 1950's. Abu Dhabi became the first of the emirates to export oil in 1962. Abu Dhabi joined the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) in 1966, and in 1971 membership was transferred to the newly federated emirates. One thenth of the world’s oil reserves belongs to the United Arab Emirates. ==== ==== The sheikh at the time of the discovery was Zayed bin Sultan Al-Nahyan. This was right after the British had pulled out of the UAE, and Sheikh Zayed transformed the country’s economy quickly with oil. According to Telegraph, “… it became the longest and most successful example of regional integration in modern Arab history.” More oil was discovered in the eighties and nineties, dramatically increasing the amount of oil exported. By 1992, the United Arab Emirates had about 98 billion barrels of oil in their reserves. ====



** Oil by Emirate **
==== Abu Dhabi is the leader in oil reserve amongst the United Arab Emirates. It is also significantly larger that the other 6 Emirates. Abu Dhabi has about 92 billion barrels of oil, with the next largest amount being 4 billion barrels in Dubai. The third largest oil-producing Emirate is Sharjah, and they produce about 1.5 billion barrels. None of the other Emirates produce a significant amount of oil. ====

** Current Features of Oil Production **
====The United Arab Emirates began construction of a new oil pipeline in 2010. The pipeline will be able to move 2.5 million barrels of oil per day. The first first flow of oil through this pipeline is set for this month, December 2011. The plan is to start flowing a million barrels a day by month end and graduate up to 2 million barrels.==== This will likely contribute to the already very large amount of jobs created by oil production. The overwhelming majority of the population consists of foreign oil workers. In 2010, an estimated 3.8 million foreigners were working in the oil industry. In fact, non-foreign people in the United Arab Emirates only make up about 12 % of the entire population. The majority of these migrant workers come from other Arab countries and south Asia. Many of these workers are unskilled, and the government is trying to reduce the amount of unskilled workers in the oil economy. [] **Other Features of the Economy**

Before the discovery of oil, the majoiry of the economy was based on fishing and pearling. Now, 85% of the economy is made up of exports of natural resources. The majority of this is oil, but the United Arab Emirates also export petroleum. Tourism also brings in a lot of money for the country. The International Monetary fund rates the United Arab Emirates as seventh in GDP per capita. The economy of the UNited Arab Emirates is quite impressive, and is ranked 14th best place to do business by the 'Doing Business 2011 Report.' http://www.doingbusiness.org/rankings [][][]