United Arab Emirates

Recent archaeological research indicates the presence of an advanced trading culture in the early 3rd millennium BC in what is now the UAE. The small trading states that emerged along the Persian Gulf coast were later overwhelmed by Persian empires--the Achaemenid Empire from the 6th to the 4th centuries BC and the Sassanid Empire from the 3rd to the 7th centuries AD. These empires took over and controlled the extensive maritime trade that the small states had already carried as far as China. In the early centuries AD Arab tribes flocked to the region, first along the southern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, then from the north, helping to make it receptive to the religion of Islam before the death of the Prophet Muhammad in 632. The Trucial States Trade with India and China expanded in the early Islamic period, with Julfar in present-day Ra's al Khaymah as one of the leading ports. European intervention in the gulf began with the Portuguese in the early 16th century. From the mid-17th century the British and Dutch competed for domination, with Britain the winner in the late 18th century. By about 1800 the Qawasim, the ruling clans of Ash Shariqah and Ra's al Khaymah today, had become a maritime power in the lower gulf, attacking ships from British-ruled India. The British defeated the Qawasim navy in 1819 and in 1820 imposed the first of several treaties that created and sustained a maritime truce, giving the name Trucial States to the states that now form the UAE. By 1892 the British had assumed responsibility for the states' foreign relations and external security and they remained under British protection until 1971. The British, who were principally concerned with the security of Persian Gulf maritime commerce, rarely intervened in their internal affairs. The most significant results of British domination of the area were the establishment of general peace, the introduction of the Western concept of territorial states, and the creation in 1952 of the Trucial States Council to promote cooperation among the seven rulers. The council provided the basis for the Supreme Federal Council of the UAE.  At its birth on December 2, 1971, the UAE faced challenges that caused many to predict that the new federation would fail. There were border disputes with Saudi Arabia and Oman, rivalries among the emirates were strong, and Iran seized the island of Abu Musá and the two Tunb islands in the Persian Gulf, all of which had been claimed by the UAE. Threats to regional stability since then have included the 1979 Iranian Islamic Revolution, the Iran-Iraq War (1980-1988), and Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990. The UAE has survived these dangers and prospered largely because its president, Sheikh Zayed, has used the oil wealth of his emirate, Abu Dhabi, to the benefit of all Emiris as well as to promote the UAE's security in the international arena. Under Zayed the UAE has been a force for moderation in the Middle East and cooperated closely with the United States and its allies to defeat Iraqi aggression in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. In 1993, with the other Persian Gulf Arab states, the UAE supported the Israeli-Palestinian peace accord. That same year, a dispute between the UAE and Iran over administration of the island of Abu Musá continued without significant progress. The conflict had flared up in April 1992 when Iran refused to allow several hundred expatriates to return to the island, which is jointly administered by the two nations under a 1991 agreement. In early 1997, Iran still occupied Abu Musá and the Tunb islands. In domestic affairs, the UAE became involved in a major financial scandal in 1991, when international regulators closed down worldwide operations of the Bank of Credit and Commerce International (BCCI) on fraud and forgery charges. Sheikh Zayed was a founding shareholder of BCCI, and Abu Dhabi businesses and investors lost approximately $2 billion. In December 1993 the government of Abu Dhabi filed a civil suit against BCCI and 13 of its top officials. In July 1994 the former chief executive of the bank pleaded guilty in U.S. federal court to charges of fraud, conspiracy, and racketeering.