Dubai from the Sky Written by Rob Alcraft
Contents This is Dubai Desert
4
Water
6
Trade
8
Oil
2
10
Money
12
Skyscrapers
14
Islands
16
Visitors
18
Growth 20 Glossary
21
Dubai’s journey
91152_P01-24.indd 1
22
09/01/2015 17:28
This is Dubai Dubai is a modern city that is home to the world’s tallest building. People from all over the globe come to visit.
2
91152_P01-24.indd 2
09/01/2015 17:28
Dubai is one of seven emirates that together make a country called the United Arab Emirates. It’s situated on the coast, by the Arabian Gulf, which is in
the Arabian Gulf
the Middle East. Although today’s city is very new, many inhabitants can remember Dubai when it was a small town.
Dubai was much smaller in the 1960s
3
91152_P01-24.indd 3
09/01/2015 17:28
Desert Dubai lies on the edge of a desert. Before the city was built, people known as nomads lived here among the sand dunes, keeping herds of goats and camels.
Tribesmen lead their camels through the sand dunes of the Liwa desert.
4
91152_P01-24.indd 4
09/01/2015 17:28
A pot like this one would have been used by people living in Dubai’s Liwa desert 4,000 years ago.
Families travelled around the hot desert, ďŹ nding food and water to survive. Where fresh water could be found, farmers grew date palms and vegetables.
date palms growing in the desert
5
91152_P01-24.indd 5
09/01/2015 17:28
Water Dubai started life as a port on the coast where a creek meets the sea. The creek’s waters were safe for seafaring ships and boats.
6
91152_P01-24.indd 6
09/01/2015 17:28
These pictures show what the port looks like today and also in 1949 – quite different! today
1949
Fishermen lived with their boats along the creek. Divers collected oysters, looking for the valuable pearls which sometimes grew inside them. a pearl an oyster
7
91152_P01-24.indd 7
09/01/2015 17:29
Trade For hundreds of years, boats from all over the world came to Dubai carrying spices, silk and gold to trade for pearls.
8
91152_P01-24.indd 8
09/01/2015 17:29