The United Arab Emirates is the constitutional federation of seven emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al-Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Al Fujairah. It stretched over 1448 km from the west coast of Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, where water and land overlap, to the Arabian Peninsula.

Rich of pearls which have been sustaining the UAE population for centuries, the coastline is studded with islands, coral reefs and ridges. Nearly 200 islands fall under the UAE territory on Persian Gulf, including Abu Dhabi Island, capital of United Arab Emirates, Das Island which is rich in Oil, Delma Island which is rich in pearls, Umm Al Nar Island, Saadyat Island, Hamra Island near Ras Al Khaimah, Abu Moosa Island, Greater Tunb Island, Lesser Tunb Island, and other islands which have left their mark on UAE.

The United Arab Emirates mainland varies from narrow plains surrounded with sand desert throughout the west and the south to highlands stretching in the Far East and southern east to the borders of Oman.

According to recent discoveries, human settlement in UAE dates back to several thousand years and probably, to the Stone Age (5500 B.C. or 7500 B.C.), where the weather was humid with frequent rainfall.

Earliest human occupation in the UAE is recorded as far back as 5500 BC or 7500 years ago, although new evidence suggests that the first human inhabitants could have arrived here much earlier during the Early Stone Age.

Collective burials were noted during 3000-2500 BC on the lower slopes of Jebel Hafit (also spelled Hafeet) in Abu Dhabi, while the existence of first oasis towns as well as communal tombs were noted in the Northern Emirates in the succeeding 500 years. The domestication of the camel somewhere around the second millennium facilitated trade, primarily copper from the Hajar Mountain, with the southern cities of Iraq and Syria.

Discovery of an irrigation technology called falaj highlighted the Iron Age, somewhere between 1300 and 300 BC. This technique entails subterranean galleries which led water from mountain aquifers to lower-lying oases and gardens, encouraging the formation of settlements. Other significant developments during this ancient era are the first use of iron, first writing using south Arabian alphabet, and initial contacts with Assyrian and Persian empires.

Production of local coinage did not commence until around 300 BC, along with evidence of trade imports from Greece and South Arabia. The first use of horse by inhabitants was also recorded around this time.

The succeeding centuries saw flourishing settlements and strong trade network extending throughout the Mediterranean, Syria, Iraq and India. A ruler called Abiél also encouraged the mass production of coinage, and it is around this time that the first use of Aramaic inscription was discovered from ed-Dur and Mleiha.

The year 630 AD marked the arrival of envoys from the Prophet Muhammad heralding the conversion of people to Islam.

Such was the status quo until the Portuguese arrived in the Gulf in the sixteenth century, stirring fierce rivalry between them and the Ottoman. The arrival of the Portuguese likewise coincided with the strengthening of the Qawasim, a group of sheikhs and their sheikhdoms that built an economic powerhouse and used military force to resist foreign control of trade. Such resistance eventually provoked a British offensive which quelled the Qawasim around the second half of the 1700s.

An important cluster of villages at Liwa, comprising the Bani Yas clan, was thriving even before the onset of this turbulent era. The "boom" that was being experienced by the pearling industry particularly in the area which is today known as Abu Dhabi city attracted the Bani Yas clan, led by the Sheikh of Al Bu Falah (Al Nahyan family), to migrate to Abu Dhabi from Liwa. Part of this clan, called Al Bu Fasalah, later decided to settle by the creek in today's Dubai and establish the Maktoum rule.

The defeat of the Qawasim led the British to sign individual treaties with each of the emirates in the early 1800s, which eventually included a maritime truce, hence, the initial name Trucial States.

Abu Dhabi is the largest and most populated of the seven emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates, with over 80% of its landmass. The emirate's population, now over 1.6 million, is growing at an average annual rate of 4.7%. Across the UAE, Emirati citizens make up nearly 20% of the total population; the other 80% are expatriates from Asia, Africa, Australia, Europe and North America.

is the official language, although English is widely spoken and most road and shop signs and restaurant menus are in both languages. The further out of town you go, the more Arabic you will find, both written and spoken.

There are three types of spoken Arabic in contemporary Abu Dhabi. The oldest form of the language is known as Classical Arabic (think Shakesperean English), which is not commonly spoken by Arabs today, at least not in their everyday conversations. The revelation of Quran in Classical Arabic explains for the most part why the language has been preserved down the centuries; it is also the language of royal and princely courts, and the educated elite throughout Islamic history.

Literary Arabic or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), on the other hand, is used in formal or business settings such as in the broadcast media or in governmental proceedings. University or formal courses in Arabic language are oriented towards this type of spoken Arabic. The third type is Colloquial Arabic, which combines some of the features of both Classical and Modern Arabic, but assumes regional nuances and is used by Arabs in everyday conversations. Colloquial variations explain the different pronunciations or spelling for the same alphabet in Arabic. For example the alphabet "qaaf" is pronounced "g" in Bedouin dialects, and then becomes 'k' in places like rural Palestine. However in most Gulf countries the same alphabet could be pronounced or spelt as "j" or "g".

Abu Dhabi locals speak Gulf Arabic, which is the native spoken language of Arab nationals in countries such as Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Southern Iraq, UAE and to a lesser extent, Oman.