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Dubai is known to be one of the urban miracles of the modern world; a futuristic city rising in the middle of a desert is something our ancestors 100 years ago could only imagine in a sci-fi film. It’s hard to imagine that this fascinating location used to be just a tiny fishing village. It seems almost illogical that a small town in a very inconvenient climate zone could become one of the world’s biggest business and financial hubs. How did this happen? To answer this question, let’s have a look at the history of Dubai.

The Persian Gulf, however, was still an important area for the British Empire. Being a strategic route connecting London to Bombay, Royal Fleet needed to secure this area from pirates.
In the XIX century, the British East India Company signed an agreement with local sheiks, particularly with the Al Maktoum family, the ruling dynasty of Abu Dhabi and Dubai, to secure peace in the area. Al Maktoum dynasty rules Dubai until the present day.

Despite the lack of interest from the Empire, Dubai was becoming more and more significant for the region. In 1900 the current ruler announced that no taxes will be charged from the traders, and soon Persian and Indian merchants started moving in. The city was convenient for trading also thanks to Dubai Creek - a saltwater canal that was allowing trading ships to sail from the Gulf right into the city.

Dubai, however, was still a big village rather than a city. The urban development started with the reign of Sheikh Rashid. In 1959 he went touring around Europe and was greatly inspired by European capitals, particularly London. Walking around the city and traveling on the Tube, he was fascinated by the urban design, transport system and overall comfort and convenience that London had to offer.

After his trip, Sheikh Rashid started implementing his great plan of turning Dubai into an international city. In 1961 he instructed to artificially deepen the Dubai Creek so that bigger trading ships could sail in. Under his guidance, the city was being rebuilt with stone and cement. Having a dream of a great city in his mind, Sheikh Rashid started building an international airport, although his investors thought that he is being too romantic, and these urban projects are simply unnecessary, and it was becoming challenging to fund all these ambitious projects.

Sheikh Rashid’s plans of creating an international capital would probably stall at this stage, but in 1966 they found oil in Dubai.

Like most of the other newly developing cities, Dubai needed a grand project that could attract international attention, so Sheikh Rashid instructed to build a skyscraper. In 1979 the 39-story building named Dubai World Trade Center was officially opened for business.

After Sheikh Rashid died in 1981, his work was continued by one of his sons, 31-year-old Mohammed. Just like his father, he was obsessed with the idea of turning Dubai into a modern, international city. His main inspiration was Daniel Burnham, an American architect and urban designer that is known for planning and designing modern Chicago in the early 20th century. Daniel Burnham was convinced that a city architect has to plan big; if you want your city to be spoken about, small and mediocre projects won’t get you anywhere. Sheikh Mohammed adopted this approach and decided to make Dubai a city of the biggest and the tallest.

In 2000, he introduced Emirates Towers, which were higher than any building in Europe at the time. But that wasn’t big enough for Dubai; Sheikh Mohammed wanted to build the tallest building in the world. In 2010 they’ve completed the construction of Burj Khalifa, the highest skyscraper in the world.

Being a very hands-on manager himself, Sheikh Mohammed was spending most of his time on construction sites. He was circling the city in his white Mercedes, which registration plate said “Dubai 1”. This plate was reflecting his overall philosophy and life mission.

Sheikh Mohammed had another ambitious project in mind; he wanted to turn Dubai into a world financial center, competing with major financial capitals like New York and London.

Soon Dubai International Financial Center was created; it’s a special economic zone covering 110 ha, with its laws and regulations. It was basically a separate state within a city, like the Vatican in Rome.

Dubai is an urban phenomenon that serves as an inspiration for many other developing cities around the world today.

#dubai #history #documentary #uae