Dubai is the second largest of seven emirates of the United Arab Emirates (Abu Dhabi being the largest).
Dubai started out as a small fishing village until it was taken over by the Bani Yas tribe in the 1830s.
From then on Dubai started to grow and possessed one of the biggest souks in the Middle East.
In 1966 oil was discovered and from that moment on Dubai experienced a rapid economical growth.
In 1972, the federation of the United Arab Emirates was founded, led by HH Sheik Zayed.
In 2004, after his death, he was succeeded by his son. HH Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed.
The ruler of Dubai is another sheik, HH Sheik Maktoum.
Dubai has just over 1 million inhabitants, but only 25% of these are real locals.
The rest is represented by Expats, people from abroad, mainly from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the Philippines.
(about 60%; 3% are Western expats, and 12 % are from other Arab countries.
Of all the inhabitants, only 32% are women).
The population has been growing in the last couple of years by as much as 6% a year.
The expectancy is that by 2010 the emirate will have 2 million inhabitants.
Dubai has a sub tropical and arid climate, with temperatures between 10° and 48°.
The average temperature is 24° in the winter and 48° in the summer.
In the last few years, Dubai has evolved into a bustling metropolis.
In 1999 and 2000, three of the world's tallest skyscrapers were completed
(Emirates Office Tower, Burj Al Arab, Emirates Hotel Tower),
and ever since Dubai has been putting new tall buildings on the world map of skyscrapers.
Because its oil resources will only last a few more years (until 2010),
Dubai has been investing a lot in the last few years in a new money making future: tourism.
Currently, some five million tourists visit Dubai each year. In 2010, this figure should have risen to 15 million.
In 2001, when I first visited Dubai, the place could be roughly divided in two parts with skyscrapers,
with a few other high-rises scattered around town. Those two parts were Dubai's downtown area of Deira,
and part of Sheikh Zayed Road, an area of some 2 kilometers wide, which is situated some five kilometers west of Deira.
One of those skyscrapers scattered around town is The Burj Al Arab, Dubai's most famous skyscraper.
The Burj Al Arab can be found some 10-15 kilometers west of Deira.
In 2005, when I re-visited the emirate, things had changed considerably
and will change even more in the next few years. There are now two new areas where
many tall skyscrapers have been built and will be completed in the next few years:
The first is Dubai Marina, which lies some five kilometers west of Jumeirah Beach and some 20 kilometers from Deira.
The other area lies adjacent to the Sheikh Zayed Road area.
This area will become the new business centre of Dubai and will be home to the Burj Dubai.
When completed in 2008, this tower will be the world's tallest building with a height over 700 metres/2,300 feet!!
Construction on this tower began in 2005.
Between now (2005) and 2010, some 200 new tall buildings will be built in Dubai. Incredible in itself,
but that's not all. In the Gulf, three islands, shaped like a palm tree, will be built,
with hotels, resorts, villas and entertainment areas.
Then there's The World, an archipelago of around 200 islands in the form of the world map; click here!.
And let's not forget Hydropolis, the first hotel in the world that will be built completely under water, in a huge glass bowl.
For modern architecture lovers, Dubai is currently one of the hottest places on this earth.
And if everything goes according to plan and all the projects currently planned will be constructed,
Dubai will have become one of the world's leading skyscraper cities by 2009,
with twelve of their buildings taller than 305 metres / 1,000 feet, including the by then World's tallest, Burj Dubai.
I have divided this Dubai section in four seperate sections with pictures.
The first section will give you an impression of the skyscrapers and most distinctive tall buildings of the DEIRA area.
The second section (with two pages!) will give you an impression of the high-rises of the SHEIKH ZAYED ROAD area.
The third section is dedicated to the tall buildings of the DUBAI MARINA area and
will give you an impression as well of some the buildings that will be built there between now and 2009.
The fourth section is a page dedicated to the BURJ AL ARAB,
perhaps Dubai's most famous building.
The building data, the top 10 of tallest buildings and some of the building information are courtesy of
EMPORIS.COM, one of the world's leading architectural resources on tall buildings.
