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Amazing facts about Dubai...

1. Dubai was settled by 800 members of the Bani Yas tribe in 1833, who were attracted by the natural harbour that the creek created. This enabled it to become a small centre for pearling and fishing. Bedouin - Arab-speaking nomads of the Middle East - sometimes took up residence on the Dubai creek and occupied houses made from "barasti" (palm fronds). This photo is from the 1950s, before the discovery of oil.

2. In the 1950s, when this photo was taken, Dubai remained this small, undeveloped port on the edge of the desert, and the creek began to silt up, perhaps a result of the number of boats that frequented it.

3. Oil was discovered in the emirate in 1966. Money was thrown into developing infrastructure, schools and hospitals at a pace that even the Dubai tourist board admits was "frenetic".

4. In the 1980s, Dubai's government made a decision to try to become an attractive tourist destination, and poured resources into this. In 1988 there were just 48 hotels, with 4,764 rooms, in the whole of Dubai. In 2012 – the latest year for which figures are available, there were 599 hotels and hotel apartments, with a total of 80,414 rooms and flats. According to the chief executive of the Dubai Corporation for Tourism and Commerce Marketing, the emirate will have 160,000 rooms for visitors by 2020. The picture above shows Sheikh Zayed Road, one of the main arteries through the city.

Here visitors now find The Fairmont Dubai, the Jumeirah Towers hotel, and the Shangri-La hotel.

5.  In 2000, the Dubai skyline was augmented by the completion of the Emirates Towers complex, comprising of the Jumeirah Emirates Hotel Tower, a 56-storey building, and the 54-floor Emirates Office Tower. 

6. In 2006, development was full steam ahead, with cranes and other construction equipment domination the skyline. This picture was taken at Dubai Port in 2006, when its management company said that it had sold all of its investments in the USA to an investment group. Import and export business in the emirate was flourishing. 

7. However, the 2008 global financial crisis hit Dubai hard. The real estate bubble, built on speculative investment and borrowed funds, burst. At the time, Tim Clark, president of Emirates airline, the national carrier, said that he expected the global financial problems to impact upon the markets for another 18 months. The next year, in 2009, The Telegraph reported that the emirate had $80 billion of debt. Colossal building projects were left half-finished, skeleton-like cranes hanging in the city built on desert and sea. 

8. One of the main projects put on hold was The World (top of image), a series of islands in the Persian Gulf off the Dubai coastline, roughly in the shape of the planet's continents. The project, consisting of 300 islands, began in 2003 but ground to a halt in 2008. Nevertheless, several construction companies have this year announced that they would recommence work on some of the land masses, which are made of sand reclaimed from the shallow sea off Dubai.

9. Things picked up again soon afterwards. At 829.8 m, the Burj Khalifa is the world's tallest building, and opened in Dubai on January 4 2010, dwarfing already sizeable skyscrapers. 

...it also holds world records for the tallest free-standing structure, the highest number of stories, the highest occupied floor, the highest outdoor observation deck, the lift with the longest travel distance, and the tallest service lift.

10. In comparison to the small airport that was built in the 1950s, Dubai's position in the aviation world puts the status of other hubs such as Londonand Paris under threat. The handily central location means that it can be reached from most parts of the world in under eight hours, making it a efficient base for handling connecting flights. Dubai International Airport now has two runways of 4,000 and 4,450m, and as of this year there were 7,000 weekly flights from the airport, operated by 140 airlines. A second hub with five runways, the Al Maktoum International Airport, opened last year.

11. The Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary, at the head of the 8-mile Dubai Creek watercourse, is home to 270 species of fauna and 47 species of flora, which have seen the surrounding city change a great deal since the sanctuary was founded in 1985. Flamingoes currently number about 500, which leads to some curious pictures of the pink birds against more commonly spotted city species, such as skyscrapers.

12.  Before the Expo 2020, the emirate wishes to become the most visited city in the world, and increase tourist numbers from 10 million to 20 million. Shown is the Burj Al Arab hotel, a luxurious establishment, that, with its gold iPads available for use and lavish decor, has become a symbol for Dubai's modern development and, some would say, ostentation.

13. The "Aladdin City" development will be made up of three towers resembling Aladdin's magical lamp, connected by a 450 meter-long air-conditioned pedestrian bridge with travellators in the shape of dragons and snakes. Inspired by the stories of Aladdin and Sindbad, the towers on Dubai Creek will comprise a hotel and two commercial buildings, with a total space of 110,000 square metres. No details have been revealed regarding the project's cost or completion date. 

14. The centrepiece of the Bluewaters Island complex, off the coastline near Dubai Marina, will be a 210-metre tall Ferris wheel, the Dubai Eye, set to be the tallest in the world. The island will essentially be an entertainment complex, featuring a souq, restaurants, and a boutique hotel, as well as several apartment blocks. The whole project is expected to cost $1.6 billion, of which $270 million will be spent on the Dubai Eye (pictured). It is expected to be completed in early 2018.

  

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