In this post, I want to introduce Dubaï. Why? Cause this city is very incredible. I think it shows how far sometimes humans can go, and how crazy some ideas can be. But everything is not perfect. At first sight, the city looks great, and beautiful. But it has a cost. And this is not just about money…
Dubaï is one of the 7 emirates of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). This is also a town. As you can see in the picture above, the city is located south of the Persian Gulf, between Sa udi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. Its area is about 4,000 Km2, but a large part of it is a desert.
Still, this places Dubaï as the 2d largest territory by area (of the UAE). Its population is about 2,000,000. Dubaï as we currently know it is born in 1971, when United Arab Emirates was formed. In the past, dubai was under the protection of the UK. The location of the town was very attractive for trades at the time (~1900). After WWI, and then the Great Depression in the 30s, the town was kind of dead, and people were moving out. But, as we all know, countries located in this area have oil, a very important ressources nowadays. So people started to move in. As a funny anecdote, the city’s population grew by over 300% between 1968 and 1975 !
A very interesting article. I learned things ^^
ReplyDeleteDubaï is an amazing city, it fascinates me!
ReplyDeleteI think I'll never go to Dubai. It's the kind of country located too close to the equator for me, and even if air conditioners are commonly found, it's way too hot for me.
ReplyDeleteDid you know that in 1900, the population in Las Vegas was only 25!
ReplyDeleteLas Vegas was built in the desert, from nothing ! I didn't know that, but i'm not suprised.
ReplyDeleteFor Dubaï, it's quite different, it has a past, an old past, but i didn't tell anything about it, cause i wanted to talk mainly about the current Dubaï.
When you land at Dubai's airport, even at 11PM in July, the temperature is 50°C (yes Gaël...) so you transfer from the plane to the inside of the airport through an air-conditionned tunnel. On arriving you can only be surprised standing inside the airport on a huge alley/road bordered with very tall majestuous palmtrees.. You find yourself inside a sort of enormous glass bubble like in sci-fi shelters. Of course the palmtrees are made of stone and are false, but they are impressive. At the end of this "road" there is a large mall, a sort of hall inside which revolve luxurious cars set on platforms: there for sale of course! a little further you are amazed by the golden jewellery displayed everywhere; turn further and you get to the stores where you get music; thousands of Cds displayed everywhere.
ReplyDeleteWhat about the people? well, businessmen all dressed up either in white traditional robes or in western type suits, and women playing with veils to hide/reveal the most beautifully made up eyes...
It's a bit like in Sheherazade's stories. Whom do not meet?
Guess!