A Brief History of Oil, Wealth and People

The U.A.E., once known as the "Pirate Coast," is filthy, stinkin' rich. Somehow, they managed to avoid having their homeland's resources raped by imperialist invaders (like so many other countries throughout history). Instead, they made a killing (and continue to do so) on the resource the Brits found underneath their land back in 1957. I guess those desert Bedouin are a pretty shrewd group. Being the smart guy he was, their President initiated plans to reinvest all those early earnings into the country's infrastructure and now they've branched out into any number of unrelated businesses to continue their growing dominance in world trade and commerce so they'll continue to be economically solvent - long after the oil is gone.

You may have heard of Dubai - and its incredible building boom (it's said - by someone, somewhere - that 70% of the world's cranes are in Dubai; which having been there: I wouldn't doubt). Looking at images of Dubai from before the oil, it's almost impossible to imagine how 45 years is enough time for the transformation. Here's a fascinating web sight (with lots of photos) about the building and the deeper ramifications of said boom.

Anyhow, I spent more time during my trip in the United Arab Emirates than anywhere else during my trip. It was the hub of my travels as I came and went throughout the region. Being in a country where (yes - really) less than 25% of the people are actually local citizens (the rest being expat workers from other countries - like the Philippines, Iran, Egypt, and wherever else...) I'm not even sure how many Emiratis I actually met or even talked to. The stores, hotels, restaurants... they all seem to be run (on the front end) by foreigners who moved to find a better income to send money home or make a new life... but they aren't citizens.

The immigration officals at the airports were Emirati - so I guess I did meet a "few."