Dubai
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foreign companies unrestricted import of labor and export capital.
The Gulf War of 1990 had a negative financial effect on the city, as depositors withdrew their money and traders
withdrew their trade, but subsequently, the city recovered in a changing political climate and thrived. Later in the
1990s, many foreign trading communities—first from Kuwait, during the Gulf War, and later from Bahrain, during
the Shia unrest—moved their businesses to Dubai. Dubai provided refueling bases to allied forces at the Jebel Ali
Free Zone during the Gulf War, and again during the 2003 Invasion of Iraq. Large increases in oil prices after the
Gulf War encouraged Dubai to continue to focus on free trade and tourism.
Geography
Main article: Geography of Dubai
See also: List of communities in Dubai
Dubai is situated on the Persian Gulf coast of the United Arab Emirates
and is roughly at sea level (16 m or 52 ft above). The emirate of Dubai
shares borders with Abu Dhabi in the south, Sharjah in the northeast,
and the Sultanate of Oman in the southeast. Hatta, a minor exclave of
the emirate, is surrounded on three sides by Oman and by the emirates
of Ajman (in the west) and Ras Al Khaimah (in the north). The Persian
Gulf borders the western coast of the emirate. Dubai is positioned at
25.2697°N 55.3095°E [15] and covers an area of 1,588 sq mi
(4,110 km2), which represents a significant expansion beyond its initial
1,500 sq mi (3,900 km2) designation due to land reclamation from the
sea.
This time-lapse video shows the rate of Dubai's
growth at one frame per year from 2000 through
2011. In the false-color satellite images making
up the video, bare desert is tan, plant-covered
land is red, water is black and urban areas are
silver.
Dubai lies directly within the Arabian Desert. However, the
topography of Dubai is significantly different from that of the southern
portion of the UAE in that much of Dubai's landscape is highlighted by
sandy desert patterns, while gravel deserts dominate much of the
southern region of the country.[16] The sand consists mostly of crushed
shell and coral and is fine, clean and white. East of the city, the
salt-crusted coastal plains, known as sabkha, give way to a north-south
running line of dunes. Farther east, the dunes grow larger and are
tinged red with iron oxide.
The flat sandy desert gives way to the Western Hajar Mountains,
which run alongside Dubai's border with Oman at Hatta. The Western
Hajar chain has an arid, jagged and shattered landscape, whose
mountains rise to about 1,300 metres (4,265 feet) in some places.
Dubai has no natural river bodies or oases; however, Dubai does have a
natural inlet, Dubai Creek, which has been dredged to make it deep
enough for large vessels to pass through. Dubai also has multiple
gorges and waterholes, which dot the base of the Western Al Hajar
mountains. A vast sea of sand dunes covers much of southern Dubai
and eventually leads into the desert known as The Empty Quarter.
Seismically, Dubai is in a very stable zone—the nearest seismic fault
line, the Zagros Fault, is 200 kilometres (124 miles) from the UAE and
City level map of Dubai
The Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman metropolitan area at
night