What is the “United Arab Emirates”?
A: The United Arab Emirates or simply the Emirates is a country in Western
Asia (The Middle East).
Where is it located?
A: At the eastern end of the Arabian Peninsula and shares borders with Oman
and Saudi Arabia.
What is the nation's capital?
A: Abu Dhabi.
Dubai, the most populous city, is a what?
A: An international hub.
The United Arab Emirates is an elective monarchy formed
from a federation of what?
A: Seven emirates.
What are the emirates?
A: of Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Ras Al Khaimah, Sharjah and Umm Al
Quwain.
Each emirate is governed by what?
A: An emir and together the emirs form the Federal Supreme Council.
The members of the Federal Supreme Council elect what?
A: A president and Vice President from among their members.
In practice, the emir of Abu Dhabi serves as president
while the ruler of what is Vice President and also prime minister?
A: Dubai.
In 2013, the country had a population of how many?
A: 9.2 million, of which 1.4 million were Emirati citizens and 7.8 million
were expatriates.
As of 2020, what is the estimated population of the
United Arab Emirates?
A: Roughly 9.9 million.
The United Arab Emirates has been inhabited for how
long?
A: Over 125,000 years.
It has been the crossroads of trading for many
civilizations, including what?
A: Mesopotamia, Persia, and India.
What is the official religion?
A: Islam is the official religion and Arabic the official language.
The United Arab Emirates' oil and natural gas reserves
are the world's what?
A: Sixth and seventh largest, respectively.
Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, ruler of Abu Dhabi and the
country's first president, oversaw the development of the Emirates by doing
what?
A: Investing oil revenues into healthcare, education, and infrastructure.
The United Arab Emirates has the most diversified
economy among whom?
A: The members of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
In the 21st century, the country has become less
reliant on oil and gas and is economically focusing on what?
A: Tourism and business.
The government does not levy income tax, although there
is a corporate tax in place and a what?
A: A 5% value-added tax, established in 2018.
Human rights groups, such as Amnesty International,
Freedom House and Human Rights Watch, regard UAE as what?
A: Generally substandard on human rights, with citizens criticizing the
regime imprisoned and tortured, families harassed by the state security
apparatus, and cases of forced disappearances.
Individual rights such as the freedoms of assembly,
association, the press, expression, and religion are what?
A: Severely repressed.
Human occupation has been traced back to the emergence
of anatomically modern humans from Africa some 124,000 BCE through finds at
what?
A: The Faya-2 site in Mleiha, Sharjah.
The Islamic age of the UAE dates back to the expulsion
of the Sasanians and what?
A: The subsequent Battle of Dibba.
Stone tools recovered reveal a settlement of people
from Africa some 127,000 years ago and a stone tool used for butchering
animals discovered on the Arabian coast suggests what?
A: An even older habitation from 130,000 years ago.
There is no proof of contact with the outside world at
that stage, although in time lively trading links developed with whom?
A: Civilizations in Mesopotamia, Iran and the Harappan culture of the Indus
Valley.
This contact persisted and became wider, probably
motivated by the trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains, which commenced
when?
A: Around 3,000 BCE.
The spread of Islam to the North Eastern tip of the
Arabian Peninsula is thought to have followed directly from a letter sent by
the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, to whom?
A: The rulers of Oman in 630 CE, nine years after the hijrah.
This led to a group of rulers travelling to Medina,
converting to Islam and subsequently driving a successful uprising against
whom?
A: The unpopular Sasanids, who dominated the Northern coasts at the time.
Following the death of
Muhammad, the new Islamic
communities south of the Persian Gulf threatened to disintegrate, with
insurrections against whom?
A: The Muslim leaders.