dubai in1900

Since the turn of the twentieth century, Dubai, the largest city in the United Arab Emirates (known before independence as the Trucial Coast), has derived its fame and prosperity from trade. With little or no other means of livelihood, commerce became the main source of income for the Shaikhdom. Dubai's port became the main entrepot in the Gulf, and the busiest trading port in the region.
Los Angeles: The Walt Disney Co said Friday it had cut 1,900 positions at its US theme parks as part of an earlier announced reorganisation, representing about 11 per cent of salaried employees in the division.


Some 1,200 people were laid off and 700 open positions will be left unfilled in the second phase of a reorganisation begun in 2005 that was accelerated by the recession.

The company did not say whether it would book a severance charge, or how much the cuts would save.


"These decisions were not made lightly, but are essential to maintaining our leadership in family tourism and reflect today's economic realities," said Disney spokeswoman Tasia Filippatos in a statement.

In many respects Dubai typifies the way in which Gulf cities have developed over the past two hundred years. Many have grown rapidly from small merchant communities to thriving commercial centres. In fact Dubai owes much of its prosperity and development to its merchants who played a key role in restructuring the economy and in the government decisionmaking process. As the main contributors to the economy, they played a fundamental role in implementing economic and political reforms, and were the driving force behind Dubai's development in the pre-oil era. When oil was struck in the mid-1930s and revenue began to pour into the state's treasury, many predicted a decline in the influence of merchants whose revenues had shrunk, and who had consequently lost some of their power. A closer examination of Dubai's development shows however that any decline in the merchants' influence was only temporary. Even today they continue to play a fundamental role not only in economic affairs, but also in reformulating the political structure of Dubai. Furthermore, merchants have taken on additional roles as service suppliers, urban planners, culture mediators, and internationalists who represent the Gulf throughout the world. Using Dubai as a case-study this article examines the rise of the merchant class in the Gulf, its influence in decision-making in the pre-oil era, and its role in shaping the future of the Arab Gulf.

For many decades Dubai was a stopover for boats heading to and from Persia, India, China and East Africa. It was also the starting point of the great caravans to the West. Archaeological findings in the area confirm the historical importance of Dubai as a regional trading centre. In fact since the early twentieth century Dubai has been known as the `city of merchants'.(1) It has a fine natural harbour; its strategic location on the mouth of the Gulf, coupled with the initiative of its merchant community, contributed greatly to its rise as a thriving commercial centre. These assets have resulted in Dubai becoming what it is today, the principal entrepot of the Arabian Gulf.

Dubai's merchant community has always been cosmopolitan. Indians and Persians have traded freely on equal terms with Arab residents for centuries. So it remains to this day. The cosmopolitan nature of Dubai society allowed no major distinction between the ethnic groups which lived and traded in the city and environs. However, the pure tribal Arabs were regarded as the bourgeoisie, or the A `yan of the society. Members of this upper-middle class limited their economic activities primarily to pearl fishing and trading, both of which were considered honourable occupations. Hundreds of Indian British subjects, or Banians, settled in Dubai after 1865. They represented British Indian firms in Bombay and formed a segment of the merchant class. Indians took to banking, since Muslims, bound by religious law, could not practise usury. It was, therefore, the Banians for the most part who financed the yearly pearling expeditions. In addition, the Indian merchants supplied the diving fleets with textiles and imported goods, taking pearls in payment for supplies. They also monopolized shopkeeping and retail trading activities; many became extremely rich. As a result, Indians comprised the second biggest economic class in Dubai.

Persians who had moved to Dubai from the other side of the Gulf and made Dubai their new home, monopolized retail trade and foodstuffs. Their common religion and similar social customs meant the Persians and Arabs mingled freely and often intermarried, thus producing a third important class grouping. As we have seen, the foreign mercantile community controlled the financing sector, which, though it worked well in times of general prosperity, was later to prove disastrous.

With its sophisticated mercantile tradition and a strong commitment to urban planning, even in these early days, Dubai grew in an orderly if rapid manner. Its commercial sector, based on a strong trading tradition, made it prosperous long before the Emirate became an oil producer. It was the good fortune of this mercantile city-state to be governed by a liberal and far-sighted ruler at the turn of the twentieth century when new commercial opportunities were arising. Shaikh Maktum bin Hasher, who ruled from 1894 to 1906, was a paternalistic merchant prince who governed with little, if any, formal administrative structure. His rule included part of the period during which the pearling industry experienced fast growth.

The 1900-29 era is characterized by two main developments: the growth of the pearl trade, and the emergence of Dubai in 1903 as the main port of the Trucial Coast. Both these factors greatly affected the merchants' role and intensified their influence, making them a primary driving force behind social change.

Like its Gulf counterparts, Dubai was largely dependent on the traditional pearling industry as the backbone of its economy. Pearls have been treasured and traded as beautiful adornments for the wealthy for centuries, and up until the 1930s, the Gulf was one of the most prolific pearl producing areas in the world. The pearling industry reached its peak just before the First World War when demand for pearls in India, Europe and America made this industry very profitable. When we review the available trade statistics of the Trucial Coast for that period, it is immediately apparent how dependent the inhabitants of Dubai were on pearl diving. It was their only means of generating income to purchase the basic necessities of life: rice, sugar, coffee, textiles and wood, items which they did not produce themselves. At the turn of the twentieth century Dubai had the highest number of men employed on pearling boats in the Trucial Coast (6,936 according to Lorimer).(2) Dubai's merchants owned around 335 pearling ships, nearly one-third of the total (1,060) owned by the Trucial States' merchant community; this made Dubai's the second largest diving fleet in the area.(3)
The latest reorganisation, designed to further unify two units operating separately at parks in Orlando, Florida, and Anaheim, California, was announced in February, but new leadership put in place took time to determine what cutbacks were necessary.


The vast majority of the cuts came from managerial and other salaried staff, not from employees in the parks who interact with park visitors. Some further reductions are planned.


Among the cuts announced Friday were 50 executives who accepted a voluntary buyout that was offered to 600 people.


Disney shares, which fell 21 cents, or 1 per cent, to close at $20 (Dh73.4), gained 13 cents in after-hours trading.


This importance was recognized by Paul Harrison, a missionary whose accounts of his travels to the Emirates during that period are considered a good source of information on the area's history. Harrison described the Trucial Coast as `the second largest diving community in the region whose capital and largest city is Dubai'.(4) As the richest of the pearl fisheries in the Gulf lie between Qatar and Dubai, the latter's port became a centre for provisions and …