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c.5500 BC Earliest evidence of Man in UAE, on Marawah Island.
5500–3000 BC Occupation by skilled groups of herders using finely made stone tools (so-called ‘Arabian bifacial tradition’).
3000–2500 BC Hafit period – era of earliest collective burials first noted on the lower slopes of Jebel Hafit in the interior of Abu Dhabi.
2500–2000 BC Umm al-Nar period – era of first oasis towns (e.g. at Hili, Tell Abraq, Bidiya, Kalba) dominated by large, circular fortresses; burial of the dead in round communal tombs; wide-ranging trade contact with Mesopotamia, Iran, Indus Valley, Baluchistan, Bactria (Afghanistan); first intensive use of copper resources of Hajar Mountains; area referred to as Magan in Mesopotamian sources.
2000–l300 BC Wadi Suq period and Late Bronze Age – an era which is characterised by fewer towns; change in burial customs to long, generally narrow collective tombs; close ties to Dilmun (Bahrain).
1300–300 BC Iron Age – introduction of new irrigation technology in the form of falaj (pl. aflaj), subterranean galleries which led water from mountain aquifers to lower-lying oases and gardens; explosion of settlement; first use of iron; first writing, using South Arabian alphabet; contacts with Assyrian and Persian empires.
300 BC–0 Mleiha period (or Late Pre-Islamic A–B) – flourishing town at Mleiha; beginnings of local coinage; far-flung imports from Greece (black-glazed pottery), South Arabia (alabaster unguent jars); first use of the horse.
0–250 AD Ed-Dur period (or late Pre-Islamic C–D) – flourishing towns at ed-Dur and Mleiha; extensive trade network along the Gulf linking up the Mediterranean, Syria and Mesopotamia with India; imports include Roman glass, coinage, brass; massive production of coinage by a ruler called Abi’el; first use of Aramaic in inscriptions
from ed-Dur and Mleiha.
240 AD Rise of the Sasanian dynasty in south-western Iran, conquest of most of eastern Arabia.
6th/7th cent. AD Introduction of Christianity via contacts with south-western Iran and southern Mesopotamia;
establishment of monastery on Sir Bani Yas by Nestorian Christian community; Sasanian garrisons in inner Oman and evidence for contact in the UAE shown by coins and ceramics from Kush (Ra’s al-Khaimah), Umm al-Qaiwain and Fujairah.
630 AD Arrival of envoys from the Prophet Muhammad; conversion of the people to Islam.
632 AD Death of the Prophet Muhammad; outbreak of the ridda movement, a widespread rebellion against the teachings of Islam; dispatch of Hudhayfah b. Mihsan by the Caliph Abu Bakr to quell rebellion of Laqit b. Malik Dhu at-Tag at Dibba; major battle at Dibba, collapse of the rebels.
637 AD Julfar used as staging post for Islamic invasion of Iran.
892 AD Julfar used as staging post for Abbasid invasion of Oman.
963 AD Buyids (Buwayhids) conquer south-eastern Arabia.
c. 1220 Geographer Yaqut mentions Julfar as a fertile town.
14th–15th cent. Close commercial contact between Northern Emirates and kingdom of Hormuz, based on Jarun island in the Straits of Hormuz.
1498 Portuguese circumnavigation of Cape of Good Hope by Vasco da Gama using Arab navigational information.
16th cent. Portuguese–Ottoman rivalry in the Gulf.
1580 Venetian traveller Gasparo Balbi’s description of coast of UAE from Qatar to Ra’s al-Khaimah; mention of Portuguese fortress at Kalba; first mention of Bani Yas in Abu Dhabi.
1666 Description of the East Coast of the UAE by a Dutch mariner sailing in the Meerkat.
1720s Growth of English trade in the Gulf; increasing Anglo–Dutch rivalry.
1764 Sharjah and most of Musandam and the UAE East Coast, all the way to Khor Fakkan, under control of Qawasim according to Carsten Niebuhr, German surveyor working with the King of Denmark’s scientific expedition.
1800–1819 Repeated English East India Company attacks on Qawasim navy.
1820 General Treaty of Peace between British Government and sheikhs of Ra’s al-Khaimah, Umm al-Qaiwain, Ajman, Sharjah, Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
1820–1864 Survey of the Gulf resulting in the publication of the first accurate charts and maps of the area.
1930s Collapse of the natural pearl market; first agreements signed by rulers of Dubai, Sharjah and Abu Dhabi for oil exploration.
1945–1951 Agreements for oil exploration finalised in Ra’s al-Khaimah, Umm al-Qaiwain and Ajman.
1962 First export of oil from Abu Dhabi.
1968 British Government announced its intention to withdraw from the Gulf region; discussions begin on formation of a federation of the emirates.
1969 First export of oil from Dubai.
10 July 1971 Agreement reached amongst rulers of the emirates to form a union.
2 Dec 1971 Formation of the State of the United Arab Emirates.
2 Nov 2004 Sheikh Zayed, 1st President of the UAE died.
3 Nov 2004 Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan elected as new President of the UAE.
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