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Geographical Conditions

raphy of the country under consideration become meaningful when
looked at in the context of the conditions of the area in economic,
political, strategic or sociological lerms. To show for the United Arab
Emirates the mutual influence of the geographical and the historical
factors, and to evaluate how they condition each other’s relevance at
this very point in time, provide the frame in which the present-day
society in the UAE is to be seen.1 The historical factors which are
largely responsible for the way in which this present-day society
functions are in themselves results of a varying relevance of the
geographical factors to society in the past.
This chapter is concerned with the physical geography of the UAE.
The order of priority reflects to some extent the effect of this
geography on the country’s economy and, as a result of this, on its
present social and political structure. However, the more detailed
discussions of this effect have to be deferred to later chapters in order
to trace the changing importance of geographical conditions and to
assess their role with regard to the various facets of present-day
society in the UAE.

2 Ecology: Some implications of the UAE’s i
geographical setting

Oil
In an enumeration of geographical factors according to their
importance to the new State of the UAE, the occurrence of oil in
certain geological formations under its territory occupies the first
place. The known oilfields are located chiefly in the territory and the
territorial waters of Abu Dhabi. Dubai also exports oil, Sharjah
exports a small amount, and hydrocarbons have been found in small
quantities in Ra’s al Khaimah and Umm al Qaiwain. In 1981 a total of
73 million tons was exported from the UAE, (in 1979 it was 90
million), which constituted 10 per cent of the oil lifted from terminals
situated on the Gulf. Oil put this State, together with some of its oil-
producing neighbours, on the international map. It serves as a bridge
for contacts with the rest of the world, in particular with the
countries where the oil is consumed and with those countries which
have provided the experts for its production. In the late 1970s and
early 1980s about 30 per cent of the Abu Dhabi and Dubai oil went to
Europe, 30 per cent to the USA, and 30 per cent to Japan. Of the

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