Dubayy

Dubai grew beside a tidal creek on the southeastern shore of the Persian Gulf. Its sheltered waterway served a community of fishermen and pearl divers, whose boats sailed to the Gulf's pearl banks in season. The Venetian merchant Gasparo Balbi mentioned Dubai among the pearling places he knew around 1580, although the settlement that grew beside the creek was long a modest one.

By 1822, Dubai was a small town of the Bani Yas under the authority of Abu Dhabi. Its ruler was among the coastal sheikhs who signed a general maritime treaty with Britain in 1820. A change in its fortunes came in 1833, when members of the Al Bu Falasah branch of the Bani Yas left Abu Dhabi after a dispute and established themselves at Dubai. Led by Maktoum bin Buti, they founded the line of rulers associated with the creek settlement. The town's position on the coast and its established pearling livelihood provided the setting for their new seat of power.