Ṣīr Banī Yās

Sir Bani Yas is an island off the coast of al-Dhafra, among the shallow waters and pearl banks of the southern Gulf. Its sheltered inlets offered anchorage to fishing and pearling boats. A well and a walled palm garden on the island show how carefully fresh water was managed for cultivation amid the surrounding salt water.

In the seventh and eighth centuries a Christian community lived here, leaving a church and monastery decorated with crosses and vines. Much later, around 1590, the Italian merchant Gasparo Balbi mentioned the island in a region known for pearls. By the early eighteenth century its villages formed part of the Gulf's pearling economy, and boats set out from Khor Da'sa to the banks during the warm season.