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Objectives

Overview

Cities grew up in the fertile basins on the borders of those rivers and then expanded by using their watery highways to import and export goods. The domestication of camels around 1000 BC helped encourage trade routes over land, called caravans, and linked India with the Mediterranean.

PART I: UAE Trade

The UAE's rich history is rooted in trade and tied to Islam, which came to the region in AD 630. The Emirates' location between Europe and the Far East attracted merchants from India and China and was prized by Europeans, particularly the Portuguese, Dutch and British.

In the past-

Before oil was discovered in the 1950s the UAE's economy was dependent on fishing and a declining pearl industry.

Until 1966, the UAE (known then as the Trucial States) used the Gulf Rupee, which was issued by the Government of India and the Reserve Bank of India. After that, the northern Emirates used the Qatar-Dubai Riyal, and Abu Dhabi used the Bahraini Dinar. The UAE dirham was issued in 1973, a year after all seven emirates joined the union.

Old UAE trading routes;

PART II: UAE trade with India

Because of the UAE’s strategic location between India and the rest of the Middle East, trade and commerce have long been a part of the historic relationship between these two colourful nations. Indian sailors and fishermen, using the winds of the monsoon season, sailed to the Arabian Peninsula to trade and sell goods, with merchants in what is now the UAE actively part of this international trade in the Indian Ocean from as early as 5,000 years ago

PART II: UAE trade with India

Indian merchants from the Indus Valley brought timber, spices and grain, while merchants in modern-day Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah in the UAE traded copper, pottery and beadwork.

Today, Indian migrants make up the highest number of foreign expats in the UAE, with more than 2.5 million workers of Indian origin living in the country today.

UAE-India Route Map

PART III: UAE trade with China

Merchants moved between China and the Arab world for hundreds of years on the ancient Silk Road, carrying with them exotic wares and captivating tales. An abiding fascination with each other’s culture had already crystallised by the time an Arab mission arrived in China in 651. So moved was the mighty Tang dynasty emperor Gaozong that he ordered a mosque to be constructed in Changan to memorialise the Sino-Arabian friendship.

PART III: UAE trade with China

Trade, for all its importance, is itself one component of a relationship that is bound together by common values and people-to-people contacts. When Sheikh Zayed, the UAE's Founding Father, became the first GCC leader to be welcomed on a state visit by China in 1990, his hosts stressed the fact that the two “countries hold identical or similar stands on major international issues”.

PART IV: Silk Road

Established when the Han Dynasty in China officially opened trade with the West in 130 B.C., the Silk Road routes remained in use until 1453 A.D., when the Ottoman Empire boycotted trade with China and closed them.

The Silk Road was a network of trade routes which connected the East and West, and was central to the economic, cultural, political, and religious interactions between these regions from the 2nd century BCE to the 18th century.

PART IV: Why is the Silk Road important?

The Silk Road was important because it helped to generate trade and commerce between a number of different kingdoms and empires. This helped for ideas, culture, inventions, and unique products to spread across much of the settled world.

This gave an advantage to countries with vast resources and high employment rates such as UAE.

UAE-China Route Map

Q & A