The second largest of the seven emirates which make up the United Arab Emirates, Dubai is located on the southern shore of the Arabian Gulf. It has an area of some 3,900 square kilometres. Outside the city itself, the emirate is sparsely inhabited and characterized by desert vegetation.

Dubai, one of the seven emirates, is the major city in United Arab Emirates. With the formation of UAE in 1971, the modern Dubai City also created. Records show the existence of this city 150 years prior to the formation of UAE. Other six Emirates are Abu Dhabi, Ajman, Fujairah, Ras- Al Khaimah, Sharjah, and Umm Al Quwain. Abu Dhabi is capital of UAE. The total population in UAE is 4 million and Dubai is having around 1.3milion.

Many ancient towns in South Eastern Arabian Peninsula were major trading centers between east and west. Prior to Islam, people in this region were idol worshipers. The Byzantine, the Greek speaking Roman Empire and Sassanian empires, the fourth Iranian dynasty constituted the great powers of the period, with the Sassanian controlling much of the region. After the spread of Islam in the region, the Umayyad Caliph of the eastern Islamic world launched an attack on south-east Arabia to bring it under Umayyad domination. Gaspero Balbi , The Venetian pearl merchant visited the area in 1580 CE (Common Era) and mentions Dubai (Dibei) for its pearling industry. In 1833, the Al Maktoum dynasty of the Bani Yas tribe left the settlement of Abu Dhabi and took over the town of Dubai. From that point on, Dubai, a newly independent emirate was constantly at odds with the emirate of Abu Dhabi.

Until the 1930s, the town was known for its pearl exports. However, Dubai's pearling industry was damaged irreparably by the events of the First World War, and later on by the Great Depression in the late 1920s. In the 1950s, the British moved their local administrative offices from Sharjah to Dubai, which saw the establishment of electricity, telephone service and the airport.

On 2 December 1971 Dubai, together with Abu Dhabi and four other emirates, formed the United Arab Emirates after former protector Britain left the Persian Gulf in 1971. In 1973, Dubai joined the other emirates to adopt a single, uniform currency: the UAE dirham. The current ruler of Dubai is Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.

The official language is Arabic, but English, Hindi, Persian and Urdu are also widely spoken, along with Malayalam, Tamil, Punjabi, and Tagalo. Islam is the official religion of all of the emirates. A vast majority of the locals are Sunnis. There are foreign minority Hindus, Sikhs, and Christians as well. Dubai is the only emirate that has Hindu temples and a Sikh gurdwara.

The climate in Dubai is dry, subtropical and rain is very rare. The hottest months are between June and September when the temperature often tops 45^•C during the day and the humidity is very high. Hotel pools are cooled in the summer and heated in the winter. October, November and April offer more reasonable temperatures of between 30^•C and 35^•C, but the best time to visit Dubai is between the months of December and March, when the temperature is pleasurable and the warm waters and sybaritic spas are sure to have the greatest effect, when the average temperature is 24^•C.