Do you know how Dubai got its name?
dubai — Did you know that the name ‘Dubai or Dubayy’ first appeared in a book in Andalusia in the 11th century? And the name of emirate was derived from the small migratory locusts?
But no one still knows who gave the name Dubai and this was one of the challenges posed at the two-day Dubai Historical Documents Conference, which started on Wednesday at the Zayed University.
Speaking to Khaleej Times on the sidelines of the conference sponsored by the Hamdan Bin Mohammed Heritage Centre (HHC), Rashad Bukhash, chairman of the UAE Architectural Heritage Society, said: “Who gave the name Dubai? It will be difficult to know because we don’t have a lot of documents in this area. So, we rely on different interpretations by people. But we should find more historical documents and I pose this challenge to our young generation to know more of our roots.”
The lack of historical documents pose a lot of questions like how Dubai was called before. “Some say it was Al Wasl, but Al Wasl is just an area in Dubai. We have a lot of archaeological sites like Saruq Al Hadid but there were no writings and we could only find daggers or swords 1,000 to 2,000 years ago,” Bukhash said.
Bukhash added: “Civilisation in Dubai started around 12,000 years ago or 2,000 years BCE (before the common era). But the first recorded mention of Dubai appeared in a book by Al Bhakri from Andalusia around 1,000 years ago.” Another reference to Dubai was recorded in a book published in Italy by a
it will be difficult to know because we don’t have a lot of documents in this area. So, we rely on different interpretations by people.” Rashad Bukhash chairman of the UAE Architectural Heritage Society
Venetian pearl merchant named Gasparo Balbi. “He travelled to the East between 1579-1588 and he mentioned ‘pearl industry cities’ such as Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman and Umm Al Quwain,” Bukhash told Khaleej Times.
“Meanwhile, the oldest map we have is from the British maritime archives dated in 1822, showing the walled city and it was mentioned that the population of Dubai back then was just around 1,000 people,” he added. Bukhash said: “We used photos taken in the 1950s to build museums, recreate old houses and portray the socio-economic conditions before. By looking into the past, people will know how the various emirates got their names: like Abu Dhabi, which means gazelle; Sharjah for the east; Fujairah, which came from the word fajr, which means dawn in Arabic; and Ras Al Khaimah, which means head of the tent. Or they will know the meaning of the areas Al Barsha, means ‘small grass’.”
Ahmed Obaid Al Mansoori, founder of Crossroad of Civilisations Museum, said: “History is like a big mosaic of pictures. We will have a better, bigger and much beautiful picture of history if there is active collaboration from all sectors.”
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