الإِمَارَات العَرَبِيَّة المُتَّحِدة [United Arab Emirates]

Published just two years after the founding of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), this is the first official map of the new nation. It is an essential object for any collector of early UAE history. The map shows the border with Qatar as still unresolved, and also contains rich information about the country's oilfields and refining infrastructure. A table below the map lists oil production figures between 1962 and 1972 for both Abu Dhabi and Dubai, and it also shows which company manages each oil field. Roads, airports, archaeological sites, and oil terminals are amongst the many features highlighted on the map. Arable land and water courses are also mentioned.

The map's cartography was provided by Fairey Surveys Ltd, a British company responsible for a number of important maps of the Middle East in the 1970s and '80s. Information about the UAE was compiled by Ezzedin Ibrahim Mustafa & Muhammad Morsi Abdullah on behalf of the Centre for Documentation and Research, the predecessor of the UAE's National Archives. Both men would become important figures in the early documentation of the new nation and in the establishment of its cultural organizations.

Two editions of this map were printed in 1973 - in English and Arabic - and another edition followed in 1974.

Printed colour. [MEAST4905]