Dubai, from a fishing village to a modern metropolis.

Dubai is one of the seven United Arab Emirates (UAE) with a population of 3.6 million people of over 200 nationalities.

Until the 17th century, the people of the area lived mainly by fishing, pearling, shipbuilding and hosting passing traders.

The year 1833 was a pivotal year in Dubai's history when Maktoum bin Butti took over. Under his leadership and under the British protectorate, which lasted until 1971, the city began to flourish extraordinarily. Merchants from all over the world came to Dubai to settle.

In 1966, everything changed in Dubai with the appearance of a new player: oil. With this discovery, the real development of Dubai began. In just half a century, the city went from being a small conglomeration of settlements on the banks of the Dubai Estuary to a modern city of great commercial importance.

Dubai has become the luxury tourism capital of the area, opening its doors to such modern-day marvels as the Burj Al Arab and the Burj Khalifa, now two of the great landmarks by which the city is recognised.

Today, even with the enormous changes the emirate has witnessed, the Al Maktoum dynasty still rules Dubai.

Today, this city in the middle of the desert continues to grow at a dizzying pace, its sky covered in cranes amidst the haze. Leisure and business centres emerge like bubbles, surrounded by endless motorways that make it impossible to walk from one place to another.