It is a federal elective monarchy made up of seven emirates , with Abu Dhabi serving as its capital. The United Arab Emirates' oil and natural gas reserves are the world's seventh and seventh-largest , respectively.
The UAE is considered a middle power. Human rights organisations consider the UAE substandard on human rights, ranking only 6. Stone tools recovered reveal a settlement of people from Africa some , years ago and a stone tool used for butchering animals discovered on the Arabian coast suggests an even older habitation from , years ago.
This contact persisted and became wider, probably motivated by the trade in copper from the Hajar Mountains , which commenced around 3, BCE. From 1, BCE to the advent of Islam in Eastern Arabia, through three distinctive Iron Ages and the Mleiha period, the area was variously occupied by the Achaemenids and other forces, and saw the construction of fortified settlements and extensive husbandry thanks to the development of the falaj irrigation system.
The spread of Islam to the northeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula is thought to have followed directly from a letter sent by the Islamic prophet Muhammad to the rulers of Oman in CE. This led to a group of rulers travelling to Medina , converting to Islam, and subsequently driving a successful uprising against the unpopular Sassanids , who dominated the coast at the time. Caliph Abu Bakr sent an army from the capital Medina which completed its reconquest of the territory the Ridda Wars with the Battle of Dibba in which 10, lives are thought to have been lost.
In , Julfar in the area of today's Ras Al Khaimah was an important port that was used as a staging post for the Islamic invasion of the Sasanian Empire. The earliest Christian site in the UAE was first discovered in the s, an extensive monastic complex on what is now known as Sir Bani Yas Island and which dates back to the seventh century.
