Dhows at rest in Dubai Creek. The saltwater creek, which divides the city into its two traditional sections, Deira and Bur Dubai, was once the center of the Dubai pearl trade that formed the basis of the city's economy before the oil boom. Boats making the global pearl trade circuit would stop in the small harbor, where most of the pearls were harvested. While the pearl trade dropped off dramatically after the invention of the cultured pearl in the 1930s, the harbor helped cement Dubai's position as a regional commercial hub.
Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
