The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a federal monarchy situated at the southeast end of the Arabian Peninsula on the Arabian Gulf, bordering Oman to the east and Saudi Arabia to the south, as well as sharing maritime borders with Qatar to the west and Iran to the north.

The coastal emirates, including Oman, became known as the Trucial States while under the British protectorate system from the 1800s. This arrangement ended with the establishment of the United Arab Emirates as an independent state in 1971. Six emirates, Abu Dhabi (which serves as the capital), Ajman, Dubai, Fujairah, Sharjah and Umm al-Quwain joined the UAE in 1971, the seventh, Ras al-Khaimah, joined the federation a year later. Each emirate is governed by a different family as a hereditary monarchy and together they form the Federal Supreme Council, presided over by the Ruler of Abu Dhabi.

The UAE’s oil reserves are the seventh-largest in the world while its natural gas reserves are the world’s seventeenth-largest. Its GDP per capita is among the highest in the world and the Abu Dhabi emirate accounts for about two-thirds of the entire economy of the UAE. The UAE’s most populous city, Dubai, is an important global hub for trade and tourism.

The UAE is a member of the United Nations, the Arab League, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, OPEC, the Non-Aligned Movement, the Gulf Cooperation Council and the World Trade Organization.