Geography
The state of the United Arab Emirates is located in the southeastern part of the Arabian Peninsula and borders on such countries as Qatar, the Sultanate of Oman, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates has access to the Gulf of Oman and the Persian Gulf. See United Arab Emirates abbreviations.
The length of the coastline is 1,318 kilometers, and the territorial waters cover 12 nautical miles.
The landscape of the United Arab Emirates is represented by long low-lying plains, as well as mountainous areas (in the eastern part of the country), the height of the mountains reaches 1,127 meters.
The area of the country is 83,880 km². The state consists of 7 emirates: Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah, and Fujairah.
Each emirate is ruled by its own ruler – a sheikh. The supreme body of state power in the country is the Supreme Council. The activities of any political parties or organizations are banned in the country, and the life of the whole society is significantly influenced by Sharia law.
Given the fact that most of the United Arab Emirates is occupied by desert, the most densely populated are coastal areas in the Persian and Oman Gulfs. The shores of the bays are decorated with coral reefs, small islands and shoals. There are oases in the Rub Al Khali desert, the largest of which belongs to the emirate of Abu Dhabi and bears the name of Al Ain.
The city of Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, as well as the emirate of the same name, which has concentrated on its territory the main amount of the country’s oil wealth. In addition to the capital, on the territory of the emirate there are cities such as Al Ain (located at a distance of 140 kilometers from Abu Dhabi) and Liwa (at a distance of 245 kilometers).
Dubai is an emirate, which is the tourist and trade center of the state, located in the coastal part of the Persian Gulf and is crossed by the ten-kilometer Khor-Dubai Bay, dividing the city into two halves: administrative and tourist.
Sharjah is an emirate neighboring Dubai, the cultural capital of the state. Ajman – the emirate, occupying the most insignificant territory, is located near Dubai and Sharjah.
Umm Al Quwain – located on a peninsula, this emirate occupies the territory between two other principalities: Ajman and Ras Al Khaimah.
Fujairah is an emirate whose foundation happened later than all the others, separated from Sharjah and located on the coast of the Indian Ocean.
The emirate of Ras Al Khaimah borders on the state of Oman in the southern and northeastern parts, includes the islands of Bigger Tunub and Smaller Tunub.
Climate
According to 800zipcodes, the climate of the United Arab Emirates has a pronounced subtropical character and has the following features: a very small annual amount of precipitation (most of it falls on the principality of Ras Al Khaimah), high air temperature (especially in August and September), reaching periodically +45 ° C and higher. In the coldest month of the year (January), the air temperature does not fall below +20 °C. The water temperature ranges from +19 °С in winter to +37 °С in summer months.
UAE Cuisine
The cuisine of the United Arab Emirates is quite specific, and this specificity lies in the abundant addition of various spices and spices used during the preparation of certain dishes. The choice of these ingredients is extremely wide and includes various types of pepper, cumin, turmeric, coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, paprika, cloves, anise, cardamom and more.
Despite the fact that a large number of Arabic dishes include various vegetables, the main component of many recipes is meat (beef, veal, lamb, poultry and goat meat), usually prepared without the use of additional fats. It should be noted that pork is not found in the Arab national cuisine for religious reasons.
Arabic cuisine was influenced by Mediterranean cuisine, this influence is especially noticeable in the choice of fish dishes presented in the United Arab Emirates. Here you can taste expertly cooked lobsters, crabs, shrimp, as well as many different marine fish. Ukha in Arabic is a clear fish broth, with the addition of pieces of fish fillet, lemon juice and crackers.
National cuisine restaurants usually offer their guests to try mezze – a dish that combines various hot and cold snacks.
There are over dozens of types of mezze:
- vegetable salads, with the addition of parsley;
- garlic-nut paste with olive oil;
- dolma (stuffed cabbage rolls from grape leaves with various fillings);
- pies with vegetarian and meat fillings;
- muttabbal – eggplant caviar with spices;
Widely popular in Arab countries is such a traditional dish as burgul. Burgul is a porridge made from wheat or corn with the addition of meat, seasoned with butter. As additives to this dish, date paste is often used, a product harvested for future use due to its long shelf life, as well as capsicum.
Arabic cuisine contains a huge number of recipes for making coffee, an extremely beloved drink in eastern countries. Coffee is drunk here both hot and cold, with the addition of various spices (cloves, cinnamon, cardamom and others) and without them, but usually sugar is not added to coffee here. It is worth trying Arabian light coffee, made from beans subjected to slight heat treatment.
A festive Arabic meal begins with the serving of fruits (for example,
pieces of melon, watermelon), they are followed by bintas-sahn (a dessert made from dough with the addition of butter and honey), after which the main course is served, usually meat, and the last thing on the table is broth or soup.
As for desserts, Arabic cuisine offers many recipes: from hearty sweet pastries to airy tender puddings, Malabi stands apart among them. Malabi is a mixture of milk, sugar, cream, starch and gelatin, usually served with various sweet sauces. In addition, from desserts you can try banana cream, pears in cinnamon syrup, as well as milk rice porridge with fruits.