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During ancient times, the UAE region was inhabited by specific groups of ethnicities, languages, and religions. *ARAB clans and families populated a great deal of the modern day UAE. Many of these clans and families spoke a *SEMETIC language called *ARABIC.
*Each of these *ARABS practiced *ISLAM (a *MONOTHESTIC religion that teaches Muhammad is a messager of God) and were *MUSLIMS (the people who follow Islam). -
In antiquity, the UAE region was inhabited by lots of coastal groups who brought fishing and the harvesting of pearls to this region. *NOMADIC BEDOUIN (Arabic wanderers) tribes scattered and wandered across the UAE region in the 2000s B.C.E with their herds, bringing a larger mix of *ARAB ethnicities in my region. These many groups traded among the *PERSIAN GULF and had contact with the civilizations within *MESOPOTAMIA, north of *ARABIA, and India. -
In the mid 1800s, the British started to protect what they called “The Trucial States’, a group of seven kingdoms brought together in a British *PROTECTORATE. The British wanted control over the trade routes and easier access to India, a high center of trade within this period of time. With the British came another *MONOTHESTIC religion, CHRISTIANITY, many foreign workers, and a new language to them: English. Many British people settled in the UAE around this time. -
Today, the United Arab Emirates continues to occupy the same and similar ethnicities, languages, and religions from 1,300 years ago. Most of the population consists of Indians, Iranians, and Arabs from other countries. The official language today in the UAE is *ARABIC, but other languages such as *PERSIAN and *HINDI is widely spoken as well. There is no official religion within the Emirates, but Muslims take up three-fifths of the population, with Hindu right behind it.