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Abu Dhabi is the largest of the seven Emirates and the Federal
capital of the UAE. It occupies an area of 26,000 square miles.
Its long coastline - the shallow waters of the Southern Gulf, extending
from the base of the Qatar Peninsula in the west to the border
of the emirate of Dubai on the north east, was once the world's
best waters for pearling. When the pearling industry declined,
oil discovery in the offshore oilfields of the Southern Gulf revived
the economy of Abu Dhabi. Abu Dhabi was also the first emirate to export
oil from the Umm Shaif offshore field in 1962. On the land, it stretches
south to the oases of Liwa where some of the world’s largest sand dunes
can be found , and east to the ancient oasis of Al Ain. This makes Abu Dhabi
the largest as well as the most populated of all the emirates.
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