| The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which has provided
the overwhelming bulk of the funds that have paid for the federation's
development, is by far the largest of the seven, with an area of 80,000
square kilometers, 17 times larger than the second Emirate, Dubai, and
amounting to over 86 per cent of the total area of the federation.
It has largest population, 798,000 out of a total of 1.91 million, according to 1991 estimates, and has the bulk of the UAE's oil resources. Though producing in late 1992 around two million barrels per day, it has the capacity to produce nearly half as much again, and has sufficient reserves for more than 150 years at present production rates, as well as the world's fourth largest reserves of natural gas. In the 30 years that have passed, the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has been transformed, and has shared its good fortune with other members of the UAE. Fortunate to have as Ruler HH Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, who has been determined to put the oil revenues to good use ever since his accession in 1966, the Emirate has thrived. If the main city, also called Abu Dhabi, has little today to recall the past, that's largely because until the oil-fuelled boom began, there really was very little of a town at all, let alone a city.
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