Fujairah

The east coast has been settled far longer than the oil towns of the Persian Gulf side. Excavations around Fujairah and the nearby wadis have produced Bronze Age tombs and Iron Age settlements, and the coast traded with Mesopotamia, the Indus and later with Persia and East Africa. Portuguese ships raided and garrisoned parts of the Gulf of Oman shore in the sixteenth century, and the fort above the old town, built of stone and mud brick, dates from the sixteenth century; it was the seat of the local rulers, and British naval action destroyed three of its towers in 1925.

For most of its modern history the district belonged, at least nominally, to the rulers of Sharjah, and the Sharqiyin tribe who lived here pressed for their own status. Fujairah was recognised as a separate Trucial State in 1952, the last of the seven, and joined the federation on 2 December 1971 under Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad Al Sharqi. Its people lived from fishing, date and tobacco farming and herding in the mountains, and the town was cut off from the rest of the country by the Hajar range until a road was pushed through in the 1970s.

Development came from the sea rather than from oil, which the emirate does not have in quantity. Work on the Port of Fujairah began in 1978 on a site outside the Strait of Hormuz and container operations started in 1982; it grew into the world's second largest bunkering hub and a major oil-storage centre, with pipelines bringing Abu Dhabi crude across the mountains. Tourism followed along the northern beaches, and the city grew from a village into a compact administrative and industrial centre.

Fujairah is the most traditional of the emirate capitals, with a citizen population that makes up a larger share of the whole than in Dubai or Abu Dhabi and strong ties to the mountain villages and to Oman, whose border is close on three sides. Arabic is heard more than English away from the port, and family and tribal connections still order much of social life.

The emirate is known across the country for bull-butting, a contest in which two Brahman bulls lock horns and push until one turns away. It is held in the afternoon on open ground near the coast, traditionally on Fridays, is free to watch, and is understood locally as an old custom shared with the Batinah coast of Oman rather than as a spectacle for visitors. The animals are handled on ropes and are not killed.

Older crafts survive in the mountain villages — palm-frond weaving, pottery at Masafi, the building and repair of small boats — and the emirate supports a cultural programme of theatre, folk music and poetry that draws performers from across the Arab world. Customary manners are those of the wider UAE but applied more firmly: modest dress in town, restraint in public between couples, respect during Ramadan, and an expectation that guests accept coffee and dates when they are offered.

About 120,000 people live in the city and something over a quarter of a million in the emirate, the great majority of them foreign workers from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, the Philippines and Egypt. The port and its free zone are the largest employers, alongside oil storage and bunkering, cement and stone quarrying in the mountains, government offices, fishing and the beach hotels to the north.

The rhythm of the day is set by heat and by work shifts. Early mornings are busy at the fish market and on the corniche; the middle of the day empties the streets from spring to autumn; evenings bring families to the seafront, the parks and the malls. The working week runs Monday to Friday, with the weekend beginning on Friday afternoon, and Friday prayers stop most activity around midday.

Housing splits between villa districts for citizens, apartment blocks in the centre and labour accommodation near the port and the industrial areas. Fujairah has been growing steadily — new roads through the mountains, an expanded port and university campuses — but it remains a place where people commute to Dubai or where Dubai residents come for a quiet weekend. The war in the Gulf since February 2026 has made itself felt here mainly through shipping: the port lies outside the Strait of Hormuz, and attacks on tankers in and around the strait have disrupted traffic and insurance across the region.

Fish defines the local table more than anywhere else in the country. Hammour (grouper), kingfish, snapper, sardines and prawns come in from the Gulf of Oman and are grilled over charcoal, fried, or cooked into machboos samak, the spiced rice dish that is the Emirati staple. Madrooba, salted fish pounded with flour and spices into a thick paste, and saloona, a light stew of fish or meat with vegetables, are home cooking rather than restaurant food, and appear at family meals and in Ramadan.

Dates, limes and honey from the mountain wadis flavour much of the rest. Meat is usually goat or chicken; harees, wheat and meat beaten to a porridge, marks Ramadan and weddings, and luqaimat, fried dough balls soaked in date syrup, ends many meals. Gahwa, cardamom-scented coffee poured from a long-spouted pot and served with dates, is offered to guests everywhere.

Day to day, most people eat the food of the workforce: South Indian and Pakistani cafeterias along the main roads selling biryani, parathas and chicken tikka, Malayali fish curries, Filipino canteens, and Lebanese grills. Karak, a strong sweet milk tea, is drunk at roadside stalls at all hours, and the fruit-and-vegetable market near the shore sells local limes and dates alongside imported produce.