Q 01/05

Dubai is the most populous city of which country?

A) The UAE

B) Bahrain

C) Saudi Arabia

D) Oman

Answer · why

A) The UAE

About 4 million people live there and 92 percent of them are expatriates; the wider Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman area holds 6 million.

Q 02/05

Dubai sits on the coast of which body of water?

A) The Red Sea

B) The Persian Gulf

C) The Gulf of Oman

D) The Arabian Sea

Answer · why

B) The Persian Gulf

The city grew up around a natural saltwater creek that was dredged in the 1950s and extended in 1961 to take bigger ships.

Q 03/05

Dubai began in the early 18th century as a settlement built on which two trades?

A) Gold and spices

B) Frankincense and dates

C) Pearling and fishing

D) Copper and salt

Answer · why

C) Pearling and fishing

The 'Great Storm' of 1908 sank a dozen pearling boats, and the industry's later collapse plunged the town into deep depression before oil.

Q 04/05

Which family has ruled Dubai since 1833?

A) Al Nahyan

B) Al Qasimi

C) Al Thani

D) Al Maktoum

Answer · why

D) Al Maktoum

Maktoum bin Butti led the Al Bu Falasah out of Abu Dhabi that year; the current ruler is also vice-president and prime minister of the UAE.

Q 05/05

In 1901 Dubai's ruler took what step that turned the town into a regional trading hub?

A) Minted its own silver currency

B) Banned all pearl exports

C) Declared it a tax-free port

D) Signed a treaty with Persia

Answer · why

C) Declared it a tax-free port

Merchants moved in from Lingeh across the Gulf, and by 1906 steamers were calling fortnightly and trading 70,000 tons of cargo.