Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan

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Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan (Arabic: , romanized: Zy bin Sulyan, a founding member of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), from 1971 to his death in 2004. He is credited with being the founding father and the primary driving force behind the country's establishment, which unifies seven emirates. From 1966 to his death, he was also the king of Abu Dhabi.

After Shakhbut was deposed in a bloodless coup by members of the royal family with British support, Zayed replaced him as the head of Abu Dhabi on August 6th, 1966.

Family and early life

Zayed was the youngest of Sheikh Sultan bin Khalifa Al Nahyan's four sons. His father served as Abu Dhabi's tyrant from 1922 to his death in 1926. Zayed was the youngest of his four brothers. Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan Al Nahyan, his eldest brother, became Abu Dhabi's deposed king after his uncle, Saqr bin Zayed Al Nahyan, became the head of the city. Sheikha bint Butti, his mother, was born in Sheikha Salama bint Butti. She retrieved a promise from her sons not to use violence against each other, a promise that they kept. Sheikh Zayed was named after his grandfather, Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan ("Zayed the Great"), who ruled the emirate from 1855 to 1909. The sheikhdom of Abu Dhabi, one of seven Trucial States along the Persian Gulf's lower coast, at the time of Sheikh Zayed's birth, was one of seven Trucial States along the lower coast. He also showed an interest in falconry.

It is generally believed that he was born in Abu Dhabi, specifically Sultan Bin Zayed Fort on the edge of Al Ain Oasis, but that some reports point to it. He is believed to have migrated from Abu Dhabi to Al Ain in 1927, shortly after his father's death. There were no modern schools anywhere along the coast when Zayed was growing up in Al-Ain. He only received a basic Islam education and lived in the desert with Bedouin tribesmen, familiarizing himself with the life of the people, their traditional skills, and their ability to survive in the harsh climatic conditions.

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Career and reign

Zayed was appointed the governor of the Eastern Region of Abu Dhabi in 1946, and was based in the Muwaiji fort in Al Ain. At this time, the area was poor and prone to outbreaks of disease. When parties from Petroleum Development (Trucial Coast) began exploring for oil in the area, Zayed assisted them.

In 1952, a small Saudi Arabian force led by Turki bin Abdullah Al-Otaishan occupied the village of Hamasa in the Buraimi Oasis (the 'Buraimi Dispute'). Zayed was prominent in his opposition to Saudi territorial claims and reportedly rejected a bribe of about £30 million to allow Aramco to explore for oil in the disputed territory. As part of this dispute, Zayed and his brother Hazza attended the Buraimi arbitration tribunal in Geneva in September 1955 and gave evidence to tribunal members. When the tribunal was abandoned amid allegations of Saudi bribery, the British initiated the reoccupation of the Buraimi Oasis through a local military force, the Trucial Oman Levies. A period of stability followed during which Zayed helped to develop the region and took a particular interest in the restoration of the falaj system, a network of water channels which kept the plantations of the Buraimi Oasis irrigated and fertile.

The discovery of oil in 1958, and the start of oil exports in 1962, led to frustration among members of the ruling family about the lack of progress under Sheikh Shakhbut's rule. Shakhbut was seen as averse to spending revenue from oil money to develop the emirate by other members of Al Nahyan and hence they requested British help to install Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan as the ruler of Abu Dhabi in his stead through a bloodless coup. On 6 August 1966, Shakhbut was deposed in a bloodless palace coup. The move to replace Shakhbut with Zayed had the unanimous backing of the Al Nahyan family. The news was conveyed to Shakhbut by British Acting Resident Glen Balfour-Paul who added the support of the British to the consensus of the family. Shakhbut finally accepted the decision and, with the Trucial Oman Scouts providing safe transport, left for Bahrain. He subsequently lived in Khorramshahr, Iran before returning to live in Buraimi.

In the late 1960s, Zayed hired Katsuhiko Takahashi, a Japanese architect, to design and plan the city of Abu Dhabi. Takahashi, working to instructions from Zayed, often marked out in sand with a camel stick, was responsible for a number of key buildings, while also introducing wide roads, the construction of corniches and also greening the city. Another architect, Egyptian Abdulrahman Makhlouf, also worked to render Zayed's instructions into city plans and infrastructural projects following Takahashi's departure.

Between 8–11 January 1968, the UK's Foreign Office Minister Goronwy Roberts visited the Trucial States and announced to its shocked rulers that the United Kingdom would abrogate its treaties with them and intended to withdraw from the area. In a seminal meeting on 18 February 1968 at a desert highland on the border between Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum of Dubai shook hands on the principle of founding a Federation and attempting to invite other trucial rulers to join in order that a viable nation be formed in the wake of the British withdrawal.

In 1971, after occasionally difficult negotiations with the other six rulers of the Trucial States, the United Arab Emirates was formed. Zayed was appointed to the presidency of the UAE in 1971 and was reappointed on four more occasions: 1976, 1981, 1986, and 1991.

In 1974, Zayed settled the outstanding border dispute with Saudi Arabia by the Treaty of Jeddah by which Saudi Arabia received the output of the Shaybah oilfield and access to the lower Persian Gulf in return for recognising the UAE.

In 1976 he founded the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, which grew to be the world's third-largest sovereign investment fund by 2020, with nearly a trillion US dollars' worth of assets under management.

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