The region of Al Ain and Buraimi, together known as the Buraimi
Oasis, is of cultural and historical importance. For example, the area witnessed events relevant to the
history of Islam during the
Rashidun,
Umayyad and
Abbasid eras, similar to
Dibba and
Ras Al-Khaimah. It was at this place
Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder of the United Arab Emirates, had spent considerable time of his life (approximately from 1927 till he became the Ruler of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 1966). Though it is often said that he was born in Abu Dhabi, some others were of the opinion that he was born in Al-Ain. Al-Ain could also be the place for the
oldest mosque in the country, which is in the premises of the
Sheikh Khalifa Mosque. Part of the historically important
Western Hajar region, the area of Al Ain has been inhabited for nearly 8,000 years, with archaeological sites showing human settlement at places like
Rumailah, Hili and Jabel Ḥafeet. The early
Hafit culture built
"beehive" tombs for their dead and engaged in hunting and gathering in the area. The oases provided water for early farms until the modern age. In the 1950s, Sheikh Zayed discovered the tombs, and brought this to the attention of a
Danish team, leading to an excavation at the tombs in 1959. In 1971,
Al Ain Museum was built to house items from this area. In the 2000s, the
Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture & Heritage lobbied for its recognition as a
World Heritage Site by
UNESCO, and in 2011, Al Ain became the first World Heritage Site in the UAE to be recognized by UNESCO. Bronze Age burial sites often re-used materials from earlier burials. For instance, the
Wadi Suq communal tomb at
Qattara Oasis is thought to have been constructed from stones recovered from previous
Umm Al Nar burials., on loan from
Al Ain Museum Finds at
Qattara include
Wadi Suq era
chlorite jugs and bowls and late Bronze Age short swords and daggers. Artefacts recovered also include
carnelian jewellery, often associated by UAE historians with trading links to the
Indus Valley. A find of particular interest from Qattara is a Bronze Age pendant discovered in the 1970s depicting a double-bodied or entwined pair of horned animals. Made from
electrum, an alloy of silver and gold, the motif is found repeated in a number of Bronze Age sites in the UAE. Iron Age finds in and around Al Ain include
aflaj (underground water channels) in Bidaa bint Saud, Al Ain and Buraimi which have been placed several centuries prior to the qanats of the
Achaemenid Empire, which had previously been credited with the innovation. Al Ain was originally within the area of influence of the
Dhawahir, a Bedouin tribe who settled
Dhahirah before
Buraimi. A later wave of settlers, the
Na'im, have long had an uneasy relationship with the Dhawahir and the two tribes were frequently in dispute. Numbering 4,500, the Dhawahir consists of three subsections: the
Daramikah, who populated
Hili, Mutared and
Qattara; the Jawabir in Al Ain and the Bani Saad who lived in Jimi. Staying in the villages for the summer date season, in winter the community would move throughout the
Trucial States. A number of interests jostled for influence over the tribes of Buraimi, including the
Sultan of Muscat, the
Wahhabis (who had made a number of incursions) and the Sheikhs of the Trucial States, particularly the
Bani Yas of Abu Dhabi, who acquired large tracts of land, principally from the Dhawahir. This
suzerainty over Al Ain was cemented by Sheikh
Zayed bin Khalifa Al Nahyan, known as 'Zayed the Great', a strong and charismatic leader who took the Dhawahir's main settlement 'Ain Dhawahir (the original name of Al Ain) when the tribe rebelled against him in 1877. He built a
fort, one of a number of fortifications established by the various interests vying for control over the oasis, to underline his dominion over the oasis and established a
wali, appointing a member of the Dhawahir as his headman.
Wilfred Thesiger visited Al Ain in the late 1940s, during his travels across the
Empty Quarter. He met Sheikh Zayed and stayed with him at
Al Muwaiji Fort. An ongoing
dispute between
Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi and Oman led to the
Buraimi Dispute, a series of incidents which saw a Saudi armed force enter the oasis. Forces from the
Trucial Oman Scouts, as well as the army of Muscat-Oman, arrived to recapture the oasis. With British intervention, the Saudi forces surrendered, leaving the oasis back in the hands of Abu Dhabi and Oman. quickly becoming larger and more successful than Oman's Al-Buraimi. In 1972, Oman and Abu Dhabi agreed on the final borders to divide Buraimi and Al Ain. Until Sheikh Zayed's death in 2004, Al Ain's municipal code forbade construction of buildings over four stories, with the exceptions of the Hilton (now Radisson Blu), Danat Al Ain Resort, and Rotana hotels. Until 2006, Buraimi and Al Ain shared an open border. This border was closed in November 2006, and passport controls were imposed. File:Al Hili Tower By. Eng. Fadi Fayyadh Al Toubeh - panoramio.jpg|Al-Hili Tower File:Entrance Up Close.jpg|
Al Jahili Fort, among the largest castles in the region File:Mezyad Fort.jpg|
Jebel Hafeet, as viewed from
Mezyad Fort near the southern border with
Al Buraimi Governorate in
Oman Oases and Aflaj The city's
wāḥāt () are known for their underground irrigation system (
falaj or
qanāt) that brings water from boreholes to water farms and palm trees. Falaj
irrigation is an ancient system dating back thousands of years, and is used widely in Oman, the UAE,
China,
Iran and other countries. There are seven oases here. The largest is
Al Ain Oasis, near Old Sarooj, and the smallest is Al-Jahili Oasis. The rest are
Al Qattara, Al-Muʿtaredh, Al-Jimi, Al-Muwaiji, and Hili. Examples of
aflaj include
Falaj Hazza, which is named after Sheikh Zayed's elder brother,
Hazza bin Sultan Al Nahyan, and has a district in Al Ain named after it. ==Infrastructure==