The first, the rarest, and the most detailed map of Abu Dhabi as the capital of the United Arab Emirates, commissioned by Sheikh Zayed, the first president of the UAE, and published just after the formal establishment of the UAE, on December 2, 1971.

The map extends from Qatar, in the west, to Sharjah, in the east. To the left, an explanatory key sets out various points of interest, including: terrain, waterways, roads, oil fields, and archaeological sites. In the Gulf, areas shaded in purple indicate spots for pearl diving. To the right, explanatory text sets out the geography of Abu Dhabi. Below the map are four insets, showing: oil concessions (colour-shaded by company), the Liwa oasis villages, a town-plan of Al-Ain, and a town-plan of Abu Dhabi.

Illustrated on the cover are Sheikh Zayed, the Qasr Al Hosn fort, and the shoreline of Abu Dhabi.

The map was produced by Muhammad Morsi Abdullah (1929-2005), historian, cartographer, and social scientist, who would serve as the director for the Centre for Documentation and Research (precursor to the UAE National Archives). He was responsible for the first official maps both of Abu Dhabi and of the UAE and would write 'The United Arab Emirates: A Modern History', in 1978.

Morsi's work incorporates that of Italian cartographer Federico de Agostini (1905-1960), son of Giovanni de Agostini, who had founded, in 1901, the Istituto Geografico De Agostini, which published atlases and calendars. Federico would produce a range of maps, textbooks, and encyclopedias, with some of his work in Arabic.

Rare

The Arabic edition of the present map is particularly rare. We have only been able to trace four institutional examples: University of California, Berkeley; Library of Congress; The National Security Agency (US); and Texas A&M University Libraries.