Dubai Before Oil in the 1950s-1960s

Dubai's roots reach all the way back to the early Minoan period. The site where Dubai now lies used to be a vast mangrove swamp, and by 3000 BCE that swamp had dried up and become inhabitable. It is thought that Bronze Age nomadic cattle herders were the first to settle in the area and by 2500 BCE, they had established a thriving date palm plantation – the first time the site was successfully used for agriculture.