Jumeirah (Arabic: جُمَيْرَا, romanized: JumayrāEmirati pronunciation: [dʒʊˈmeːrɐ]) is a coastal residential area of Dubai, United Arab Emirates mainly comprising low rise private dwellings and hotel developments. It has both expensive and large detached properties as well as more modest town houses built in a variety of architectural styles. The area is popular with expatriates working in the emirate and is familiar to many tourists visiting Dubai.
Archaeological excavations at Jumeirah Archaeological Site,[2][3][4] which was discovered in 1969, demonstrate that the area was inhabited as far back as the Abbasid era, approximately in the 10th century CE. Measuring about 80,000 m2 (860,000 sq ft), the site lay along a caravan route linking India and China to Oman and Iraq.[2][3][4]
Historically, Emirati people living in Jumeirah were fishermen, pearl divers and traders. At the turn of the 20th century, it was a village of some 45 areesh (palm leaf) huts, inhabited mainly by settled Bedouin of the Bani Yas and Manasir tribes. At the time, Jumeirah was 'about 3 miles southwest of Dibai town'.[5]
In modern times (1960 onwards), Jumeirah was the principal area for western expatriate residences. The beachfront area was previously called "Chicago Beach",[6] as the site of the former Chicago Beach Hotel.[7] The locale's peculiar name had its origins in the Chicago Bridge & Iron Company which at one time welded giant floating oil storage tankers called "Kazzans" on the site.[6] The old name persisted for a time after the old hotel was demolished in 1997. "Dubai Chicago Beach Hotel" was the Public Project Name for the construction phase of the Burj Al Arab Hotel until SheikhMohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum announced the new name: Burj Al Arab.[7]
