In 1958, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, Ruler of Dubai at the time, secured a loan of £400,000 from Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Abdullah to dredge the city’s creek. According to British records preserved by Arabian Gulf Digital Archives at the UAE’s National Library and Archives, the loan was facilitated by the British Bank of the Middle East and repaid in 10 equal annual instalments.
Sheikh Rashid recognised the growing importance of trade to his emerging city and understood the creek would need to be deepened to accommodate larger modern ships. In the years that followed, Dubai Creek evolved from a historic lifeline into the region’s dominant port.
The creek became not only a hub for trade, but also a centre of financial and political power. Banks established headquarters along its shores, including the National Bank of Dubai, founded in 1963 by Sharjah-born Sultan bin Ali Al Owais.
The area also became a focal point for diplomacy and governance in the years leading to the formation of the UAE, housing the British Embassy in Dubai, the Amiri Diwan and Sheikh Rashid’s administrative offices. From here, the city began its expansion under John Harris’s 1960 master plan, later documented in Todd Reisz’s 2020 book, Showpiece City: How Architecture Made Dubai.
This atmosphere is captured in The Creek in Old Dubai by Syrian artist Hala Kouatly. Born in Damascus in 1938 into the family of former Syrian president Shukri Al Quwatli, Kouatly studied at Rome’s Accademia di Belle Arti before completing her education in Damascus. She moved to Dubai in 1969 after getting married and has lived in the city since.
Painted a decade later, the work depicts a timeless maritime scene along the creek. Shades of blue, brown and white dominate the canvas, with dhows lining both banks. In the foreground, traders, sailors and captains converse while others share a meal. Behind them rises the early 20th-century skyline of Bur Dubai, with coral stone, limestone and gypsum buildings suggesting Kouatly painted the scene from the Deira side of the creek.
In a city now defined by state-of-the-art infrastructure such as Sheikh Zayed Road and Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, the creek can be regarded as Dubai’s first great thoroughfare. Large cargo vessels transferred goods on to smaller agile boats carrying spices, teak, fabrics and gold. Amid the bustle, Arabic mixed with Urdu, Farsi, Hindi, Swahili, Balochi and English as traders negotiated and exchanged goods.
The dredging project initiated by Sheikh Rashid laid the groundwork for the opening of Jebel Ali Port in 1979, today the world’s ninth-busiest container port. DP World, the Emirati logistics conglomerate, now manages more than 80 container terminals across 40 countries and handles about 10 per cent of global trade. Even in the age of fibre-optic cables and data centres, Dubai’s ports remain central to both the emirate’s economy and global commerce.
For some, however, the creek carries something deeper still. In the introduction to her poetry collection House to House (2025), Shamma Al Bastaki writes: “While the Dubai Creek is profoundly etched in collective memory, it is my belief that the creek, itself, continues to carry these memories – that the stories I was told reverberate in its depths, still.”
The creek is more than a waterway; it is the commercial foundation of Dubai, arguably one of the world’s most entrepreneurial cities. Long before Emirates airline connected Dubai to the globe, the creek connected it to the region. Its dhows carried goods, traders and migrants searching for opportunity and a better future. Today, it continues to embody the spirit of an unstoppable Dubai – one built on movement, exchange and openness to the world.
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