Book takes 130,000-year journey through the UAE’s past

Alexander McNabb's Children of the Seven Sands is a tale of rebellion, intrigue and power

Alexander McNabb has written a book on UAE history - Children of the Seven Sands. Chris Whiteoak / The National

A watchtower at Falaj Al Mualla in Umm Al Quwain. Photo: Alexander McNabb

Al Hayl Fort in Fujairah. Mr McNabb's book charts the rich history of all seven emirates. Photo: Alexander McNabb

Children of the Seven Sands by Alexander McNabb is published by Motivate Media Group

Ancient tombs at Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain, which were examined by a Danish archaeological team in the 1950s. Photo: Alexander McNabb

Modern-day UAE has a complex history. This fragment of bronze bowl showing a horse and camel riders was found at Mleiha in Sharjah and dates from 150BC to 150AD. Photo: Alexander McNabb

Mr McNabb's book examines reasons for the collapse of the natural pearl trade. Pawan Singh / The National

Mr McNabb hope his publication will encourage others to take an interest in UAE history. Chris Whiteoak / The National

One of the first places in the UAE that Alexander McNabb lived in was a suburb of Sharjah. To someone else, it was just a place to stay, but for the British national, it was a chance to travel through history.

In the suburb of Al Heera there were flickers of the past all around, from remnants of an ancient pearling past to its history as a base for the Trucial Oman Scouts.

"It is like peeling back an onion,” said Mr McNabb. “The more you find out, the more you get fascinated.”

His time in Al Heera led to an enduring interest in the UAE’s rich and complex history, leading him to pen Children of the Seven Sands. More than 400 lively, detailed and anecdote-filled pages take readers on a 130,000-year journey from ancient times to modern-day UAE.

It is a powerful tale of rebellion, intrigue, colonial power and a colourful cast of characters from ancient traders to Danish archaeologists.

Mr McNabb, a well-known media figure in the UAE, has worked as a journalist, editor, publisher, blogger (he was behind Fake Plastic Souks), author of thrillers and now in government communications. But history has also been a passion.

Alexander McNabb has written Children of the Seven Sands. Chris Whiteoak / The National

He moved to the UAE from the UK in the 1990s – a more freewheeling time in the UAE, and that is what intrigued him. His work took him around the Emirates where he stumbled across old forts, settlements and buildings with hidden histories.

“In those days, it was a frontier country,” he said. “It was beyond colourful.”

Turning back the pages of time

People will have to pick up a copy to read the whole story. But the publication is rich with detail.

For example, Mr McNabb examines the British bombardment of Ras Al Khaimah in 1819 (it followed another attack in 1809), that led to the beginning of a new era of British control that only ended in 1971 when the UAE was formed.

The author moves to the pearl trade. The advent of the Japanese cultured pearl and the Great Depression have long been considered the main reasons for the end of the trade from the late 1920s on. But Mr McNabb claims its decline started much earlier. British archives, he writes, state from as early as 1911 it was facing difficulties because of overfishing. The First World War also cut demand.

He ascribes the emphasis on the effect of the cultured pearl and Great Depression to a couple of British archive reports in the late 1920s and early 1930s without proper analysis of the earlier factors. "It's not the start of the story," he says. "It's pretty much towards the end."

Tales of archaeology, those who excavated the country and commitment by the UAE's rulers to preserve the past, is evident in the book. For example, acclaimed Danish archaeologist Peter Glob came to Abu Dhabi with his assistant Geoffrey Bibby in the 1950s to work at Umm Al Nar island on the invitation of then ruler of Abu Dhabi, Sheikh Shakhbout.

Mr Glob previously worked in Bahrain where he excavated the ruins of the ancient Dilmun civilisation.

Scholars believe Dilmun inspired Garden of Eden but it was also a trading empire connecting the Indus Valley in northern India and Pakistan to Mesopotamia, or modern-day Iraq.

At Umm Al Nar, the team discovered a Bronze Age culture that thrived from 2600 to 2000BC. While in Abu Dhabi, he was visited by then Ruler in the Eastern Region and future President, Sheikh Zayed, who told them about “hundreds of mounds” in Al Ain close to Jebel Hafeet.

Tombs close to Jebel Hafeet in Al Ain date back thousands of years. Lee Hoagland / The National

“He swept a hand across the landscape as an astonished Glob peered at a collection of some 200 burial mounds. Glob and Bibby were staggered,” he writes.

What they found here is now known as the Hafeet period, dating to between 3200 to 2900BC, he writes.

Treasures unearthed by Glob and Bibby in Al Ain led Sheikh Zayed to establish Al Ain Museum. The tombs form part of the Unesco World Heritage Site in Al Ain.

Today, archaeological works across the UAE continue to unveil a rich picture of a history that continues to surprise. For example, works on Sinniyah Island in Umm Al Quwain over the past few years have revealed an ancient pearling town and Christian monastery.

Other publications on the UAE’s history have also been emerging with more frequency, such as one of Fujairah’s rich past to modern architecture in Sharjah.

Mr McNabb, who paid tribute to the late Peter Hellyer, who was consulting editor for the book, hopes his work will help build a greater appreciation of UAE history and how far the country has come.

“I’ve just a very sincere wish that this makes its way into schools and that it acts as a resource for people to start saying: 'do you know what, we can actually teach this, we can actually celebrate this and for other people to go: I want to write my own book'."

“I don't think mine will last that long. I think it'll be eclipsed,” he said. “There's a lot yet untold.”

Children of the Seven Sands is published by Motivate Media Group and available at bookshops and online. Mr McNabb will discuss the book at Emirates Airline Festival of Literature on February 1.