DUBAI // History buffs have a chance to share a prize pot of Dh3.55 million if they can answer 657 questions about the UAE.
An online heritage competition called the 1971 Initiative was announced on Tuesday under a directive from Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, to stimulate interest and educate citizens and residents about the UAE’s history.
The prize total will be split into cash prizes of Dh50,000, which will be given to the 71 winners on each National Day for the next three years.
The competition will take place each year for the next three years, making the total number of questions asked 1,971, which ties in with the formation of the Federation.
Starting on March 3 and running for three months, a series of multiple-choice questions will be asked at the start of each week about the history of the UAE.
In each month, 219 questions will be asked.
Participants will have to visit www.mubadara1971.ae to register and answer the questions. Registration will require names, and mobile and Emirates ID numbers.
The competition is open to anyone who can read Arabic.
“Most of the questions will predate 1971 and the formation of the UAE,” said Dr Abdulla Al Rais, chairman of the initiative. “The history of the UAE doesn’t begin in 1971, it extends for thousands of years.”
The National Centre for Documentation and Research will be the source to authenticate all the information in the competition.
“Most historical centres today don’t have information about the UAE in the 1970s or 1980s. This is a part of our history and can’t be ignored,” said Dr Al Rais.
“With this initiative we hope to fill the void of information that some people have. Yes, many of us study this in school but it is difficult to put all the treasure that is the history of the UAE into one syllabus.
“We have collected archived information about the UAE from sources such as the Portuguese, German and English archives, as well as those from Japan and the Vatican.
“Many of the pearls of the UAE, especially those from Abu Dhabi, ended up in the crowns of European royals, so a number of writers came to see where these pearls were coming from and wrote about the people and the tribes.”
Dr Al Rais said one of the most notable of these writers was a German who came and stayed with Zayed the First, Sheikh Zayed’s grandfather.
“He also took a photo of Zayed the First in front of Al Hosn Palace in 1904. We had to retrieve that photo from Germany,” he said.
Dr Al Rais said the centre had collected a multitude of material related to the UAE and its people.
“All the answers to the questions can be found at the centre,” he said. “This initiative is our way of reaching people and, at the same time, it helps to raise the importance of reading.
“Unfortunately, we are known as a culture that does not read and this is something we have to fix.”
To give people an idea of the types of questions they will be faced with, initiative committee member Ali Saif Al Shaali gave this sample question: “What is the significance of today’s date [February 18] in the formation of the union?”
The answer is that on February 18, 1968, at Al Semha, on the border between Abu Dhabi and Dubai, a historic meeting took place where Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed, then Ruler of Dubai, agreed to merge their respective emirates in a union.
This was the start of the formation of the UAE, although the first discussion of a union took place much earlier.
“Zayed the First held meetings with fellow sheikhs and rulers in 1905 to try to form a union,” said Dr Al Rais.
malkhan@thenational.ae