UAE then and now: Images show the sands of old Abu Dhabi about to change for ever

Use our interactive slider to explore the capital's ever-changing beachfront

Today, life in the Emirates moves in the fast lane. In a new regular series to mark the 50th anniversary of the UAE we take a little trip back in time and see just how much the country has changed.

Some of the earliest known photographs of Abu Dhabi were taken by the British explorer Wilfred Thesiger after his historic trek across the Empty Quarter in 1948.

His camera captured the local population walking the sands, lined by a cluster of coral houses and palm frond arish huts, while fishing boats floated offshore.

It was view little changed since the 19th century. What Thesiger did not realise was that within 20 years it would vanish forever.

The older of these two photographs also captures a view about disappear. It was taken by Alain St Hilaire, a French photographer who visited the UAE several times, with this shot taken early in 1971.

It shows a group of banks constructed on the same beachfront in the early 1960s, when an influx of money and expatriates from the first oil boom meant the city needed a working financial system for the first time.

They include Grindlays Bank, closest to the camera and later merged with Standard Chartered, and the British Bank of the Middle East, still around today as HSBC.

The concrete structures, less than a decade old, are already looking shabby –  soon to be demolished as part of the Founding President, Sheikh Zayed's master plan to rebuild and modernise the city.

The beach has already gone, replaced through land reclamation with the first version of the Corniche and a tarmac road.

As the second photo taken by The National's Victor Besa shows, the old seafront is today even more distant from the water, the result of further expansion of the Corniche from the beginning of this century.

The 21st Century skyscrapers are at least the fourth incarnation of building at this location, which, as close as can be determined, is now near the end of Airport Road, or Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Street, and Al Marakib Street, which, appropriately, translates as Boat Street.

The sands of old Abu Dhabi have been replaced today by a pleasant public park and the chants of fishermen hauling their boats ashore lost to the rumble of traffic.

Abu Dhabi's Corniche through the years

• 

  Abu Dhabi's Corniche in the 1950s. Some boats could unload goods on the beach, while larger vessels docked farther out. Photo: Tim Hillyard

• 

  An aerial shot of Abu Dhabi from the early 1960s. Oil was discovered in 1958 and the city expanded quickly. Photo: David Riley

• 

  Two dhows are anchored off Abu Dhabi in about 1963. The building behind the dhows is the Abu Dhabi branch of the British Bank of the Middle East, which is now part of the HSBC Group. Photo: David Riley

• 

  Flooding at Abu Dhabi's Corniche in the early 1960s. Sea defences were improved in the years after. Photo: David Riley

• 

  An aerial shot of Abu Dhabi from the 1970s shows the early days of the Corniche. Photo: Ron McCulloch

• 

  A view of Abu Dhabi in 1974, with land reclamation visible on the Corniche, top left. Photo: Ron McCulloch

• 

  The Corniche developed rapidly and new structures were built, such as the Volcano Fountain. This picture of the fountain is point from between 1998 and 2000. Photo: Sarwat Nasir

• 

  Abu Dhabi's Corniche and soaring skyline in 2021. Victor Besa / The National