Dibba

Coordinates: 25°37′N 56°16′E / 25.617°N 56.267°E / 25.617; 56.267
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
View of Rul Dibba cape from 6 km east of Dibba city, Emirate of Fujairah, northeastern UAE. In the background, dimly visible, are the mountains of Musandam, Oman.

Dibbā (

Arabian peninsula on the Gulf of Oman.[1][2]

Political administration

Dibba is politically divided into three segments:

History

See also: History of Oman and History of the United Arab Emirates

This large natural harbor on the east coast of the northern Emirates has been an important site of maritime trade and settlement for millennia, with relatively recent excavations underpinning the importance of the town as a site of entrepot trade throughout the Iron Age and into the late pre-Islamic era.

Ed-Dur, while Roman amphorae, ceramics and glass attest to a continuity of not only occupation but a lively regional trade.[3] Finds at the site attest to trade links with Bahrain, north-eastern Arabia, Iran, Mesopotamia and India, while amphorae, terra sigillata, glass and intaglios demonstrate connections between Dibba and the Roman Empire - two intaglios found in the town were engraved with figures of Perseus and Medusa (similar to one found in southern Thailand), further suggesting an extensive pre-Islamic trade network stretching far to the East.[3]

Under the

Persian marzban (military governor), based at Al-Rustaq in what is now Oman.[4] According to Ibn Habib, "merchants from Sindh
, India, China, people of the East and West came to it."

Battle of Dibba

Main article: Battle of Dibba

Soon after the death of the Islamic Prophet

Ridda wars, the Battle of Dibba. The plain behind Dibba still contains a large cemetery which according to local tradition represents the fallen apostates of Dibba.[4][5] Thereafter, the region of southeast Arabia became nearly entirely Muslim.[6]

During the time of the Abbasid caliph Al-Mu'tadid (CE 870–892), a great battle was fought at Dibba during the conquest of Oman by the Abbasid governor of Iraq and Bahrain, Muhammad ibn Nur.[2] Thereafter references to Dibba in historical literature are scarce until we come to the Portuguese who built a fortress there. Dibba (Debe) appears in the list of southeast Arabian placenames preserved by the Venetian jeweler Gasparo Balbi in CE 1580 and depictions of its Portuguese fort can be found in several sources, such as Armando Cortesão's Portugaliae Monumenta Cartographica.

Portuguese

Around 1620–1621 the

Muscat, most returned to Basra
in CE 1630.

In 1645 the Portuguese still held Dibba but the Dutch, searching for potential sites for new commercial activities, sent the warship Zeemeeuw ('Seagull') to explore the

Musandam peninsula between Khasab
, on the Persian Gulf side, and Dibba on the east coast. Claes Speelman, the captain of the Zeemeeuw, made drawings in his logbook, including what is certainly the earliest depiction of Dibba in a European source. Within a year or two the Portuguese were forced out of Dibba and held only Khasab and Muscat, which they finally lost in 1650.

Eleven years later, Jacob Vogel's description of the east coast of the Oman peninsula, prepared for the Dutch East India Company in 1666, contained the following: "Dabba (which we were unable to visit because of calm and counter currents) is a place (according to the interpreter assigned to us) with about 300 small houses constructed from branches of date trees. During the days of the Portuguese, there were here four fortresses of which the biggest one is still standing. This place also has a valley with a lot of date trees under which there are water wells, where one can get fresh water. At the Northern side of Dabba there is a small freshwater river where the fishermen live.".[7]

The 1900s witnessed

land disputes over Dibba.[8]

Geology

The Dibba Fault is an

major earthquake waiting to happen in the area.[9] Dibba also felt the 2005 Qeshm earthquake
.

The

ophiolites in the Oman Mountains from the Mesozoic carbonates in the Musandam Peninsula.[10]

On 31 March 2009, Gulfnews reported that the UAE's National Centre of Metrology and Seismology (NCMS) recorded two earth tremors, measuring magnitudes of 2.9 and 3.5 on the Richter scale, which shook the Gulf of Aden and the north of Dibba at 6.21 am and 9.35 am. The tremors were lightly felt in some areas of the northern emirates.[11]

Marine life

In 2008 an algal bloom affected the sea around Dibba and reached the tourist hot-spots of 'Aqqah and Al-Faqeet, which contain several high-end resorts.[12] 95% of corals in the Dibba Marine Protected Zone were destroyed and the fish population dwindled to a minimum. Rita Bento, a marine biologist working with the Emirates Diving Association (EDA), said she saw only three fish during an hour-long dive in an area where previously hundreds were seen.[13]

Climate

Dibba is located in the Tropical and Subtropical Desert Climate according to the Köppen climate classification. The warmest month is July with an average temperature of 33.8 °C (92.8 °F). The coldest month is January, with an average temperature of 19.2 °C (66.6 °F).[14]

Climate data for Dibba
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Mean daily maximum °C (°F) 23.4
(74.1) 		24.1
(75.4) 		27.2
(81.0) 		31.6
(88.9) 		36.6
(97.9) 		37.8
(100.0) 		36.7
(98.1) 		35.8
(96.4) 		34.9
(94.8) 		33.4
(92.1) 		29.4
(84.9) 		25.5
(77.9) 		31.4
(88.5)
Mean daily minimum °C (°F) 15
(59) 		16.1
(61.0) 		19
(66) 		22.9
(73.2) 		27.6
(81.7) 		29.6
(85.3) 		30.8
(87.4) 		29.8
(85.6) 		27.7
(81.9) 		23.7
(74.7) 		20
(68) 		17.1
(62.8) 		23.3
(73.9)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 17.4
(0.69) 		8.5
(0.33) 		13.7
(0.54) 		3.7
(0.15) 		0.1
(0.00) 		0.3
(0.01) 		0.4
(0.02) 		0
(0) 		0.1
(0.00) 		0.3
(0.01) 		6.5
(0.26) 		17.9
(0.70) 		68.8
(2.71)
Source: weatherbase[15]

Natural disasters

In June 2007, Dibba was affected by Cyclone Gonu, which caused damage to buildings and homes.[16]

Archaeology

There is evidence of extensive ancient settlement[17] and Dibba was an international market on the coast of Oman frequented by merchants from India and China sailing through the Arabian Sea. Indian and Chinese merchant activity has also been discovered in Dibba, and in Chinese sources as well.[18]

Towns

  • Dibba Al-Fujairah on the east coast is one of the largest towns in Fujairah. It contains several small villages located between the mountains and the seacoast. In winter people from all over the Emirates travel to Dibba to camp in the mountains and in summer they enjoy water sports and the sandy beaches. Beaches in Dibba are considered among the best of the UAE and have many luxury hotels.
  • Dibba Al-Hisn is bordered by the Gulf of Oman to the east, Dibba Al-Baya to the north, and Dibba Al-Fujairah to the south. It is the smallest in size among the other "Dibbas" and is notable mostly for its fish market and a fortress, after which the town is named. Its population density is greater than the other towns. There have been land disputes between Dibba Al-Hisn and Dibba Al-Baya, which were resolved in the 1990s. Dibba Al-Hisn is believed to be the site where the Portuguese built a fort and a wall around the city during the Iberian Union.[19]
  • Dibba Al-Baya is the most northerly of the three "Dibbas" and acts as a gateway to the Musandam Peninsula.

Notable people

In popular culture

"We will go to Dibba, and we will see how summer feels like" is a

UAE and Oman. It is used to express the ability of proving a point or test if a fact is true or not, since Dibba allegedly enjoys a cooler weather in the summer than the rest of the UAE.[citation needed
]

See also

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Dibba.
  1. ISBN 978-3-1102-2339-2
    .
  2. ^
    ISBN 978-1-7802-3580-6
    . Retrieved 8 November 2016.
  3. ^
    doi:10.1111/aae.12037
    .
  4. ^
    ISBN 978-1-900724-47-0
    .
  5. ISBN 978-1-84887-009-3
    .
  6. ISBN 978-1-84887-009-3
    .
  7. ^ UAE Interact
  8. ^ "Archive Editions". Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2009-02-05.
  9. ^ "Scientists seek disaster management plans". Gulfnews. 21 January 2005. Archived from the original on 9 September 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  10. ^ The tectonic and climatic evolution of the Arabian Sea Region, by Peter D. Clift, Geological Society of London, D. Kroon, C. Gaedicke, J. Craig
  11. ^ "Tremors felt in northern emirates". Gulfnews. 31 March 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  12. ^ "'Red tide' forces tourists to ditch Dibba coast". Gulfnews. 7 November 2008. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  13. ^ "Red tide has killed 95% of corals, biologist says". 3 February 2009. Retrieved 25 January 2011.
  14. ^ "Dib Dibba, Oman Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)". Weatherbase. Retrieved 2024-03-21.
  15. ^ "Dib Dibba, Oman Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)".
  16. ^ "Cyclone Gonu: UAE sets up emergency task force".
  17. ISBN 978-0-86531-188-6
  18. ISBN 978-0-521-80332-8
  19. ^ "DRAWINGS OF PORTUGUESE FORTS IN THE PERSIAN GULF DOBA". Archived from the original on 25 December 2010. Retrieved 25 January 2011.

25°37′N 56°16′E / 25.617°N 56.267°E / 25.617; 56.267

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