Jewelry and treasures are some of the aspects in our modern day world that many people have focused on, as a source of income, as well as a way of storing their treasures. This is because, amongst a few other assets such as land, treasures are among the very few assets in the world whose value keeps in increasing and growing, with the progression of time. Among some of these treasures, include the pearls, which is one of the treasures that have been very vocal in the United Arab Emirates’ economic industry. This is because, apart from oil, pearls are the only real treasure that the United Arab Emirates have, and that has played a very major role in promoting the country’s economy. This is the reason why pearl diving has been adopted as a career and profession, whereby pearl divers dive in to the Persian Gulf in search of the treasures (Codrai 16).
Organization of the pearl diving trade
According to Poulson, it is necessary to note the fact that the United Arab Emirates has been consisted of seven emirates. These are Dubai, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaimah, Umm Al Qawain, and Fujairah. All these emirates, which are specific states with their own jurisdiction, are sharing a coastline rich of minerals, with the exception of Fujairah. However, the extraction of these minerals, which included the pearl trade, started way before the breaking down of these states into the seven respective emirates. In this case, therefore, the pearl trade and pearl diving in the United Arab Emirates started way before the breaking down of these administrative boundaries of jurisdiction. At the same time, it should be noted that each of these states had their own respective roles to play in the development t of the pearl trade in the United Arab Emirates, even in cases whereby they were not directly involved in the pearl diving activities. For example, after the pearl divers acquired the pearls in the Persian Gulf, these pearls were taken to Dubai for sale, since Dubai had established (and still has) a major trade center, as well as world markets, whereby many clients from many different regions from many countries across the world converged for trade. Dubai, therefore, provided a good platform for the pearl divers to sell their products, upon acquiring them from the Persian Gulf (6).
However, according to Brenton, it is also necessary to note the fact that this practice and profession, which prior to the twentieth century was once the United Arab Emirates’ major source of income, has been decreasing in terms of productivity and economic relevance, especially, since there has been much adoption of the same, which has led to a major depletion of the pearls. Unlike in the past whereby families were supported with the proceeds from the pearl industry, this has, over time, become irrelevant, since very few people have been involved in the business in the recent past, especially the twenty first century and the last decade of the twentieth century, as a result of depletion of the resource (113).
Pearl diving process
During the height of the trade, particularly in eighteenth and the nineteenth centuries, all the able bodied men were required by the ruling sheikh to go into the Persian Gulf in boats of 50 men each, and dive into the gulf to collect the treasure. A total of 1,200 men left their homes, which were left under the care of the camel herds, and they looked after the families of the departed men. The harvest took a total of 120 days to its total completion. Upon getting to the Persian Gulf, the divers got to the sea bed where the pearls were found with the help of an al zaibal, which was a long rope that was projected from the boats all the way to the sea bed. While one man was left at the boat and held the al zaibal, the his partner would go all the way down to the sea bed, with the rope tied around his waist. The entire process took approximately three minutes, after which the men in the boat would pull up their partners. Meanwhile, the divers were expected to have collected as many pearls and oysters as possible, within the three minutes. The reason why they used this time approximation was because they had not yet developed strategies and technologies through which the divers would communicate with the men on the boats. These divers were expected to carry out an uqhuma, which was a process of ten dives with five minutes’ breaks between each dive. After the diver completed the uqhuma, he was expected to exchange with the other men on the boat. It is however, necessary to note that the pearl diving activity was also faced by various challenges, such as the infestation of sharks in the Persian Gulf (Poulson 10).
As a result of the same, this led to the death of many divers, since some of them were accidentally eaten by the sharks, during the diving. This was because there was poor communication between the divers and the men on the boats, and the only established communication was tagging of the rope, which signified danger. This is also the reason why the men on the boat had to pull out the diver after every three minutes, irrespective of whether the diver has collected any treasures from the sea bed or not. Secondly, the divers had to follow the tides and seasonality in diving. For example, the treasure collection activities only took place between April and September, hitting their peak in June. This is because the tide was lowest during the season (Brenton 45).
Decline of the Pearl trade in the United Arab Emirates
Thirdly the early twenty first century saw the discovery of new industries, as a result of the growth and the development taking place across the globe, as a result of the Agrarian Revolution, which started off at around 1750 around Mesopotamia (Middle East). For example, with the growth and development of the agricultural industry and the technological industry, this led to the development of the motor industry. This also developed with the desire to travel from one region to the other, whereby motor cars were invented, and found to be an effective means of travel. Consequently, the gulf region and the countries around the region (which in this case included the United Arab Emirates), found an alternative market in the motor industry, whereby the provided the motor industry and purchasers with oil. With the rapid development of the motor industry and later the aeronautical industry), the United Arab Emirates found it highly profitable to major on the oil production, since this was one of the most sought-after industry, and that recorded high levels of foreign exchange. As a result, the United Arab Emirates gradually moved from the pearl industry (which japan was already rapidly taking over), and fully went into the oil industry.
This was also due to the fact that the oil industry was more affordable (based on the production of the oil) in comparison to the pearl industry, whose depletion of the same was making it more expensive, especially in terms of production, especially in searching for the treasure. Consequently, the pearl industry gradually declined in the United Arab Emirates in the early nineteenth century. The pearl diving trade, eventually, died out altogether in 1930, and the United Arab Emirates fully moved into the oil industry, which was by then, doing very well not only regionally, but also globally (Brenton 116).
Works cited
Brenton, Howard. Diving for Pearls. New York; McGraw-Hill, 2001. Print.
Codrai, Ronald. “Pearl Diving.” UAE: A New Perspective . Trident Press Ltd, 2001
Poulson, Marissa. “Pearl diving in the United Arab Emirates.” USA Today, 2013. Retrieved from http://traveltips.usatoday.com/pearl-diving-united-arab-emirates-27520.html on May 22nd, 2013. Web.
