Ajman
United Arab Emirates · Asia
About Ajman
Ajman is the fifth-largest and fifth-most populous city in the United Arab Emirates, after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, and Al Ain. It is the capital of the Emirate of Ajman and forms part of the Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman metropolitan area. It is bounded by the Persian Gulf to the west and surrounded by the Emirate of Sharjah on land.
The word Ajman comes from Arabic عَجْمان (ʕajmān), related to عَجَم (ʕajam, “foreigner”), because the area was at one time inhabited by Persians.
Al Bu Kharaiban Nuaimi rule in Ajman started in 1816, when Sheikh Rashid bin Humaid Al Nuaimi and fifty of his followers took the coastal settlement of Ajman from members of the Al Bu Shamis Nuaimi tribe in a short conflict. It wasn't until 1816 or 1817, however, that the Ajman fort finally fell to Rashid's followers and his rule was endorsed by the powerful Sheikh of neighbouring Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah, Sheikh Sultan bin Saqr Al Qasimi.
On 8 January 1820, following the sack of Ras Al Khaimah by a British force led by Major-General William Grant Keir, Sultan bin Saqr signed the General Maritime Treaty with the United Kingdom on 4 February...
Overview adapted from Wikipedia under CC BY-SA. Photography via Wikimedia Commons.