... were a group of sheikhdoms in the Persian Gulf, previously known to the British as the Pirate Coast, which were signatories to treaties (hence 'trucial') with the British government. These treaties established an informal British protectorate from 1820.
The seven principal trucial sheikhdoms became independent on 2 December 1971. Six of them (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Qawain and Fujairah) formed the United Arab Emirates on that day; the seventh – Ras Al Khaimah – joined the Federation 70 days later, on 10 February 1972.
© Haydn Thompson 2017