The story of the Gulf is one of the sea, long before it became one of oil. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, natural pearls from Gulf waters were among the most sought-after luxuries on the planet, woven into global trade networks that stretched from Basra and Bahrain to Bombay and onward to Europe’s great capitals.
Pearling shaped port towns, powered merchant dynasties and sustained entire coastal populations. In the UAE alone, pearl diving contributed up to 95 per cent of national income in the 19th century. At the industry's zenith in the early 20th century, an estimated 80,000 men worked aboard pearling vessels across the Gulf, including Emirati divers, sailors and traders.
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