Sharjah

Sharjah

Sharjah – emirate in the UAE with the capital of the same name. Among the seven emirates that make up the country, it occupies the third place both in terms of area and population.

The emirate includes exclaves in the east of the country: Kalba, Dibba Al-Izn and Korfakkan. Near Sharjah is the second most important city in the UAE Dubai. The symbolic border between the cities is the road junction, which is half in Sharjah and half in Dubai.

The form of government is a constitutional monarchy. The ruler of the emirate is Sheikh Sultan bin Muhammad al-Qasimi.

Short information:

– Adm. Sharjah center
– Emir Sultan III bin Muhammad al-Qashimi
– Date of foundation December 2, 1971
– Area 2,590 km² (3rd place)
– Height 174 m
– Population of 895,252 people. (for 2008) (3rd place in the UAE)
– Density 345.66 people / km² (3rd place)

Historically, Sharjah has been one of the wealthiest cities in the region. The first settlements were founded more than 5000 years ago. At the beginning of the XVIII century, the al-Qashimi clan (Huval tribe) was entrenched in Sharjah and about 1727 declared its independence.

On January 8, 1820, Sheikh Sultan I bin Sacr al-Qashimi signed the Basic Maritime Treaty with Britain and accepted the British protectorate. So the territory became part of the British protectorate Treaty of Oman.

On December 2, 1971, Sheikh Khalid III bin Muhammad al-Qasimi signed an agreement on the entry of Sharjah into the united state – the United Arab Emirates. Like other emirates that were part of the UAE, the emirate of Sharjah was widely known to collectors of postage stamps, because the Sharjah postal ministry issued a huge number of stamps shortly before the founding of the UAE.

Many of the stamps have never been contacted in the countries whose names they bear, so most of them are not included in well-known catalogs of postage stamps.

On August 13, 2011, the first Orthodox church in the UAE, the Church of the Apostle Philip, was built in Sharjah.