ABSTRACT
Writers on change in the Arabian Gulf usually point at the year 1966 as an important landmark in the history of Abu Dhabi and the United Arab Emirates. It is commonly held that the coup of August 1966, in which the present ruler of the United Arab Emirates, Shaykh Zayid bin Sultan al-Nuhayyan, deposed his brother Shaykh Shakhbut, opened the gate to change and development in Abu Dhabi.
