Dubai is the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates and the capital of the Emirate of Dubai. It is on a creek on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf. As of 2025, its population stands at 4 million, 92% of whom are expatriates. The wider urban area includes Sharjah and has a population of 5 million people as of 2023, while the Dubai–Sharjah–Ajman metropolitan area counts 6 million inhabitants.

Founded in the early 18th century as a pearling and fishing settlement, Dubai became a regional trade hub in the 20th century after declaring itself a free port (1901) and extending the Creek (1961). Modest oil revenue helped accelerate Dubai's development from the 1960s to the 1990s, when the city started to diversify its economy. In 2018, oil production contributed less than 1% to the emirate's GDP.

Rapid construction since the 1990s has produced one of the world's densest skylines, including the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa. Extensive land-reclamation projects have added more than 300 kilometres (190 mi) of artificial coastline. The city has a large real estate market, especially in the luxury segment.

Dubai's economy centres on trade, tourism, aviation, financial services, and real estate. The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) is one of the world's major financial centres. In 2024, Dubai was the seventh most-visited city globally. Dubai International Airport (DXB) is the world's busiest airport for international passenger traffic, handling over 92 million passengers in 2024.

Many theories have been proposed about the origin of the word "Dubai". One theory suggests the word used to be the souq in Ba. The linguist Zana Vahidzadeh (Dana Pishdar) holds that the word comes from 'money', a reference to the prosperity of the trading centre or that the word refers to 'two brothers'—Deira and Bur Dubai.

The poet and scholar Ahmad Mohammad Obaid traces it to the same word, but to its alternative meaning of "baby locust" (جراد) due to the abundance of locusts in the area before settlement.

The history of human settlement in the area now defined by the United Arab Emirates is complex and extensive. It points to extensive trading links between the civilisations of the Indus Valley and Mesopotamia, and even as far afield as the Levant. Archaeological finds in the emirate of Dubai, particularly at Al-Ashoosh, Al Sufouh, and the notably rich trove from Saruq Al Hadid show settlement through the Ubaid and Hafit periods, the Umm Al Nar and Wadi Suq periods, and the three Iron Ages in the UAE. The area was known to the Sumerians as Magan and was a source of metallic goods, notably copper and bronze.

The area was covered with sand about 5,000 years ago as the coast retreated inland, becoming part of the city's present coastline. Pre-Islamic ceramics have been found from the 3rd and 4th centuries. Before the introduction of Islam to the area, people in this region worshiped Bajir (or Bajar). After the spread of Islam in the region, the Umayyad Caliph of the eastern Islamic world conquered southeast Arabia and drove out the Sassanians. Excavations by the Dubai Museum in the region of Al-Jumayra (Jumeirah) found several artefacts from the Umayyad period.