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One of the most imporant personality figures in Dubai is Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoom. He ruled Dubai for over 30 years within which he created major large projects like the Jebel Ali free zone, world trade center and the airport.

Dubai's land-reclamation projects, the Palm Islands The Palm, Jumeira, The Palm, Jebel Ali, The Palm, Deira, and The World will be the world's largest artificial island complexes, developed with villas, golf courses and holiday resorts.

Dubai has become an important tourist destination, helped by its rapidly-expanding airline Emirates, which is headed by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, an uncle of the emir. Dubai is also diversifying as a hub for service based industries such as IT and finance, with the new Dubai International Financial Centre or DIFC. The government has set up enclaves and freezones for industry specific corporations. Dubai Internet City, now combined with Dubai Media City as part of TECOM (Dubai Technology, Electronic Commerce and Media Free Zone Authority) is one such enclave and houses IT companies such as EMC Corporation, Oracle, Microsoft and IBM, and media organisations such as MBC, CNN, Reuters and AP.

There are an increasing number of "freehold" villas and flats which come with a guaranteed residence visa renewable every three years for a around US$1350 per person. The Jumeira Palm, an artificial island in the shape of a palm tree, is one of these. It is illegal to seek employment on this visa though, and a separate job visa must be obtained from an employer. It is common practice among Dubai employers to hold on to employees' passports for the duration of the employment contract. This is done to prevent expatriate employees from moving to higher paying jobs. On termination of an employment contract, expatriates and their families are usually banned from the country for six months.

A post office of British India was opened August 19, 1909. It used the stamps of India on mail, with postmark "Dubai Persian Gulf", until India's independence in 1947, then stamps of Pakistan until March 31, 1948. Pakistan also becoming independent, the British government set up a postal administration for Eastern Arabia and used overprinted British stamps until January 7, 1961, when Dubai issued its own stamps inscribed "Trucial States". (Despite the name, these were only on sale in Dubai's post office.)

Dubai became one of the Trucial States in 1853. It joined the UAE on December 2, 1971. It has since become a large and modern city, with an estimated population of close to one million in 2004.