Dubai Creek

1 · POSITION

Dubai Creek is the natural seawater inlet, about fourteen kilometres long, that divides the city into Bur Dubai and Deira. In 1833 some eight hundred of the Bani Yas, led by Sheikh Maktoum bin Buti, settled at its mouth for a safe natural harbour that could support pearling, fishing and trade. The register holds it as the place where Dubai received the trader long before it received the tourist. [1, 2]

2 · TWO BANKS, ONE PORT

Deira, on the north bank, was the commercial district and a link in the old trade routes, where goods are still carried between the dhows on the creek and the souqs across the road. Bur Dubai, on the south, holds the wind-towered houses of the Bastakiya and the Al Fahidi fort. The abra, the small wooden ferry, still crosses between them, now under diesel. [1, 2]

3 · A CANDIDATE FOR THE LIST

The UAE put the creek on its World Heritage tentative list in January 2012: the first four and a half kilometres, with their quays and piers, the historic districts of Shindagha, Bastakiya and Deira, the main souqs and the Al Fahidi fort. The souqs of both banks have been restored and still trade. [1]

4 · THE SOUQS

The register files Deira’s souqs — gold, spice and the landing places — under their own code. The creek is the reason they exist where they do. [2]

5 · ⚑ CANDOUR

⚑ Checked on 22 October 2026. Customs were not found; the creek’s trade was built on their absence. Sheikh Maktoum granted foreign traders full exemption from tax in 1894, merchants from Lingah settled after 1903, and the creek was dredged in 1963. The note now says so. The creek is a candidate for the World Heritage List, not inscribed on it. [1–3]