About

A constituent state of the United Arab Emirates. It is one of the seven emirates that make up the UAE. It is the third largest in area and population after Abu Dhabi and Dubai. The area is 2,590 km² and the population is 890,669. The capital is Sharjah. However, الشارقة‎ is originally pronounced 'ash-Shariqah' in Modern Standard Arabic and roughly 'ash-Shargah' in the Gulf dialect; even locals don't seem to know why only this place name is pronounced as Shar'jah'... Along with the central part bordering the Persian Gulf, it has exclaves in the east bordering the Gulf of Oman, including Khor Fakkan, which houses a major UAE container terminal. In addition to the mainland on the Persian Gulf where Sharjah City is located, it has a complex territory with four exclaves on the east coast facing the Gulf of Oman. Among them, Kalba, Khor Fakkan, and Dibba are all important ports, excluding Nahwa, which is an exclave within an Omani exclave. Kalba, in particular, was an independent emirate for about 30 years. The weekend consists of three days: Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.