The United Arab Emirates (the UAE or the Emirates) is a country in the eastern part of the Arabian Peninsula located on the southeastern coast of the Persian Gulf and the northwestern coast of the Gulf of Oman. The UAE consists of seven emirates and was founded on 2 December 1971 as a federation. Six of the seven emirates (Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain and Fujairah) combined on that date. The seventh, Ras al Khaimah, joined the federation on 10 February 1972. The seven sheikdoms were formerly known as the Trucial States, in reference to the treaty relations established with the British in the 19th century. Artifacts uncovered in the UAE show a history of human habitation, transmigration and trade spanning over 125,000 years. The area was previously home to the Magan people known to the Sumerians, who traded with both coastal towns and bronze miners and smelters from the interior. A rich history of trade with the Harappan culture of the Indus Valley is also evidenced by finds of jewelry and other items and there is also extensive early evidence of trade with Afghanistan and Bactria as well as the Levant. Through the three defined Iron Ages and the subsequent Hellenistic period, the area remained an important coastal trading entrepôt. As a result of the response of the Al Azd to the message of Muhammed, the area became Islamised in the 7th century, a position consolidated by the Ridda Wars and the bloody and definitive Battle of Dibba. The Islamic era saw the area emerge once again as an important centre for trade, centred particularly around the ports of Julfar, Dibba and Khor Fakkan. These, linked to the vast Eastern Arab trading network that centred around the Kingdom of Hormuz, formed an important link in the Arab monopoly of trade between the East and Europe. In the late Islamic era, a number of small trading ports developed alongside the development of bustan agriculture in inland oases such as Liwa, Al Ain and Dhaid and tribal bedouin society co-existed with settled populations in the coastal areas. A number of incursions and battles took place along the coast when the Portuguese, under Afonso de Albuquerque, invaded the area and disrupted the Arab trade networks, triggering a decline in trade and a rise in regional conflict following the fragmentation of Hormuzi authority. Subsequent conflicts between the maritime communities of