Preserving the UAE's history. The National Research and Documentation Centre in Abu Dhabi showcases a wealth of historical materials that sheds light on the life of the UAE and the Arabian Peninsula dating back to the 16th century . See more at: http://gulfnews.com/gntv
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00:00The
00:28National Center for Documentation and Research, a division of the Ministry of Presidential
00:32Affairs, was established under the directives of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in 1968.
00:40And the mission was to preserve and document the history of UAE from different national
00:47archives around the world, 10 different archives.
00:50These archives had historical relationship between UAE and then it was called the Trucial
00:56Estates and these countries.
00:59The oldest documents are from the Portuguese archives, which dated back to 1507, when the
01:06Portuguese had prisons in Calba, Khor Fakkan, Ras Al Khaimah.
01:11They had prisons there because of the maritime activities.
01:15And after that, the Dutch came here because they were navigating the tombs, these three
01:19islands, Boumoussa, Leser Tomb, and Greater Tomb, in 1623 until 1667.
01:26Then from 1667, the British came here until 1971, and after that, it's the formation of
01:33the UAE Federation.
01:34I want to tell you the story behind the formation of the center first.
01:39Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, God bless his soul, when he came to power in 1966 as
01:47the ruler of Abu Dhabi, he looked around and asked his advisors, where I can find the
01:56documents, the bilateral agreement specifically, that we signed with Her Majesty the Queen
02:03Government.
02:05The advisors, they were shocked by someone asking about documentation and archives in
02:121966.
02:13At that time, His Excellency Ahmad Khalifa al-Suwaidi was one of his advisors.
02:17He said, Your Highness, these documents are in the National Archives of Britain, in UK,
02:25and we can send a team to go there and search for these documents.
02:30Delegation was sent to UK, and they brought back some of the bilateral agreements which
02:36were signed by the crucial state's sheikhs and Her Majesty the Queen Government.
02:45After that, Sheikh Zayed said in 1968, now we need to start or to establish a center
02:51which will bring some of these documents or all of these documents from the British archives
02:58and from even other archives, or travelers used to come to this area.
03:05And in order to preserve them and in order to bring them back to life and write the history
03:11of UAE.