Dubai is like no other place on Earth. It is the world capital of living-a city of business, luxury hotels, skyscrapers, and huge shopping malls. In the early 20th century, Dubai was a successful trading port. People from all over the world stopped in Dubai to do business. But it was still a small city, and most people lived as fisherman, merchants, or by raising animals. Then in 1996, oil was discovered. In time, this brought a lot of money into the region, and soon Dubai began to change.