Rams is a suburb of
Ras Al Khaimah
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) ( ar, رَأْس ٱلْخَيْمَة, historically Julfar) is the largest city and capital of the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates. It is the sixth-largest city in UAE after Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Al Ain ...
in the
United Arab Emirates (UAE). Once a pearl diving and fishing community which frequently disputed the rule of Ras Al Khaimah, today it forms the northern coastal settlement of the city.
History
A coastal community, Rams' hinterland consists of palm groves and the fort of
Dhayah. It was at Rams that the
British punitive expedition landed in 1819, following the sack of Ras Al Khaimah. The British fought their way inland to Dhayah, where they encountered spirited resistance, finally taking the surrender of almost 800 men, women and children after surrounding and bombarding the fort for some three days. The
General Maritime Treaty of 1820
The General Maritime Treaty of 1820 was a treaty initially signed between the rulers of Abu Dhabi, Sharjah, Ajman, Umm Al Quwain, Ras Al Khaimah and Great Britain in January 1820, with the nearby island state of Bahrain acceding to the treaty ...
was signed by Hassan bin Ali, 'Sheikh of Zyah' who was, in fact, the Sheikh of Rams and Dhayah.
Rams was traditionally home to the
Tanaij tribe, all 400 houses there were settled by the early 19th century by that tribe. Almost a hundred years later, the village had a single shop, kept by a Persian gentleman, and some 7,000 date palms.
The inland area of Dhayah was by then uninhabited, having been sacked by the British in 1819.
They mostly relied on pearl fishing, with a fleet of 3 pearl boats and 10 fishing boats. The Tanaij of Rams would frequently hire members of the unruly mountain
Shihuh
The Shihuh ( ar, الشحوح, ') is an Arab tribe living in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Oman. In the singular, the name is Al Shehhi, a common family name in the UAE and Oman today. Inhabiting the northern part of the Hajar Mountain rang ...
tribe for pearling expeditions. Themselves unruly subjects, Rams' community frequently came into conflict with the Rulers of Ras Al Khaimah.
It has a long, 1.6 km beach, which has in recent year witnessed a number of ecological disasters, including a mass death event where thousands of dead fish, thought to be sardines, were washed up on the beach in May 2018. Earlier in the year, a 9-meter whale was washed up.
With its long history of pearl fishing, many of the older buildings in Rams (constructed from wood, coral and local materials) are being considered for redevelopment.
References
Populated places in the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah
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