In 1833, a branch of the Bani Yas tribe settled at the mouth of Dubai Creek and founded a ruling house. Nearly two centuries later, that house — the Al Maktoum — still governs Dubai, and its current head, HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, is the most consequential of its line. Few ruling families anywhere can match the continuity; fewer still can match what the continuity produced.
This guide tells the family’s story in outline: the fishing-and-trading sheikhdom of the nineteenth century, the builder-father who made it a port power, and the son who made it a world city — one family, one creek, one unbroken thread of rule.
1833: A Settlement at the Creek
The Al Maktoum story begins with the practicalities of the Gulf coast: a defensible creek, pearl banks offshore, and trade routes within reach. The family’s early rulers built their standing the slow way — alliances, protection of merchants, and a reputation for keeping the port safe and its markets honest.
Those founding habits hardened into a ruling style that never left the family: accessible leadership in the majlis, fierce protection of trade, and an open door to the foreign merchants whose presence made a small sheikhdom prosper beyond its size.
The Twentieth Century: From Pearls to Ports
The family’s hardest test came with the collapse of the pearl trade in the early twentieth century — the economic foundation of the coast, gone within a generation. The response defined the dynasty’s modern character: double down on trade. Dubai’s rulers cut friction, welcomed the merchants of the region, and turned the Creek into the Gulf’s re-export hub.
Then came Sheikh Rashid (Ruler 1958–1990), the family’s great builder: the Creek dredged, Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port created, and the town wired into the jet age — the works that carried Dubai from entrepôt to port power and set the stage for everything after.
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The Present Head: Sheikh Mohammed
Sheikh Mohammed — Rashid’s third son, born 1949 — has now led the family and the emirate since 4 January 2006, while serving simultaneously as Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE. His reign added the superlatives the world knows: Emirates, the Palm, the Burj Khalifa, the Metro, Expo, a paperless government and a Mars probe — each one, at bottom, the family’s old trading doctrine in new materials.
The succession line continues beneath him: his son Sheikh Hamdan, Crown Prince since 2008 and now also the UAE’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, already carries major files of state. The family’s third century, like its first, is being prepared in advance.
Why the Continuity Matters
Investors and residents often cite Dubai’s long-horizon planning — the 2040 master plan, the D33 decade, the 2071 centennial — as a reason for confidence. Long horizons are what hereditary continuity, at its best, supplies: a ruling house that thinks in generations because it expects to answer to them.
His official line could stand as the family’s modern motto: “We are building a new reality for our people, a new future for our children, and a new model of development.” A family that has ruled since 1833 can say “our children” and mean two centuries of them — past and future at once.
In the race for excellence there is no finish line. For the Al Maktoum, there is barely a memory of a starting line either — only the Creek, the open door, and the next generation being readied on the same shore where it all began.
Frequently Asked Questions
Since when has the Al Maktoum family ruled Dubai?
Since 1833, when the family established itself at Dubai Creek — a continuity of nearly two centuries under one ruling house.
Who was the family’s great moderniser before Sheikh Mohammed?
His father, Sheikh Rashid bin Saeed Al Maktoum (Ruler 1958–1990), who dredged the Creek and built Port Rashid and Jebel Ali Port, turning Dubai into a port power.
What has Sheikh Mohammed added to the family story?
As Ruler since 2006 (and UAE Vice President and Prime Minister), he scaled the family’s trading doctrine into aviation, finance, technology, tourism and space — Emirates, the Palm, the Burj Khalifa, Expo and the Hope Probe among them.
Who is next in line?
His son, Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince since 2008 and since 2024 also Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence of the UAE.
