Abu Dhabi city is the capital and second most populous city in the UAE, after Dubai city. It is also the seat of government of the emirate of Abu Dhabi. The city lies on a T-shaped island jutting into the Persian Gulf from the central western coast.
Planned in the 1970s, for an estimated maximum population of 600,000, it has far outgrown that with an estimated population in 2008 of one million.