Forty years ago it was mostly desert, now there's an indoor ski slope and a man-made archipelago shaped like a palm tree.
Fun fact: Roughly 90% of the UAE's population are foreign nationals, one of the highest ratios on Earth.
Democracy, philosophy, the Olympics — invented all of it and then had a nice long sit down.
Fun fact: The Greek national anthem has 158 verses, the longest of any country in the world.