National Geographic Magazine 1956

National Geographic Magazine 1956 Introduction

Volume CX- Number One - July 1956 The first issue of National Geographic Magazine appeared in October 1888, but it was nearly 70 years until the issue of July 1956 featured Abu Dhabi and what were then known as the Trucial States for the first time. Ronald Codrai arrived in the Gulf in 1948, basing himself in Dubai but travelling wherever there was a prospect of oil. He shot a series of images of the Emirates which were published in the July 1956 issue of the National Geographic. "Desert Sheikhdoms of the Pirate Coast" was a photo essay by Ronald Codrai, an Englishman whose day job was maintaining the oil concessions in the area granted by the various rulers to western oil companies. Codrai arrived in the Gulf in 1948, basing himself in Dubai but travelling wherever there was a prospect of oil. These excursions were also a perfect opportunity to use his skills as a photographer, using the brackish water of Dubai Creek to wash his negatives and prints. He was the first man to attempt to reach Liwa in a motor vehicle.