Dhiyab bin Isa

Dhiyab bin Isa ibn Nahayan was the Sheikh of Abu Dhabi (1761 – 1793) and the founder of the Al Abu Falah dynasty, which still rules Abu Dhabi today.

Dhiyab bin Isa, leader of the Bani Yas tribal confederation, sent a hunting party from Liwa in 1761 which tracked a gazelle to a brackish spring on the island. The gazelle became the symbol of Abu Dhabi, and gave it its name (literally Father of the Gazelle). In 1793 Dhiyab ordered his son Shakbut to move to the island; he did, and built a village and fort there.