According to tradition, the island on which Abu Dhabi stands was discovered in the 18th century when hunters from the Bani Yas tribe tracked a gazelle to a freshwater well, giving the settlement its name, «Abu Dhabi» («father of the gazelle»). It became capital of the seven-emirate UAE federation upon its founding in 1971.

The city is dominated by the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, with its vast white domes ranking among the largest mosques in the world, and by the Louvre Abu Dhabi, opened in 2017 beneath a latticed dome designed to filter light like sunlight through palm fronds.