UNITED ARAB EMIRATES

UNITED ARAB EMIRATES / ٱلْإِمَارَاتُ ٱلْعَرَبِيَّةُ ٱلْمُتَّحِدَةُ

Definitive stamps. 
Khor Fakkan (Sharjah).
Last stamp in a set of 6, issued on 01.01.1973.
Face value: 75 UAE fils.
Printing: Offset lithography.
Size: 49 x 33 mm.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 6.
- Scott No. 18.
- StampWorld No. 6
- Stanley Gibbons No. 6.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 6.

Khor Fakkan (Arabic: خَوْر فَكَّان) is a city and exclave of the Emirate of Sharjah, located on the east coast of the United Arab Emirates, facing the Gulf of Oman, between the Shumayliyah Mountains and the Arabian Sea, and geographically surrounded by the Emirate of Fujairah. It is located in a bay, and is the only natural deep-water port in the region and one of the major container ports in the UAE, opened in 1979. The place has a long history of human settlement, and there have been found archaeological remains dating from the third to the first millennium BC. The city was captured by the Portuguese in the 16th century and was known as Corfacão. It was part of a series of fortified cities that Portugal had to control access to the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman. In 1623 the Persian army tried to conquer the city, but was expelled by the Portuguese. However, in 1737, after the Portuguese had been driven out of Arabia, the Persians re-invaded Khor Fakkan with the help of the Dutch. In 1765, the city already belonged to a sheikh of Al Qasimi, the ruling family of Sharjah. Currently, the city has about 40,000 inhabitants.