Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum  Sheikh Saeed bin Maktoum bin Hasher Al Maktoum (1878 – 9 September 1958) () was the Ruler of Dubai from 1912 until his death in 1958. He presided over Dubai during the end of the pearling boom and through the long and difficult recession that followed the collapse of the pearling market, transforming Dubai into an active trading hub which developed new markets and economic opportunities. Despite continuing a long tradition of liberal, trade-minded rulers, he faced pressure from a number of leading figures in Dubai to reform the governance of the town and was eventually forced to quell what became an active rebellion against his rule. In later life he ceded many of the responsibilities for driving Dubai's economic growth to his son, Rashid. Saeed bin Maktoum was the son of Maktoum bin Hasher, who ruled Dubai from 1894 to 1906. Following Maktoum's death, his cousin Butti bin Suhail Al Maktoum ruled for eight years, before his own death in 1912. Aged 34 at his accession, Sheikh Saeed inherited a small but thriving trading port and a pearling centre which employed some 7,000 men in the seasonal trade. A simple man, Saeed travelled to hunt in the desert and was respected for his staunch Islamic values. Relations with neighbouring sheikhs were stable, as was Saeed's relationship with the British. The pearling industry was lucrative and trade was based on a lively re-export market, particularly to surrounding Arab sheikhdoms and Persia. Following the movement of merchants from Lingeh to Dubai in the early years of the 20th century, another migration took place with increasingly restrictive conditions for trade being experienced in Southern Persia. Many more merchants from the areas of Bastak and Lingeh moved to Dubai, where they were welcomed. A number had established businesses in Dubai but hadn't moved their families and, in the 1920s, many of these made the move to Dubai permanent. There had long been a trading relationship between Dubai and Bastak, with the latter being a major source of firewood for the coastal communities of the Persian Gulf. As this new influx of trading families took place, storm clouds were brewing over the pearling market. The Japanese cultured pearl, first a wonder shown at expos and other fairs, started to be produced in commercial quantities in the late 1920s. The influx of inexpensive, high quality pearls to world markets took place alongside the economic blight of the Great Depression.