emirater

Emirater, in Danish and Norwegian plural usage, refers to emirates—the political territories ruled by an emir. An emir (from Arabic amir) is a ruler whose title means commander or prince. The term emirate describes a range of political arrangements in which the ruler holds executive authority, often within a hereditary framework, and sometimes within a larger federation or empire.

In modern usage, emirates are found in different forms. The most prominent contemporary example is the United Arab Emirates, a federation of seven emirates that retain their own rulers while sharing a federal government and certain national institutions. Each constituent emirate—such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Sharjah, and others—has significant autonomy in areas like economy, culture, and local law, with broader defense and foreign policy handled at the federal level.

The title of the ruling monarch in several other states is also emir, and these states may be referred to as emirates in historical or formal contexts. Examples include the Emirate of Kuwait and the Emirate of Qatar, where the sovereign holds the title of emir. Across history, emirates have existed in the Arabian Peninsula, parts of North Africa, the Levant, and Central Asia, often as dynastic principalities, vassal states, or autonomous regions under larger empires.

The concept contrasts with kingdoms, sultanates, and republics, and remains active primarily in official names and contemporary polity discussions where the status of a territory is tied to an emiral lineage.