Kuwait shares borders with Iraq and Saudi
Arabia. To the southeast lies the Persian Gulf, where Kuwait has
sovereignty over nine small islands (the largest is Bubiyan and the most
populous is Failaka). The landscape is predominantly desert plateau with a
lower, more fertile coastal belt. The state that became modern Kuwait
began in the middle of the eighteenth century
when members of the Utub clan from what is now Saudi Arabia settled
in the area. Since those long-ago days, many other Arabs have also settled
in Kuwait but in general, it is fair to say that the ancestors of most
Kuwaitis come of desert stock. At different points in the eighteenth and
nineteenth centuries, these traditional sons of the desert adapted
themselves to a life revolving around the sea: trade, fishing, pearl
diving and boat building.
Life centred on the sea was not easy in those days but probably the
harshest life of all was that of the desert
bedouin. He roamed the desert in search of water and food for
himself, his family and his animals. He generally gravitated to the town
in the hotter weather and out into the desert in the winter. His life was
based on his camels, his sheep and his goats.
After the discovery of oil in Kuwait,
many of these people were invited to settle in government-supplied housing
and, in the 1950s and 1960s, chose to do so. In and around Kuwait, the
names which are seen on shops and businesses indicate the origins of the
owners. Some belong to the original Utub families and others to the great
bedouin tribes of the Arabian desert.
Kuwait, officially State of Kuwait, independent
sheikhdom (1995 est. pop. 1,817,000), 6,177 sq mi (16,000 sq
km), NE Arabian peninsula, at the head of the Arabian Gulf. It is a sandy
and barren country. With more than 10% of the world's estimated oil
reserves, Kuwait is a leading exporter of petroleum and has used some of
the enormous profits for social improvements. In the 1960s the government
launched a program of industrial diversification, successfully introducing
oil refining and production of natural gas and fertilizers. The population
is predominantly Arab and Sunni Muslim, although only half the inhabitants
are native-born.
Kuwait, settled by Arab tribes in the early 18th cent., has been ruled
since its inception by the al-Sabah dynasty. Nominally an Ottoman
province, the sheikhdom became a British protectorate in 1897, remaining
so until independence in 1961. Oil production began in the 1940s and was
controlled by a joint British-American firm until 1974, when Kuwait
nationalized most of the operations. Kuwait took part in the Arab oil
embargo against nations that supported Israel in the 1973 Arab-Israeli
War, and is a member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC). In August 1990 Kuwait was invaded
and forcibly annexed by Iraq, an act that led to and was reversed by the
Gulf War. Widespread looting and intentional destruction by
Iraqi troops and the fighting during the war devastated Kuwait,
particularly its oilfields, but by the end of 1992 the country had
repaired nearly all the damage and its oil output was at about the prewar
level. Large areas of land, however, remained environmentally devastated.
In the war’s wake, Kuwait concentrated on restoring its oil industry and
on rebuilding the country. Parliamentary elections in 1992 resulted in the
victory of a majority of the opposition candidates, but despite promises
of democratic reform, the al Sabah family continued to dominate the
government. In Oct., 1994, Iraq massed elite troops along the border with
Kuwait, but it removed them when Kuwait and the United States moved forces
into the area. Parliament was dissolved by the sheikh in May, 1999; new
elections held in July gave Islamist and liberal candidates the most
seats. Also in 1999, the sheikh issued an edict giving Kuwaiti women the
right to vote and to run for office, but parliament failed to ratify it.
The capital is Kuwait. Kuwait City is
a bustling metropolis of high-rise office buildings, luxury hotels, wide
boulevards and well-tended parks and gardens. Its seaport is used by oil
tankers, cargo ships and many pleasure craft. Its most dominant landmark
is Kuwait Towers, and its oldest is Seif Palace, built in 1896, whose
interior features original Islamic mosaic tilework, though these suffered
badly during the Iraqi occupation. The Kuwait Museum was also stripped of
many artefacts – part of it has been renovated and is now open to the
public. Rebuilding work has still not begun on the Islamic Museum, which
was badly hit during the war.
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