Kuwait is an independent Arab Emirate and is just over 300 years old. Its Arabic names means fort, and in essence, it was home to a small desert community until the Al-Sabah family took control, and literally built the first fortified settlement in the mid-1700s.

After decades of in-house family squabbles, and on-going disputes with the Ottoman Empire, Britain, in 1899, agreed to manage foreign relations and defense for the ruling Al-Sabah dynasty, and did so until the country gained independence in 1961.

On television, with the world watching, Kuwait was attacked and overrun by Iraq on August 2, 1990. Following several weeks of aerial bombardment, a US-led, UN coalition began a ground assault on February 23, 1991 and liberated Kuwait on February 25. 1991.

This small, oil-rich nation, has resumed a somewhat normal life since the costly Gulf War. Travellers looking for a relaxed entry into the Muslim world can look forward to wandering around mosques, souks and other sandy traces of bygone Bedouin days. Behind the glitz of open opulence lies a deep sense of traditional values and warm Arabian hospitality.

Kuwait City Water Towers, designed by Swedish architects, completed in 1976 (Photographer: Izzet Keribar)

FACTS AND FIGURES

 

Official Name State of Kuwait

Population 2,225,000

Capital City Kuwait City

Languages Arabic (official), English

Official Currency Kuwaiti Dinar  (KD.1/- = 1000 fils)

 

Conversion Rate: KD.1=USD.0.294

Religions Muslim (85%), Christian, Hindu

Latitude/Longitude 29º 33N, 48º 06E

Land Area 17,820 sq km (6,880 sq miles)

Landforms Most of Kuwait is a dry, barren desert of sandy plains.

Time Zone GMT/UTC +3 ()

Electricity 240V 50HzHz

Country Dialing Code (965)

GOVERNMENT

Kuwait is a constitutional monarchy, administratively represented by 6 governorates (know as “muhafazat”, singular – “muhafazah”):

Al Ahmadi, Al Farwaniyah, Al 'Asimah, Al Jahra', Mubarak Al-Kabeer and Hawalli

Date of Independence: June 19, 1961

Constitution Approved and promulgated on November 11, 1962

Executive Power is exercised by the Amir through Council of Ministers (frequently referred to as "the government") headed by a prime minister who is chosen by the Amir after traditional consultations

Amir : Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

Crown Prince : Sheikh Saad Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah

Prime Minister : Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah

LANGUAGE

Arabic (official). Although in schools the classical version of Arabic is taught; and just like everywhere in the Arab world, Kuwaiti’s use the Kuwaiti dialect in everyday conversation. English is widely used and spoken. All traffic signs in Kuwait are bilingual. English is taught as a second language in schools in Kuwait beginning at the first grade.

COST

Average Room Prices

Average Meal Prices

WEATHER OVERVIEW

While temperatures can cook during Kuwait summers with days often topping 50°C (122°F) in August, the humidity inland is not so bad. On the coast you trade cooler temperatures for higher humidity. The winter months are often pleasant, featuring some of the region's coolest weather, with daytime temperatures hovering around 18°C (64°F) and nights being quite chilly but never literally freezing. The occasional annoying sandstorm occurs throughout the year but is particularly common in spring.

VISAS OVERVIEW

Everyone except nationals of other Gulf States needs a visa to enter Kuwait. Kuwait has recently changed its visa entry requirements so that many countries can now obtain visas on arrival. There are currently 34 countries on this list so please check your consular information to see if this is possible. Other countries will need to arrange a visa prior to arrival. If your passport contains an Israeli stamp, you will be refused entry to Kuwait.

PRE 20TH CENTURY HISTORY

The headland now occupied by Kuwait City was settled only 300 years ago. In the early 18th century, Kuwait was nothing more than a few tents clustered around a storehouse-cum-fort. Eventually the families living around the fort divided among themselves the responsibilities attached to the new settlement. The Al-Sabah family, whose descendants now rule Kuwait, were appointed to handle local law and order. The small settlement grew quickly. By 1760, when the town's first wall was built, Kuwait's dhow fleet was reckoned to be 800 and its camel caravans travelled regularly to Baghdad and Damascus.

MODERN HISTORY

Kuwait spent the early 1920s fighting off the army commanded by Abdul Aziz bin Abdul Rahman Al-Saud, the founder of modern Saudi Arabia. In 1923 the fighting ended with a British-brokered treaty. As a result, an oil concession was granted in 1934 to a US-British joint venture known as the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC). The first wells were sunk in 1936, and by 1938 it was obvious that Kuwait was virtually floating on oil. The outbreak of WWII forced the KOC to suspend operations, but when oil exports took off after the war so did Kuwait's economy. As the country became wealthy, health care, education and the general standard of living improved dramatically.

Despite political and economic tensions, by mid-1990 the country's (and the Gulf's) economic prospects looked bright, particularly when the eight-year Iran-Iraq war ended. So it came as a shock when on 16 July 1990 Iraq sent a letter to the secretary-general of the Arab League accusing Kuwait of exceeding its OPEC quota and of stealing oil from the Iraqi portion of an oil field straddling the border. Iraqi president Saddam Hussein threatened military action. Over the next two weeks a series of envoys bent over backwards to offer Iraq a graceful way out of the dispute. But it was to no avail: Iraqi tanks were in Kuwait City before dawn on 2 August, and by noon they had reached the Saudi frontier.

The United Nations quickly passed a series of resolutions calling on Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait. The Iraqis responded with the claim that they had been invited in by a group of Kuwaiti rebels who had overthrown the emir. On 8 August Iraq annexed the emirate. Western countries, led by the US, began to enforce a UN embargo on trade with Iraq, and in the months that followed more than half a million foreign troops flooded into Saudi Arabia.

At the end of November, the US and the UK secured a UN resolution authorising the use of force to drive Iraq out of Kuwait if the Iraqis did not leave voluntarily before 15 January 1991. The deadline passed, the Iraqis didn't budge and within hours waves of Allied (mostly US) aircraft began a five-week bombing campaign of Iraq and Kuwait. The ground offensive, when it finally came, was something of an anticlimax: Iraq's army disintegrated in a mere 100 hours. At the end of February, Allied forces arrived in a Kuwait City choked by clouds of acrid black smoke from the hundreds of oil wells the Iraqis had torched as they retreated.

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Last Updated: 12/05/09.