KUWAIT, FLAG OF

horizontally striped green-white-red national flag with a black truncated triangle at the hoist. The width-to-length ratio of the flag is 1 to 2. From the mid-18th century the Sabah family ruled an autonomous territory around the town of Kuwait. When the Ottoman Empire and its ally Germany discussed a Berlin-Baghdad railroad, Britain began to place more emphasis on its links with the Sabah family, on the basis of treaties of 1899 and 1909. A few months after the outbreak of World War I, a British ship in the Persian Gulf fired on a Kuwaiti vessel that was flying the Ottoman flag. To avoid similar mistakes in the future, Britain encouraged Kuwait to create a flag of its own. The new flag was red, like most Arab flags in the Persian Gulf, and had the name of the country written on it in white Arabic script. In addition the shahadah (Muslim profession of faith) was sometimes used, with or without the special logo of the Sabah family. Kuwait as a British protectorate continued to use that flag until January 22, 1956, when the shahadah and dynastic Sabah logo were formally established as part of the design. Five years later Kuwait obtained its independence on June 19, 1961; on October 24, 1961, a new national flag of a more modern design was hoisted, and it continues to be used today. The symbolism of the colours is associated with a poem written in the 13th century by Safi ad-Din al-Hilli. He spoke of the green fields of the Arabs, the black battles they face, the white purity of their deeds, and the red blood on their swords. Historically, the first use of those four colours in a modern Arab flag dates from just before World War I. Whitney Smith History Early settlers The origin of the city of Kuwaitand of the State of Kuwaitis usually placed at about the beginning of the 18th century, when the Bani 'Utub, a group of families of the 'Anizah tribe in the interior of the Arabian Peninsula, migrated to the area that is now Kuwait. The foundation of the autonomous sheikhdom of Kuwait dates from 1756, when the settlers decided to appoint a sheikh from the Sabah family. During the 19th century Kuwait developed as a thriving, independent trading community. Toward the end of the century one ruler, 'Abd Allah II (reigned 186692), began to move Kuwait closer to the Ottoman Empire, although he never placed his country under Ottoman rule. This trend was reversed with the accession of Mubarak the Great, who came to power by assassinating his brother 'Abd Allahan act of what was considered uncustomary political violence in Kuwait. Ottoman threats to annex Kuwait prompted Mubarak to cultivate a close relationship with Britain. An 1899 treaty basically granted Britain control of Kuwait's foreign affairs. Following the outbreak of World War I, Kuwait became a British protectorate. At the 1922 Conference of Al-'Uqayr, Britain negotiated the Kuwait-Saudi border, with substantial territorial loss to Kuwait. A memorandum in 1923 set out the border with Iraq based on an unratified 1913 convention. The first Iraqi claim to Kuwait surfaced in 1938the year oil was discovered in the sheikhdom. Although neither Iraq nor the Ottoman Empire had ever actually ruled Kuwait, Iraq asserted a vague historical title. That year it also offered some rhetorical support to a merchant uprising against the emir. Following the failure of the uprising, called the Majlis Movement, Iraq continued to put forth a claim to at least part of Kuwait, notably the strategic islands of Bubiyan and Al-Warbah. On June 19, 1961, Britain recognized Kuwait's independence. Six days later, however, Iraq renewed its claim, which was now rebuffed by first British, then Arab League forces. It was not until October 1963 that a new Iraqi regime formally recognized both Kuwait's independence and, subsequently, its borders, while continuing to press for access to the islands. Iran-Iraq War The Iran-Iraq War of 198090 represented a serious threat to Kuwait's security. Kuwait saw no alternative to providing Iraq with substantial financial support and serving as a vital conduit for military supplies. Iran attacked a Kuwaiti refinery complex in 1981, which inspired terrorist acts of sabotage in 1983 and 1986. In 1985 a member of the underground pro-Iranian Iraqi radical group Ad-Da'wa attempted to assassinate the ruler, Sheikh Jabir al-Ahmad Al Sabah. In September 1986 Iran began to concentrate its attacks on gulf shipping, largely on Kuwaiti tankers. This led Kuwait to invite both the Soviet Union (with which it had established diplomatic relations in 1963) and the United States to provide protection for its tankers in early 1987. The effect of the war was to promote closer relations with Kuwait's conservative gulf Arab neighboursSaudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Omanwith whom Kuwait had formed the Gulf Cooperation Council in 1981 to develop closer cooperation on economic and security issues. With the end of the Iran-Iraq War in 1990, Iraqi-Kuwaiti relations began to deteriorate. On August 2, 1990, Iraq unexpectedly invaded and conquered the country, precipitating the Persian Gulf War. The economy Virtually all of Kuwait's wealth is derived directly or (through overseas investments) indirectly from petroleum. The most dramatic element of Kuwait's economic development has been the steady and rapid expansion of its oil industry since the 1970s. By the mid-1980s, Kuwait was refining four-fifths of its oil domestically and marketing some 250,000 barrels a day in its own European retail outlets under the logo Q8. This oil income (and the investment income it generated, surpassing direct sales of oil revenues by the 1980s) gave Kuwait one of the highest per capita incomes in the world. However, both the Iraqi invasion (which nearly exhausted Kuwait's overseas investments) and the increasing volatility of the global oil market since the 1980s have reduced this income substantially. Domestically, Kuwait invested its revenues in a welfare state (providing free health and education, among other social services) and in infrastructure, but only marginally in local industry. As a result, nearly all employed Kuwaitis work for the state, largely in education (only a small fraction of these are in the oil industry). In both the public and private sectors, Kuwait remains heavily dependent on foreign labour, despite repeated reforms aimed at reducing this dependency. Resources Kuwait has nearly 10 percent of the world's proven oil reserves. Kuwait's proven, recoverable oil reserves are thought to be enough to sustain current production levels for some 150 years. Although the oil industry sustained severe damage during the Iraqi invasion, most of this was repaired by the mid-1990s. Kuwait also has considerable natural gas reserves, almost all of it in the form of associated gasi.e., gas that is produced together with oil. There are no other important minerals. Naturally occurring fresh water is scarce; until desalination plants were built after World War II, water had to be imported. The land Relief The relief of Kuwait is generally flat or gently undulating, broken only by occasional low hills and shallow depressions. The elevations range from sea level in the east to 951 feet (290 metres) at Ash-Shaqaya peak, in the western corner of the country. The Az-Zawr Escarpment, one of the main topographic features, borders the northwestern shore of Kuwait Bay and rises to a maximum elevation of 475 feet (145 metres) above sea level. Elsewhere in coastal areas large patches of salty marshland have developed. Throughout the northern, western, and central sections of Kuwait there are desert basins, which fill with water after winter rains; historically these basins formed important watering places, refuges for the camel herds of the Bedouin. Plant and animal life True soils scarcely exist naturally in Kuwait. Except in the new green belt of Kuwait city and in a few desert oases such as Al-Jahrah, where cultivation and irrigation are carried out, the vegetation consists of scrub and low bushes (and ephemeral grass in the spring). Halophytes (salt-loving plants) grow on the marshy stretches along the coast. The harsh climate limits mammals to the occasional gazelle, fox, or civet. Among lizards are the rare and venomous sand viper and monitor and vegetarian dab lizards. The people Kuwait's national population is almost entirely Muslim; a law passed in 1981 limits citizenship to Muslims. It also is young with roughly three-fifths under the age of 21. The majority are Sunnite, but about one-fourth are Shi'ite. Both the Iranian revolution of 1979 and the Kuwaiti government's heightened discrimination against Shi'ites in reaction to the revolution prompted a new sense of community in the Shi'ite population in the 1980s. The native and official language is Arabic, and fluency in Arabic is a requirement for naturalization. English is the second basic language taught in public schools. Hindi, Urdu, and Farsi (Persian) also are widely spoken among the foreign population. Historically, Kuwait had several important class divisions, which emerged when it was a trade entrept. After the discovery of oil, the state became the primary employer, thus affecting class structure. The one class that remains politically important is the old merchant oligarchy, the Bani 'Utub. Despite a government policy following the Iraqi invasion of 1990 aimed at reducing the number of foreign workers, Kuwaitis remain a minority in the country. Until the invasion, Palestinians, some of them third-generation residents of Kuwait, were the largest single expatriate group, numbering perhaps 400,000. After the restoration of sovereignty, the Kuwaiti government deported most of them, their number falling to 50,000 by early 1992. They have been largely replaced by Egyptians, Syrians, Iranians, and South Asians. These nonnationals do not enjoy citizenship rights, economic or political, which are reserved for Kuwaiti nationals, defined as those who can prove Kuwaiti ancestry from before 1920. Naturalization is strictly limited.