Kuwait, or officially the the State of Kuwait, was referred to by the name "Qurain" (Or Grane) in the Early seventeenth century. The names "Qurain" or Kuwait are diminutive of the Arabic words Qarn and Kout. Qarn is a high hill and Kout is a fortress adjacent to water.

Geographic Location
Kuwait lies at the northwest corner of the Arabian Gulf, to the north and west it shares a border of 225 km (150 miles ) with the Republic of Iraq, and to the south and southwest it shares a border of 250 km (155 miles) with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. To the east it has a coast line of 290 km on the Arabian Gulf. Kuwait's territory includes nine islands off the coast of Kuwait: Failaka, Bubiyan, Miskan, Warba, Auhha, Umm Al-Maradim, Umm Al-Naml, Kubbar and Qaruth.

Area & Topography
The total area of the State of Kuwait is 17,818 square kilometers (6,969 square miles).
Most of Kuwait mainland is a flat sandy desert, gradually sloping down from the extreme west of Shigaya and Salmi (300 meters high) towards sea level in the east.

The Coast
There has always been a strong link between Kuwait and the sea, and it is this which shaped the distinctive character of today's Kuwaitis and constituted the Kuwaitis main source of income in olden times. Today the picture is different, with the urban expansion and rapid modernization. The link with the sea is still to the Kuwaitis a cherished memory of the past. The 290 kilometers coast can be divided into two main parts : one extends along the Arabian Gulf and the other lies around Kuwait Bay and Khor Subiya. The two areas are basically different. Most of the first area is characterized by sandy beaches, while the second area, 70 km in length, is characterized by mudflats, especially in the shallow northern area in the Bay of Kuwait, where the maximum wave height is 16 cm. opposite Kuwait City.

Natural Resources
Kuwait has few natural resources other than oil, a gigantic natural harbour, fisheries, and a few sparse water supplies. Oil is Kuwait's prime natural resource on which its economy depends. The country is reckoned to have reserves of 94.8 billion barrels, about 9.6% of the world's total. This ranks it third in the world behind Saudi Arabia and Iraq. At current levels of production, Kuwait has enough oil to last for more than 100 years.

Kuwait bay is a generously sized natural harbour and has always been a prime access point for trade entering and leaving the hinterland of northeast Arabia and Iraq. Before oil was discovered, it was the country's most valuable natural resource and today, as the location of Kuwait's main commercial port, its economic importance continues.

Kuwait in Pre-history
Very little is known of Kuwait in early times. Tools, dating from about 8,000 BC, found in Burgan and Wafra, indicate a human presence in the area during the mesolithic period, though strangely there are no signs of a later neolithic culture. Archaeological finds dating as far back as 2000 BC suggest that Failaka, the most famous of Kuwait's islands, was a trading centre. It was an outpost of the Dilmun trading empire. The island of Failaka lies 20 km north east of Kuwait city. It is 12 km long, 6 km wide. It is this island which combines the ancient history of Kuwait, dating back to the early stone age; and the recorded history of Kuwait, when the early ?Utubs? settled in after their long journey, prior to their settlement on Kuwait's main land in the late seventeenth century.

Brief History
Kuwait has a history of over 250 years of existence as an independent political entity.
The real history of Kuwait dates back to 1672 when Kuwait was just a small village where the Sheikh of the Bani Khalid built his ?Kout? (small fortress),. The establishment of Kuwait proper was in 1711 with the arrival of the 'Utub' tribe in Kuwait. The 'Utub' were originally related to the 'Anaza' tribe in Najd. In the 17th century the Bani Khalid were the rulers of Eastern Arabian peninsula and their domain stretched from Kuwait down to Qatar.

In the middle of the 17th century the 'Utub' tribe comprising of several major tribe of Anaza, such as Al-Sabah, Al-Khalifa, Al-Zayed, Al-Jalahima and Al-Muawida migrated from Najd, a place in central Arabian peninsula due to a drought sweeping the peninsula at that time. Disputes over succession after the death of Saidun bin Muhammed bin Oraier Al-Hamad in 1722 gave the Utab some form of local government. In 1756 Sabah bin Jaber was chosen by the inhabitants of Kuwait to administer justice and the affairs of the town.

Kuwait, The Capital
The first wall around the City was built in the 1760s, the second in 1814, and the last in 1920. This was demolished in 1957 but its five gates were left standing as monuments to the past. The City of Kuwait itself still retains its five original districts - Sharq, Dasman, Mirqab, Salhya and Qibla, although today it has spread beyond the boundary of the old surrounding wall. In 1760 Kuwait covered an area of 11 hectares, i.e. 110,000 sq. meters. Now after astounding urban expansion it encompasses 16 modern suburbs with a total area of 17,818 sq. Km. Old Kuwait City almost disappeared under the massive surge of constructional activity with all the accoutrements of the twentieth century - modern residential complexes, modern roads, multi-storey buildings, plentiful water,etc.

The origins of the population
When the Utub tribe arrived in Kuwait there were some families of other tribes already living in the area, and these families joined the new Utbi trading settlement. Other families from the Anaza, were attracted by Kuwait's stability and in 1831 the population was about 4,000. Throughout the 19th century there was continuous slow immigration from Arabia, southern Mesopotamia, and Persia and in 1863 the population was nearly 15,000. Thousands more arrived during the time of Sheikh Mubarak the Great, attracted by his orderly administration and Kuwait's commercial activity. In 1946 the population was about 90,000.

Iraqi Invasion and Liberation
The gruesome and unprovoked cruel aggression of Iraq invading Kuwait on August 2, 1990 makes an unforgettable event of the recent history of Kuwait. The seven month occupation by Iraq brutalized the entire population. During the Iraqi occupation more than 400 Kuwaitis were martyred. Hundreds of Kuwaitis and expatriates were tortured, women raped, properties looted and damaged. Thousands of Westerners trapped in Kuwait were arrested and forcibly used as human shields on key military and industrial installations in Iraq and Kuwait, and others, to avoid such a fate, had to go into hiding. The UN condemned the invasion and authorized the use of force to expel Iraq from Kuwait. The USA, led by President George Bush, created an Arabic-Western coalition of 35 countries which freed Kuwait on 26th February 1991. But before liberation more than 70% of the country's suqs and shopping malls were looted. Warehouses, factories, hospitals, offices and buildings were stripped, museums and cultural centers were emptied, and the environment was almost destroyed by the Iraqi dictator's last atrocity of firing Kuwaiti oil wells to destroy Kuwait.

The retreating Iraqis blew up oil installations and set 727 oil wells (about 80% of the total) on fire, causing oil-related losses of about US$75 billion. In addition, the ports were blocked and mined, and power and water distillation plants were rendered inoperative. But within ten days one port was cleared, power was restored two months later, and the last oil fire was extinguished in November 1991.

Nearly six hundred Kuwaitis, who were arrested and reported as being taken to Iraq, are still missing. Now, more than eleven years, best of efforts have not achieved much success. Those missing include men, women and even children. The families of missing continue to live in agony as they wait.