'Administration Report of the Persian Gulf Political Residency for the Years 1915-1919' [‎146r] (298/396)

FOR 1 HE TEAR iQig.
57
CHAPTER X!.
ADMINISTEATION KEPORT OP THE KUWAIT POLITICAL
AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. FOR THE YEAR 1918.
Political and Tribal— The name Kuwait is the diminutive of Kut and
Intrcduction. means a small fort, it sufficient(y indicates
, „ , l" lie . insignificant origin of the thriving
town of Kuwait, the capital of the principality which now shares its name In
old English records and books Kuwait is generally called " GraSe'" o C
"Grane doubtless from the island of Qnrain, a short distance to the west of it.
Boundaries . Tlle boundaries of Kuwait as defined
m the Anglo-Turkish Convention of 1913
are as follows :—
The line of demarcation starts from the side of the mouth of the Khor
Zubair towards the north-west and passes immediately to the south
of Umm Qasr, SalVan and Jehal Sanam in such a manner as to
have the wells oi these places in the Vilayet of Basrah ; arrived at
the Batm it follows it towards the south-west to Hafar al Batiu
which it leaves on the side of Kuwait: from this point the said
line goes to the south-east leaving to Kuwait the wells of Es
Safa, El Qaiah, El Ilaba, Wabrah and Anta, and joins the sea
near Jehal Manitah.
The islands of Warbah, Bubiyan, Mashjan, Eailakah, 'Auhah, Kubbar,
Qaiu, Maqta and Tjmm-al-]\Laradim w r ith their islands and adjacent waters are
comprised in Kuwait territory.
As more than a petty town Shaikhdom the Sultanate of Kuwait is quite
p ,, modern. The actual ruler, indeed, is only
the third either to be generally styled
Sultan or to claim a wider area of jurisdiction than the immediate neighbour
hood of the fort and townlet which an ancestor, driven by the Turks out of his
small holding at Umm Qasr on the Kb or 'Abdullah, built on tie south side
of the Grane inlet early in the eighteenth century. Growth has been fostered
by the increased trade of the Gulf since piracy was suppressed and the pearl-
fishing industry encouraged and by the mferest taken in the place by all
concerned in the question of the Baghdad Bailway's outlet on the sea.
Nominally Kuwait was, until about twenty years ago, included in the
Ottoman province of Basrah, the Shaikh
. 0 ltica ' as de facto ruler being accepted by the
Portias Governor de jure, and in 1871, wdien Midbat Pasha An Ottoman title used after the names of certain provincial governors, high-ranking officials and military commanders. occupied Hasa, the
then Shaikh subscribed to this interpretation of his status. But the Gov
ernment of India, which had never accepted it, insisted on dealing with
him directly when the Baghdad Baihvay question began to loom on the horizon,
and ha? since supported his house against the Turks with whom the late Pultan,
Shaikh Sir Mubarak-es-Sabah, K.C.S.L, K.O.I.E., repudiated all relations on
the outbreak of war in 19.1 di. In 1899 the latter entered into an agreement
^ith us and four years later he accepted a British Political Agent A mid-ranking political representative (equivalent to a Consul) from the diplomatic corps of the Government of India or one of its subordinate provincial governments, in charge of a Political Agency. at his court.
He subsequently regarded himself as uader British protection, and made
important exclusive concessions to us.
In November 1915, Mubarak died and was succeeded by his eldest son,
Rulei Jabir, who died in February 1917 and
was in turn succeeded by his brother,
Salim, the present ruler.
The settled population of the Sultanate is estimated at about 65.000, of
whom about 50,000 are rebident in Kuwait
" , opuaton. town. Of the latter about 25,000. are
uwaitis, 15,000 Persian and Bahrainis and 10,000 Najdis, Bedouins an i
natives of 'Iraq.