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‘Koweit [Kuwait]. A report compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department’ [18] (32/66)
The record is made up of 1 volume (33 folios), with 3 maps. It was created in 1903. It was written in English. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
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i8
cistance, and landing when the tide is out is by no means a
pleasant operation; ponies are taken out and are mounted from
the boat, or failing this it would be necessary to wade for a con*
siderable distance. At high water, however, the sea washes
up to the front row of houses, and landing from boats, or any
of the sea-wails, is an easy matter. It is a remarkably
clean, well-built and prosperous looking town, with many solid
stone houses, others being built of sun-dried brick. The bazar
is broad and open, clean and busy. The town is surrounded
by a low wall with towers, which, however, are not in a good
condition for defence.
Outside the main gate, on the southern, or land, face there
is a large suburb of mud huts, which is the point of arrival and
departure for the caravans trading between Koweit and the
interior. Here may be seen strings of camels, waiting for their
loads, or having just got rid of them. Here, too, the Bedouins
most do congregate, as they are not allowed to enter the town
itself, armed. Hither they flock for trade and barter, pitch
their tents on the wide open plain, and transact their business
outside the gate, in this open-air bazar, while the Sheikh sits
near by and looks on, in patriarchal fashion, at the busy scene.
The population is estimated at approximately 30,000 souls, of
whom some fifty are said to be Jews from Bushire, who have a
synagogue of their own.
The town is said to contain about 3,000 houses, 500 shop?, 3
caravanserais, 6 coffee houses, 3 schools, and 4 mosques, as well
as numerous ware-houses and stores. There are no statistics or
enmte data available, but the growth and prosperity of the
p ace may, perhaps, be inferred from the fact that about 30 new
yp USeS are Sa ' < ^ ^ an ^ 4° new shops opened, every
t The follovving detailed estimate of the population of Koweit
territory was furnished by Mubarak in 1901 :—
Fighting men in Koweit
Old men and children
Women ...
Fighting men in the district —
(Within 10 miles of Koweit)
Old men and children
Women
Total
12,000
9,000
14,000
54,000 souls.
n.^O^O souls.
89,000 souls.
those^eTe'rrlne'to c t heck [ n least of all
indude many wa° dering tr'ibes H Koweit its f. -st
be subject-to considerable fluctuatiMs ir'is^n T'
the time this estate was furnished^ie nu'leHf pert' in'
About this item
- Content
Intelligence report on Kuwait, compiled for the Intelligence Branch of the Quarter Master General’s Department by Captain Henry Harris Hewitt Dowding of the Essex Regiment, and printed at the Government Central Printing Office in Simla, 1903.
The contents of the volume are as follows:
- Introductory remarks;
- Harbour, anchorages;
- History of Kuwait (of the Wahabis, the Ibn Rashid family, the war between Nejd and Kuwait);
- Political (relations between Kuwait and Great Britain, the situation in 1901-02, foreign relations with Russia, Germany, Turkey, events during 1902);
- Military forces, including their strength, arms and equipment, organisation, standard of efficiency and tactics;
- Towns: Kuwait, its population and defences; Jehara [Al-Jahrah], its importance, population and defences;
- Administration, government, free trade, currency;
- Resources, commercial, not agricultural;
- Climate;
- Communications
Four appendices follow the main text: A. routes; B. the Wahabi family; C. the Ibn Rashid family; D. the Shaikhs of Kuwait. The volume also contains three illustrations: the foreshore at Kuwait (folio 3); Mobarek-bin-Subah [Mubarak bin Ṣabāḥ Āl Ṣabāḥ] and his youngest son Naser (folio 9); the Shaikh’s residence in Kuwait (folio 17). The volume also contains three maps: a map of Kuwait and the surrounding country (folio 30); a map of Kuwait harbour (folio 31); and a rough diagram of Jehara (folio 32).
- Extent and format
- 1 volume (33 folios), with 3 maps
- Arrangement
The volume is arranged into a number of sections, with major headings in the text and subheadings indicated alongside the text in the outer margins. A contents page (folio 6) lists these major headings and subheadings, along with the volume’s illustrations and maps, and refers to the volume’s original pagination system. Four appendices follow the main text. An alphabetical index (folios 26-28) also refers to the volume’s original pagination system.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: The foliation sequence commences at the first folio and terminates at the last folio; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio.
Pagination: The booklet contains an original typed pagination sequence.
- Written in
- English in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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‘Koweit [Kuwait]. A report compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department’ [18] (32/66), British Library: India Office Records and Private Papers, IOR/L/PS/20/153, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100023870553.0x00001e> [accessed 14 July 2026]
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/20/153
- Title
- ‘Koweit [Kuwait]. A report compiled in the Intelligence Branch, Quarter Master General’s Department’
- Pages
- front, front-i, i-r:ii-v, 1:6, 1:4, 4a:4b, 5:18, 18a:18b, 19:23, 32, 25:31, 24, 33:34, 1:14, back-i, back
- Author
- East India Company, the Board of Control, the India Office, or other British Government Department
- Usage terms
- Open Government Licence