'Reports of administration for 1918 of divisions and districts of the occupied territories in Mesopotamia. Volume I' [‎228r] (460/470)

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KUWAIT AGENCY An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. .
Administration Report of 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.
1. Political and Tribal: Introduction .—Thy irime Kuwait is the diminutive
of Kut and means a small fort: it sufficiently indicates the 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 “ Graine ” or “ Grane,”
doubtless from the Island of Qurain, a short distance to the west of it.
Boundaries .—The boundaries of Kuwait as defined in the Anglo-Turkish
Convention of 1913 are as follows :—
The line of demarkation starts from the side of the mouth of the Khor Zubair
towards the north-west and passes immediately to the south of Umm Qasr, Safwan
and Jabal Sanam in such a manner as to leave the wells of these places in the
wilayat of Basrah; arrived at the Batin it follows it towards the south-west to
Hafar al Batin, 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 Al Safhah, A1 Qarah, Al Habah,
Wabrah, and Anta‘, and joins the sea near Jabal Manifah.
The islands of War bah, Bubiyan, Mashjan, Eailakah, ‘Auhah, Kubbar, Qaru,
Maqta 4 , and Umm al Maradim, with their islands and adjacent waters, are comprised
in Kuwait territory.
Growth .—As more than a petty town shaikhdom, the Sultanate of Kuwait is
quite 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, driveu by the Turks out of his small
holding at Umm Qasr on the Khor ‘Abdullah, built on the 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 interest taken in the place by all concerned in the question
of the Baghdad Bail way’s outlet on the sea.
Political .—Nominally Kuwait w r as, until about twenty years ago, included, in
the Ottoman province of Basrah, the shaikh, as de facto ruler, being accepted by the
Porte as governor de jure, and in 1871, when Midhat 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 British Government
of India, which bad never accepted it, insisted on dealing with him directly when
the Baghdad Railway question began to loom on the horizon, and has since supported
his house against the Turks, with whom the late Sultan, Shaikh Sir Mubarak al
Sabbah, K.C.S.I., K.C.I.E., repudiated all relations on the outbreak of war in 1914.
In 1899 the latter entered into an agreement with 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 under
British protection, and made important exclusive concessions to us.
Ruler .—In November 1915 Mubarak died and was succeeded by his eldest son
Jabir, who died in Eebruary 1917, and was in turn succeeded by his brother Salim,
the present ruler.
Population .—The settled population of the Sultanate is estimated at about
65,000, of whom about 50,000 are resident in Kuwait town. Of the latter, about
25,000 are Kuwaitis, 15,000 Persians and Bahrainis and 10,000 Najdis, Beduins and
natives of ‘Iraq.
Tribes.— tribes, the ‘Awazim and the Rashaidah, together with a portion of
the Mutair, form the bulk of the population outside that of Kuwait town. Small
bands of other tribes, such as Dhafir, Bani Khalid, &c. (who are merely visitors) enter
Kuwait territory at certain seasons.
Villages .—The principal villages in the district with their approximate
populations are:—Jaharah, 500; Eantas, 400; Abu Hulaifah, 200; Euhaihil, 200;
Shu‘aibah, 60.
Blockade .—Eor a considerable time evidence had been accumulating which
showed that Kuwait was being used as a base for supplying goods to the Turks and
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