Kuwait / History / Early History of Independence

In the 17th century the Bani Khalid were the overlords of Eastern Arabia and their domain stretched from Kuwait down to Qatar.

In about 1672, Barrak bin Ghurair, the Emir of the Bani Khalid, built his Kut (a small house in the shape of a fortress situated near water) in Qarane, a small fishing community.

This may have been in the area in Kuwait City known today as Wattiya. The nane Kuwait is the diminutive of Kut.

The Utub, a federation of Arab families, were driven out of Al-Aflaj in central Arabia by the droughts of the middle 17th century.

In Qatar they learned sea-faring and then scattered into various Arabian Gulf ports before coming to Kuwait in the early 18th century where they settled with the permission, and under the suzerainty, of the Bani Khalid.

Family disputes within the ruling Bani Khalid in 1722, gave the Utub in Kuwait a chance to practice some independence and Kuwait began to emerge as a distinct political entity. After 1752, further internal disputes among the Bani Khalid and the rise of the Wahhabis, their bitter enemies in central Arabia, gave the Utub of Kuwait defacto independence.

In about 1756, they elected Sabah bin Jabir bin Adhbi as Emir of Kuwait to administer justice and the affairs of the town.

As the regional influence of the Bani Khalid waned, Kuwait's lack of protection made the rise of a strong local power necessary. But Al-Sabah rule was not despotic. The Utub had changed from nomads to settlers since their departure from Al-Aflaj and the first Al-Sabah was chosen by the other families as their leader.

Sabah's fifth son Abdallah (1762-1812) was selected to succeed his father. Under his rule Kuwait changed from a small Sheikhdom to a prominently prosperous and influential independency and entered its first golden age in the latter part of the 18th and early 19th centuries as a major port of call on several international trading routes.

Pearls were Kuwait's only natural resource and each year hundreds of pearling ships made for the lucrative pearl banks to return at the end of summer.

Shipbuilding, using imported materials, became an important industry.

Jaber the First (1812-1859) ruled mildly in consultation with the merchants of Kuwait, and managed to maintain good relations with all the major powers of the day.

However, as Kuwait prospered throughout the 19th century, it's independence came under threat from regional and European powers.

More on history:

• Prehistoric Era
• Independence under British protection
• The Discovery of Oil Era
• International Recognition
• The Troubled Times
• The Gulf War