Driving Directions Kuwait
KUWAIT is a tiny Arab Emirate on The Gulf, comprising Kuwait‘s city at the southern entrance of Kuwait Bay, a small desert wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia, and nine small offshore islands. Most of the land is barren and consists of a gently undulating plain with no natural watercourses.
Desalination plants use seawater from The Gulf to supply Kuwait’s freshwater needs. The climate is hot and humid in summer and cools to mild in winter with a small rainfall.
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There is little agriculture due to lack of water. The major crops produced are melons, tomatoes, onions, and dates. Shrimp fishing is becoming a critical industry. Vast reserves of petroleum and natural gas are the mainstay of the economy, although this wealth is limited.
Kuwait has about 950 oil wells, 600 of which fired during the Iraqi occupation in 1991. Apart from oil, the country’s industries include boatbuilding and plastics, petrochemicals, gases, cement, and building materials.
Kuwait supported Iraq during the Iraq – Iran war in the 1980s. After the conflict ended, the relationship between Kuwait and Iraq deteriorated, with disputes centered upon oil price, the shared Rumaila oilfield, and non-repayment of loans owed by Iraq. The culmination of these disagreements was Kuwait’s Iraqi invasion in 1990, which led to international involvement and the Gulf War.
Before being driven out of Kuwait, the Iraqi forces set fire to the country’s oil wells resulting in devastating environmental damage. The war caused a period of political instability and repressive measures by the Kuwaiti government against people (mainly Palestinians) who collaborated with Iraq.
Kuwait has also had to rebuild its shattered infrastructure and economy and attempt to repair the environmental damage.
Google maps™ Kuwait
Kuwait is located on the coastal plain that rings much of the Persian Gulf. Its terrain consists largely of flat or rolling desert land, with maximum elevations reached its western and southwestern corners.
Kuwait is linked to the Arabian Sea through the Persian Gulf. Kuwait is located at the northwestern edge of the Persian (or Arabian) Gulf, which empties into the Arabian Sea by way of the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman. Kuwait has one deeply indented bay, Kuwait Bay, which has the only deepwater harbor on the Persian Gulf’s western coast. Another coastal indentation is the site of several uninhabited islands.
Did you know about Kuwait?
Distilled water is the main source of drinking water in Kuwait, which has some of the world’s most sophisticated desalination facilities.
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