Kuwait

Kuwait, negara di Semenanjung Arab yang terletak di sudut barat laut Teluk Parsi.

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Sebuah emirat kecil yang terletak di antara Iraq dan Arab Saudi, Kuwait terletak di bahagian salah satu padang pasir yang paling kering dan paling ramah di Bumi. Namun, pesisirnya meliputi Teluk Kuwait, sebuah pelabuhan yang dalam di Teluk Parsi. Di sana, pada abad ke-18, orang Badwi dari pedalaman mendirikan pos perdagangan. Nama Kuwait berasal dari bahasa Arab kecil dari Hindustani kūt ("benteng"). Sejak keluarga penguasa emirat, Āl Ṣabāḥ, secara resmi mendirikan syeikh pada tahun 1756, kekayaan negara itu telah dikaitkan dengan perdagangan asing. Pada waktunya dan dengan kekayaan yang terkumpul, kubu kecil itu berkembang menjadi kota Kuwait, sebuah gedung pencakar langit metropolis moden, bangunan pangsapuri, dan masjid. Bandar Kuwait mempunyai sebahagian besar penduduk negara ini, yang menjadikan Kuwait sebagai salah satu negara yang paling banyak bandar di dunia.

Negara kecil itu, yang merupakan wilayah perlindungan Britain dari tahun 1899 hingga 1961, menarik perhatian dunia pada tahun 1990 ketika pasukan Iraq menyerang dan berusaha mencaploknya. Gabungan Pertubuhan Bangsa-Bangsa Bersatu yang dipimpin oleh Amerika Syarikat mengusir tentera Iraq dari Kuwait dalam beberapa hari melancarkan serangan pada bulan Februari 1991, tetapi penjajah yang mundur menjarah negara itu dan membakar sebahagian besar telaga minyaknya (lihat Perang Teluk Parsi). Kuwait sebahagian besarnya pulih dari kesan perang dan sekali lagi mempunyai pendapatan per kapita tertinggi di dunia. Pemerintahnya yang umumnya konservatif terus memberikan manfaat material yang besar bagi warga Kuwait, dan, walaupun unsur-unsur konservatif dalam masyarakatnya menolak reformasi seperti hak pilih wanita (wanita tidak dibebaskan hingga tahun 2005), ia tetap stabil.Ini telah disebut sebagai "oasis" keamanan dan keselamatan di tengah wilayah yang bergolak.

Land

Slightly larger in area than the U.S. state of Hawaii, Kuwait is bounded to the west and north by Iraq, to the east by the Persian Gulf, and to the south by Saudi Arabia.

Kuwait is largely a desert, except for Al-Jahrāʾ oasis, at the western end of Kuwait Bay, and a few fertile patches in the southeastern and coastal areas. Kuwaiti territory includes nine offshore islands, the largest of which are the uninhabited Būbiyān and Al-Warbah. The island of Faylakah, which is located near the entrance of Kuwait Bay, has been populated since prehistoric times.

A territory of 2,200 square miles (5,700 square km) along the gulf was shared by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia as a neutral zone until a political boundary was agreed on in 1969. Each of the two countries now administers half of the territory (called the Neutral, or Partitioned, Zone), but they continue to share equally the revenues from oil production in the entire area. Although the boundary with Saudi Arabia is defined, the border with Iraq remains in dispute.

Relief

The relief of Kuwait is generally flat or gently undulating, broken only by occasional low hills and shallow depressions. The elevations range from sea level in the east to 951 feet (290 metres) above sea level at Al-Shiqāyā peak, in the western corner of the country. The Al-Zawr Escarpment, one of the main topographic features, borders the northwestern shore of Kuwait Bay and rises to a maximum elevation of 475 feet (145 metres). Elsewhere in coastal areas, large patches of salty marshland have developed. Throughout the northern, western, and central sections of Kuwait, there are desert basins, which fill with water after winter rains; historically these basins formed important watering places, refuges for the camel herds of the Bedouin.

Drainage

Kuwait has no permanent surface water, either in the form of standing bodies such as lakes or in the form of flows such as perennial rivers. Intermittent water courses (wadis) are localized and generally terminate in interior desert basins. Little precipitation is absorbed beyond the surface level, with most being lost to evaporation.

Soils

True soils scarcely exist naturally in Kuwait. Those that exist are of little agricultural productivity and are marked by an extremely low amount of organic matter. Eolian soils and other sedimentary deposits are common, and a high degree of salinity is found, particularly in basins and other locations where residual water pools. One of the environmental consequences of the Persian Gulf War was the widespread destruction of the desert’s rigid surface layer, which held underlying sand deposits in place; this has led to an increase in wind-borne sand and the creation of larger and more numerous sand dunes in the country.