ABSTRACT
Until oil virtually overnight transformed Kuwait into one of the most affluent and modem cities of the Middle East and Asia, the city's economic, social and political life was founded on maritime activity.1 Fishing, pearl diving, shipping, seafaring, ship-and boat-building and, last but not least, trade, constituted the economic base of its population and the mainstay of the financial and fiscal power of its amirs. The historical development of Kuwait's maritime economy since the town's foundation in the early 18th century by Anizah tribesmen was circumscribed by the interaction of three geographical factors: the topography of its site, its gateway position as intermediary between the sea and the desert area of northeastern Arabia, and its location in the northwestern comer of the Gul£.2 Kuwait Bay with the island of Qurain and a series of reefs provided sheltered space for Kuwait's sailing vessels and established the town's suitability as a shipping centre and regional market. How far Kuwait's influence as a market could actually reach depended on many variables in the economic and political situation of its region, but key factors were its gateway position vis-a-vis northeastern Arabia, especially Nejd and the Jabal Shammar, and its strategic location close to the mouth of the Shatt al-Arab with its access to the river systems of Iraq and Persian Arabistan. Of crucial importance for the growth of its maritime enterprise were also significant stocks of
edible fish (especially the zubaidi) and the large number of pearl banks stretching southeastward to Bahrain, Qatar and beyond. But none of these factors can, in themselves, explain the phenomenon which was Kuwait; ecological and geographical advantages remain just that, if they are not utilized by business enterprise and human labour. Kuwaitis became shipowners and seafarers to exploit the opportunities offered by their location and soon they were able to expand into providing shipping services for others. Shipping remained Kuwait's strategic industry as it enabled its merchants to service its market, to diversify its local economy into shipbuilding and even to draw advantage and strength from the very weaknesses of Kuwait's ecology such as the total absence of fresh water and building timber.
