Editing History of Kuwait (section)

==Pre-oil history==
In 1521, Kuwait was under [[Portugal|Portuguese]] control.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ameu.org/getattachment/af6d61e0-5cab-4344-a857-5b8987636fb7/Kuwait.aspx |title=Kuwait: Prosperity from a Sea of Oil |work=G. Aloun Klaum |year=1980 |pages=30 |access-date=15 October 2013 |archive-date=1 August 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801143713/http://www.ameu.org/getattachment/af6d61e0-5cab-4344-a857-5b8987636fb7/Kuwait.aspx |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the late 16th century, the Portuguese built a defensive settlement in Kuwait.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=apU3AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA572|title=The Encyclopaedia of Islam|pages=572 |editor=Sir H. A. R. Gibb |year=1980|last1=Gibb|first1=Sir H. A. R.|publisher=BRILL |isbn=9004064710}}</ref> In the early to mid 1700s, [[Kuwait City]] was a small [[fishing village]]. Administratively, it was a sheikhdom, ruled by local [[sheikh]]s from [[Bani Khalid]] clan.<ref name="casey">{{cite book |last1=Casey |first1=Michael |title=The history of Kuwait – Greenwood histories of modern nations |publisher=Greenwood |isbn=978-0313340734|year=2007 }}</ref> Sometime in the mid 1700s, the [[Bani Utbah]] settled in Kuwait.<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Mohammad Khalid A. |last=Al-Jassar |type=PhD thesis |url=http://gradworks.umi.com/33/63/3363409.html|title=Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya |publisher=The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |date=May 2009 |page=64 |isbn=978-1-109-22934-9}}</ref><ref name="bani">{{cite web|title='Gazetteer of the Persian Gulf. Vol I. Historical. Part IA & IB. J G Lorimer. 1915' [1001] (1156/1782)|url=http://www.qdl.qa/en/archive/81055/vdc_100023575946.0x00009d|access-date=16 January 2015|publisher=qdl.qa|page=1000}}</ref> Sometime after the death of the Bani Khalid's leader Barrak Bin Urair and the fall of the Bani Khalid Emirate, the Utub were able to wrest control of Kuwait as a result of successive [[Marriage of state|matrimonial alliances]].<ref name=bani/>

The man chosen was a Sabah, [[Sabah I bin Jaber]]. Sabah diplomacy may have also been important with neighbouring clans, especially as Bani Khalid power declined. This selection is usually dated to 1752.<ref name=locrule>{{cite web|last=Crystal|first=Jill|title=Kuwait: Ruling Family|url=http://countrystudies.us/persian-gulf-states/26.htm|work=Persian Gulf States: A Country Study|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=5 March 2011}}</ref> 

===Early growth (1760–1899)===
====Economy====
In the latter half of the eighteenth century, Kuwait gradually became a principal commercial center for the transit of goods between [[India]], [[Muscat, Oman|Muscat]], [[Baghdad]], Persia, and [[Arabia]].<ref>{{cite book|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1266/1/1266.pdf|title=The impact of economic activities on the social and political structures of Kuwait (1896-1946)}}</ref><ref name=sail>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/shadowsonsandthe00bell|url-access=registration|title=Shadows on the Sand: The Memoirs of Sir Gawain Bell|publisher=C. Hurst|editor=[[Gawain Bell]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/shadowsonsandthe00bell/page/222 222]|year=1983|isbn=9780905838922|last1=Bell|first1=Sir Gawain}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVfaAAAAMAAJ&q=Kuwait+became+an+important+trading+port+for+import+and+export+of+goods+from+India,+Africa+and+Arabia.|title=ʻAlam-i Nisvāṉ - Volume 2, Issues 1-2|page=18|quote=Kuwait became an important trading port for import and export of goods from India, Africa and Arabia.|year=1995}}</ref> By the late-1700s, Kuwait had already established itself as a trading route from the Persian Gulf to Aleppo.<ref name=kw/> During the Persian siege of Basra in 1775–1779, [[Iraqi people|Iraqi merchants]] took refuge in Kuwait and were partly instrumental in the expansion of Kuwait's boatbuilding and trading activities.<ref name=boom>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/beyondstormgulf00benn|url-access=registration|title=Beyond the Storm: A Gulf Crisis Reader|publisher=Olive Branch Press|editor=Phyllis Bennis|pages=[https://archive.org/details/beyondstormgulf00benn/page/42 42]|isbn=9780940793828|last1=Bennis|first1=Phyllis|last2=Moushabeck|first2=Michel|date=1990-12-31}}</ref> As a result, Kuwait's maritime commerce boomed.<ref name=boom/>

[[File:MarinetimeMKuwaitAlshami.jpg|thumb|[[Al-Hashemi-II|Marine Museum]] in Kuwait City. Demonstrates the founding of Kuwait as a sea port for merchants.]]
Between the years 1775 and 1779, the Indian trade routes with Baghdad, Aleppo, [[Smyrna]] and [[Constantinople]] were diverted to Kuwait.<ref name=kw>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0NH1CbXf24C&pg=PA66|title=Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City|editor=Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar|year=2009|pages=66|isbn=9781109229349}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5xVSkGtcT5YC&pg=PA4|title=The Kuwait Crisis: Basic Documents|page=4|year=1991|isbn=9780521463089|last1=Lauterpacht|first1=E.|last2=Greenwood|first2=C. J.|last3=Weller|first3=Marc|last4=Bethlehem|first4=Daniel|publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> The [[East India Company]] was diverted to Kuwait in 1792.<ref name=eas>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0NH1CbXf24C&pg=PA67|title=Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City |page=67|year=2009|isbn=9781109229349 }}</ref> The East India Company secured the sea routes between Kuwait, [[India]] and the east coasts of [[Africa]].<ref name=eas/> After the Persians withdrew from Basra in 1779, Kuwait continued to attract trade away from Basra.<ref name=mer>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=t6v2HHoWgbsC&pg=PA72|title=Merchants, Mamluks, and Murder: The Political Economy of Trade in Eighteenth-Century Basra|author=Thabit Abdullah|date=January 2001|page=72|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791448076}}</ref> The flight of many of Basra's leading merchants to Kuwait continued to play a significant role in Basra's commercial stagnation well into the 1850s.<ref name=mer/>

Regional geopolitical turbulence helped foster economic prosperity in Kuwait in the second half of the 18th century.<ref name="jasser">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0NH1CbXf24C&pg=PA68|title=Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City|editor= Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar|pages=68|isbn=9781109229349}}</ref> Kuwait became prosperous due to Basra's instability in the late 18th century.<ref name=w>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iT_8KzTECwMC&pg=PA18|title=Waqai-i manazil-i Rum: Tipu Sultan's mission to Constantinople|editor=Mohibbul Hasan|year=2007|page=18|isbn=9788187879565|quote=For owing to Basra's misfortunes, Kuwait and Zubarah became rich.|last1=Hasan|first1=Mohibbul|publisher=Aakar Books }}</ref> In the late 18th century, Kuwait partly functioned as a haven for Basra's merchants fleeing [[Ottoman government]] persecution.<ref name=basra>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5MewSBHkG4C&pg=PA114|title=The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf, 1745-1900 |editor=Hala Mundhir Fattah |year=1997 |page=114|isbn=9780791431139 |last1=Fattah |first1=Hala Mundhir |publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref> 

In 1776, Sabah I died and was succeeded by his youngest son, [[Abdullah I Al-Sabah|Abdullah]]. Shortly before Sabah's death, in 1766, the al-Khalifa and, soon after, the al-Jalahima, left Kuwait en masse for [[Zubarah]] in Qatar. Domestically, the al-Khalifa and al-Jalahima had been among the top contenders for power. Their emigration left the Sabahs in undisputed control, and by the end of Abdullah I's long rule (1776–1814), Sabah rule was secure, and the political hierarchy in Kuwait was well established, the merchants deferring to direct orders from the Shaikh. By the 19th century, not only was the ruling Sabah much stronger than a desert Shaikh but also capable of naming his son successor. This influence was not just internal but enabled the al-Sabah to conduct foreign diplomacy. They soon established good relations with the British East India Company in 1775.<ref name="locrule" />

Kuwait was the center of [[boat building]] in the Persian Gulf region.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1266/1/1266.pdf|title=The impact of economic activities on the social and political structures of Kuwait (1896-1946)|page=108}}</ref> Kuwaiti ship vessels were renowned throughout the [[Indian Ocean]].<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zXXGAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA93|title=The Postal Agencies in Eastern Arabia and the Gulf |editor=Neil Donaldson|year=2008 |page=93|isbn=9781409209423 |last1=Donaldson |first1=Neil |publisher=Lulu.com }}</ref><ref name=al>{{cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/doctormaryinarab00alli|url-access=registration|title=Doctor Mary in Arabia: Memoirs|publisher=University of Texas Press|author=[[Mary Bruins Allison]]|page=[https://archive.org/details/doctormaryinarab00alli/page/n215 1]|year=1994|isbn=9780292704565}}</ref> Its sailors developed a positive reputation in the Persian Gulf.<ref name=sail/><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QjzYdCxumFcC&pg=PA321|title=Encyclopedia of the Ottoman Empire|year=2009|page=321|isbn=9781438110257|last1=́Goston|first1=Ga ́bor A.|last2=Masters|first2=Bruce Alan|publisher=Infobase }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DRtWm-UkS-oC&pg=PA48|title=Seafaring in the Arabian Gulf and Oman: People of the Dhow|editor=Dionisius A. Agius|year=2012|page=48|isbn=9781136201820|last1=Agius|first1=Dionisius A.|publisher=Routledge }}</ref> In the 19th century, Kuwait became significant in the [[horse trading|horse trade]],<ref name=hor>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g5MewSBHkG4C&pg=PA181|title=The Politics of Regional Trade in Iraq, Arabia, and the Gulf, 1745-1900 |editor=Hala Mundhir Fattah |year=1997 |page=181|isbn=9780791431139 |last1=Fattah |first1=Hala Mundhir |publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref> horses were regularly shipped by the way of sailing boats from Kuwait.<ref name=hor/> In the mid 19th century, it was estimated that Kuwait was exporting an average of 800 horses to India annually.<ref name=jasser/>

====Assassination of Muhammad Bin Sabah====
In the 1870s, Ottoman officials were reasserting their presence in the Persian Gulf, with a military intervention in 1871—which was not effectively pursued—where family rivalries in Kuwait were breeding chaos.<ref name="ReferenceA">{{Harvnb|Anscombe|1997|p=6|date=September 2010}}</ref> The Ottomans were bankrupt and when the European banks took control of the Ottoman budget in 1881, additional income was required from Kuwait. [[Midhat Pasha]], the [[List of Ottoman governors of Baghdad|governor of Iraq]], demanded that Kuwait submit financially to Ottoman rule. The al-Sabah found diplomatic allies in the British Foreign Office. However, under [[Abdullah II Al-Sabah]], Kuwait pursued a general pro-Ottoman foreign policy, formally taking the title of Ottoman provincial governor, this relationship with the Ottoman Empire did result in Ottoman interference with Kuwaiti laws and selection or rulers.<ref name="locrule"/> 

In May 1896, [[Sheikh|Shaikh]] Muhammad Al-Sabah was assassinated by his half-brother, Mubarak, who, in early 1897, was recognized, by the Ottoman sultan, as the ''qaimmaqam'' (provincial sub-governor) of Kuwait.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

====Mubarak the Great====
{{main|Mubarak Al-Sabah}}
[[File:Mubarak Al-Sabah of Kuwait.jpg|thumb|[[Mubarak Al-Sabah]] "the Great" (1837–1915)]] 
Mubarak's seizure of the throne via murder left his brother's former allies as a threat to his rule, especially as his opponents gained the backing of the Ottomans.<ref name="locrule" /> In July, Mubarak invited the British to deploy [[gunboat]]s along the Kuwaiti coast. Britain saw Mubarak's desire for an alliance as an opportunity to counteract German influence in the region and so agreed.<ref name="locrule" /> This led to what is known as the First Kuwaiti Crisis, in which the Ottomans demanded that the British stop interfering with their empire. In the end, the Ottoman Empire backed down, rather than go to war.

In January 1899, Mubarak signed an agreement with the British which pledged that Kuwait would never cede any territory nor receive agents or representatives of any foreign power without the British Government's consent. In essence, this policy gave Britain control of Kuwait's foreign policy.<ref name="locrule"/> The treaty also gave Britain responsibility for Kuwait's national security. In return, Britain agreed to grant an annual subsidy of 15,000 Indian [[rupee]]s (£1,500) to the ruling family. In 1911, Mubarak raised taxes. Therefore, three wealthy business men [[Ibrahim Al-Mudhaf]], [[Helal Al-Mutairi]], and Shamlan Ali bin Saif Al-Roumi (brother of Hussain Ali bin Saif Al-Roumi), led a protest against Mubarak by making [[Bahrain]] their main trade point, which negatively affected the Kuwaiti economy. However, Mubarak went to Bahrain and apologized for raising taxes and the three business men returned to Kuwait. In 1915, Mubarak the Great died and was succeeded by his son [[Jaber II Al-Sabah]], who reigned for just over one year until his death in early 1917. His brother Sheikh Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah succeeded him.

During the reign of Mubarak, Kuwait was dubbed the "[[Marseille]] of the Persian Gulf" because its economic vitality attracted a large variety of people.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ncfIAAAAQBAJ&pg=PA272|title=The Persian Gulf in History|page=272 |editor=Lawrence G. Potter |year=2009|isbn=9780230618459|last1=Potter|first1=L.|publisher=Springer }}</ref><ref name=ara>{{cite web|url=http://ed-thelen.org/LordOfArabia.html|title=Lord of Arabia|pages=18–19|editor=[[Harold Courtenay Armstrong|H. C. Armstrong]]|year=1905|quote=Part II Chapter VI}}</ref> The population was cosmopolitan and ethnically diverse, including Arabs, Persians, Africans, [[History of the Jews in Kuwait|Jews]], and [[Armenians in Kuwait#History|Armenians]].<ref name=ara /> Kuwait was known for its [[religious tolerance]].<ref name="pa">{{cite book| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yXgsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA165|title=Kuwait before Oil: The Dynamics and Morphology of an Arab Port City (Gateways of Asia: Port Cities of Asia in the 13th–20th Centuries)|year=1997|publisher=Routledge |editor=Frank Broeze|isbn=9781136168956}}</ref>

In the first decades of the twentieth century, Kuwait had a well-established elite: wealthy trading families who were linked by marriage and shared economic interests.<ref name=elite>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=D8di8GN_hKsC&pg=PA37|title=Oil and Politics in the Gulf: Rulers and Merchants in Kuwait and Qatar |editor=Jill Crystal |year=1995 |page=37|isbn=9780521466356 |last1=Crystal |first1=Jill |publisher=Cambridge University Press }}</ref> The elite were long-settled, urban, Sunni families, the majority of which claim descent from the original 30 Bani Utubi families.<ref name=elite /> The wealthiest families were trade merchants who acquired their wealth from long-distance commerce, shipbuilding and pearling.<ref name=elite /> They were a cosmopolitan elite, they traveled extensively to India, Africa and Europe.<ref name=elite /> The elite educated their sons abroad more than other Gulf Arab elite.<ref name=elite /> Western visitors noted that Kuwait's elite used European office systems, [[typewriters]] and followed [[European culture]] with curiosity.<ref name=elite /> The richest families were involved in general trade.<ref name=elite /> The merchant families of Al-Ghanim and Al-Hamad were estimated to be worth millions before the 1940s.<ref name=elite />

===Anglo-Ottoman convention (1913)===
{{main|Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913}}
Informal negotiations began on 29 July 1911 in a British memorandum sent to the Ottoman Government. By this time, it seemed likely that the terminus for the German funded and engineered [[Berlin–Baghdad railway]] would be situated in Kuwait.<ref>The original concession granted to the Baghdad Railway Company, dominated by Deutsche Bank, was an extension from Konya to Baghdad.</ref> Kuwait had been under Ottoman administration since 1871 and in 1875 was included in the [[Basra Vilayet]]. Although the sheikhdom now fell under the Empire’s jurisdiction, no Ottoman official was stationed in Kuwait.<ref>David H. Finnie, Shifting Lines in the Sand: Kuwait’s Elusive Frontier with Iraq, (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1992), 7.</ref> Influence over Kuwait was crucial to British foreign policy in the Persian Gulf with regard to commerce and strategic interests concerning India.  

In the Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913, the British concurred with the Ottoman Empire in defining Kuwait as an autonomous [[kaza]] of the Ottoman Empire and that the Shaikhs of Kuwait were not independent leaders, but rather ''qaimmaqams'' (provincial sub-governors) of the Ottoman government.

The convention ruled that Sheikh Mubarak had authority over an area extending out to a radius of 80&nbsp;km, from the capital. This region was marked by a red circle and included the islands of [[Auhah Island|Auhah]], [[Bubiyan]], Failaka, [[Kubbar Island|Kubbar]], Mashian, and [[Warbah Island|Warbah]]. A green circle designated an area extending out an additional 100&nbsp;km, in radius, within which the ''qaimmaqam'' was authorized to collect [[tribute]] and taxes from the natives.

[[World War I]] disrupted elements of Kuwait's politics, society, economy and trans-regional networks.<ref>John Slight,  "Global War and its impact on the Gulf States of Kuwait and Bahrain, 1914–1918." ''War & Society'' 37#1 (2018): 21-37.  https://doi.org/10.1080/07292473.2017.1412185</ref>

===Mesopotamian Campaign (1914)===
{{Main|Mesopotamian campaign}}
On 6 November 1914, British offensive action began with the naval bombardment of the old fort at [[Al-Faw, Iraq|Fao]] in Iraq, located at the point where the [[Shatt-al-Arab]] meets the Persian Gulf. At the [[Fao Landing]], the British [[Indian Expeditionary Force D]] (IEF D), comprising the [[6th (Poona) Division]] led by Lieutenant General [[Arthur Barrett (Indian Army officer)|Arthur Barrett]] with Sir [[Percy Cox]] as [[Political officer (British Empire)|Political Officer]], was opposed by 350 Ottoman troops and 4 guns. After a sharp engagement, the fort was overrun. By mid-November the Poona Division was fully ashore and began moving towards the city of [[Basra]].

The same month, the ruler of Kuwait, Sheikh [[Mubarak Al-Sabah]], contributed to the Allied war effort by sending forces to attack Ottoman troops at [[Umm Qasr]], [[Safwan, Iraq|Safwan]], [[Bubiyan]], and [[Basra]]. In exchange the British government recognised Kuwait as an "independent government under British protection."<ref name="Slot 2005 406">{{Harvnb|Slot|2005|pp=406–09}}</ref> There is no report on the exact size and nature of Mubarak's attack, though Ottoman forces did retreat from those positions weeks later.<ref name="Slot2005p407">{{Harvnb|Slot|2005|p=407}}</ref> Mubarak soon removed the Ottoman symbol from the Kuwaiti flag and replaced it with "Kuwait" written in Arabic script.<ref name="Slot2005p407"/> Mubarak's participation and previous exploits in obstructing the completion of the [[Berlin–Baghdad railway|Baghdad railway]] helped the British safeguard the Persian Gulf by preventing Ottoman and German reinforcement.<ref name="Slot 2005 409">{{Harvnb|Slot|2005|p=409}}</ref> He refused to rent any storage facilities to the Germans.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last1=Anderson|first1=Frank Maloy|title=Handbook for the Diplomatic History of Europe, Asia, and Africa, 1870-1914|last2=Hershey|first2=Amos Shartle|last3=Service|first3=National Board for Historical|date=1918|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|pages=410–411|language=en}}</ref>

===Kuwait–Najd War (1919–21)===
{{main|Kuwait–Najd War}}
The Kuwait-Najd War erupted in the [[aftermath of World War I]], when the [[Ottoman Empire]] was defeated and the British invalidated the Anglo-Ottoman Convention. The power vacuum, left by the fall of the Ottomans, sharpened the conflict between Kuwait and [[Najd]] ([[Ikhwan]]). The war resulted in sporadic border clashes throughout 1919–20.

[[File:Jahra-castle.jpg|thumb|[[Kuwait Red Fort]].]]

However, Kuwait immensely declined in regional economic importance,<ref name="al"/> mainly due to various trade blockades and the world economic depression.<ref name=block /> The [[Great Depression]] negatively impacted Kuwait's economy starting in the late 1920s.<ref name=do /> International trading was one of Kuwait's main sources of income before oil.<ref name=do /> Kuwaiti merchants were mostly intermediary merchants.<ref name=do /> As a result of European decline of demand for goods from India and Africa, the economy of Kuwait suffered. The decline in international trade resulted in an increase in gold smuggling by Kuwaiti ships to India.<ref name=do /> Some Kuwaiti merchant families became rich due to gold smuggling to India.<ref name=hist />

Kuwait's pearling industry also collapsed as a result of the worldwide economic depression.<ref name=hist>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AwweY4yYSMIC&pg=PA57|title=The History of Kuwait|editor= Michael S. Casey |year=2007 |page=57|isbn=9780313340734|last1=Casey|first1=Michael S.|publisher=Bloomsbury }}</ref> At its height, Kuwait's pearling industry led the world's luxury market, regularly sending out between 750 and 800 ship vessels to meet the European elite's need for luxuries pearls.<ref name=hist /> During the economic depression, luxuries like pearls were in little demand.<ref name=hist /> The Japanese invention of [[cultured pearls]] also contributed to the collapse of Kuwait's pearling industry.<ref name=hist />

====Battle of Jahra====
{{main|Battle of Jahra}}
The [[Battle of Jahra]] was a battle during the Kuwait-Najd War. The battle took place in [[Al Jahra]], west of Kuwait City on 10 October 1920 between [[Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah]] ruler of Kuwait and [[Ikhwan]] Wahhabi followers of [[Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia]], king of Saudi Arabia.<ref>[http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=MTA0NzIxMTUzNA== The blood red place of Jahra], [[Kuwait Times]].</ref>

A force of 4,000 Saudi Ikhwan, led by [[Faisal Al-Dawish]], attacked the [[Kuwait Red Fort]] at Al-Jahra, defended by 2,000 Kuwaiti men. The Kuwaitis were largely outnumbered by the Ikhwan of Najd.

====Sheikh Khaz'al turns down the throne of Kuwait====
When [[Percy Cox]] was informed of the border clashes in Kuwait, he sent a letter to [[Khorramshahr|Mohammerah]] Sheikh [[Khazʽal Ibn Jabir]] offering the Kuwaiti throne to either him or one of his heirs, thinking Khaz'al would be a more competent ruler the Al Sabah family. Khaz'al, who considered the Al Sabah as his own family, replied "Do you expect me to allow the stepping down of Al Mubarak from the throne of Kuwait? Do you think I can accept this?"<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Tareekh Al Kuwait Al Siyasi|last=Khalif|first=Hussein|pages=221}}</ref> He then asked: {{blockquote|...even so, do you think that you have come to me with something new? Al Mubarak's position as ruler of Kuwait means that I am the true ruler of Kuwait. So there is no difference between myself and them, for they are like the dearest of my children and you are aware of this. Had someone else come to me with this offer, I would have complained about them to you. So how do you come to me with this offer when you are well aware that myself and Al Mubarak are one soul and one house, what affects them affects me, whether good or evil.<ref name=":2" />}}

[[Ibn Saud]] imposed a tight trade blockade against Kuwait from the years 1923 until 1937.<ref name="block"/><ref name=do>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=R0NH1CbXf24C&pg=PA80|title=Constancy and Change in Contemporary Kuwait City: The Socio-cultural Dimensions of the Kuwait Courtyard and Diwaniyya|author= Mohammad Khalid A. Al-Jassar|year=2009|pages=80|isbn=9781109229349}}</ref> The goal of the Saudi economic and military attacks on Kuwait was to annex as much of Kuwait's territory as possible.<ref name="block"/> 

===The Uqair protocol===
The British High Commissioner in Baghdad, [[Percy Cox]], imposed<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/event.php?eid=156 |title=Imposition of Uqair Protocol |access-date=14 December 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222083217/http://cosmos.ucc.ie/cs1064/jabowen/IPSC/php/event.php?eid=156 |archive-date=22 December 2015 }}</ref> the [[Uqair Protocol of 1922]] which defined the boundaries between Iraq, Kuwait and Nejd. In April 1923, Shaikh [[Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah|Ahmad al-Sabah]] wrote the British Political Agent in Kuwait, Major [[John More (major)|John More]], "I still do not know what the border between Iraq and Kuwait is, I shall be glad if you will kindly give me this information." More, upon learning that al-Sabah claimed the outer green line of the Anglo-Ottoman Convention (4 April), would relay the information to Sir Percy.

On 19 April, Sir Percy stated that the British government recognized the outer line of the convention as the border between Iraq and Kuwait. This decision limited Iraq's access to the Persian Gulf at 58&nbsp;km of mostly marshy and swampy coastline. As this would make it difficult for Iraq to become a naval power (the territory did not include any deepwater harbours), the Iraqi King [[Faisal I of Iraq|Faisal I]] (whom the British installed as a puppet king in Iraq) did not agree to the plan. However, as his country was under British mandate, he had little say in the matter. Iraq and Kuwait would formally ratify the border in August. The border was re-recognized in 1932.

Attempts by Faisal I to build an Iraqi railway to Kuwait and port facilities on the Gulf were rejected by Britain. These and other similar British colonial policies made Kuwait a focus of the Arab national movement in Iraq, and a symbol of Iraqi humiliation at the hands of the British.<ref name="fkm">{{citation|title=Mechanisms of Western Domination: A Short History of Iraq and Kuwait|url=http://www.csun.edu/~vcmth00m/iraqkuwait.html|work=California State University, Northridge}}</ref>

Kuwait's border was revisited by a memorandum sent by the British high commissioner for Iraq in 1923, which became the basis for Kuwait's northern border. In Iraq's 1932 application to the League of Nations it included information about its borders, including its border with Kuwait, where it accepted the boundary established in 1923.<ref name=locpgw>{{cite web|last=Crystal|first=Jill|title=Kuwait – Persian Gulf War|url=http://countrystudies.us/persian-gulf-states/32.htm|work=The Persian Gulf States: A Country Study|publisher=Library of Congress|access-date=5 March 2011}}</ref>

[[File:Restored_Dhow_Fatah_al_Khair_(2)_(41238271364).jpg|thumb|[[Fateh Al-Khayr]] is a museum ship in Kuwait. The ship was built in 1938.]]
After the Uqair conference, Kuwait was still subjected to a Saudi economic blockade and intermittent Saudi [[raid (military)|raiding]].<ref name="block"/> Some merchant families left Kuwait in the early 1930s due to the prevalence of economic hardship. At the time of the discovery of oil in 1937, most of Kuwait's inhabitants were impoverished. Merchants had the most economic power.<ref name=econ>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EVqdiFh33gYC&pg=PA55|title=Economic Development and Political Reform: The Impact of External Capital on the Middle East|editor=Bradley Louis Glasser |year= 2003 |pages=54–57|isbn=9781781008188|last1=Glasser|first1=Bradley Louis|publisher=Edward Elgar }}</ref> Al Sabah family rule remained limited until well into the 1930s because the merchants, owing to their financial power, were the primary sources of income in Kuwait.<ref name=econ/> The inauguration of the oil era freed the rulers from their financial dependency on merchant wealth.<ref name=wheeler>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0pzIsdQPWq4C&pg=PA72|title=The Internet in the Middle East|editor= Deborah L. Wheeler|year= 2003 |pages=72|isbn=9780791482650|last1=Wheeler|first1=Deborah L.|publisher=SUNY Press }}</ref>

Before [[Mary Bruins Allison]] visited Kuwait in 1934, Kuwait had already lost its prominence in long-distance trade.<ref name="al"/> During [[World War I]], the [[British Empire]] imposed a trade blockade against Kuwait because [[Salim Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah|Kuwait's ruler]] supported the [[Ottoman Empire]].<ref name="block">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jqMLNJ3tUYMC&pg=PA13|title=The Kuwait Petroleum Corporation and the Economics of the New World Order|author=Mary Ann Tétreault|pages=2–3|year=1995|publisher=Greenwood Publishing |isbn=9780899305103}}</ref><ref name="David Lea 2001 142">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=f25h1qJLtnAC&pg=PA142|title=A Political Chronology of the Middle East|author=David Lea|page=142|year=2001|publisher=Psychology Press |isbn=9781857431155}}</ref><ref name=ot>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nKBn1AOZUrwC&pg=PA104|title=The Arabian Mission's Story: In Search of Abraham's Other Son|author=Lewis R. Scudder|page=104|year=1998|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans |isbn=9780802846167}}</ref> The British economic blockade heavily damaged Kuwait's economy.<ref name=ot />

In 1937, [[Freya Stark]] wrote about the extent of poverty in Kuwait at the time:<ref name=do />{{blockquote|Poverty has settled in Kuwait more heavily since my last visit five years ago, both by sea, where the pearl trade continues to decline, and by land, where the blockade established by Saudi Arabia now harms the merchants.}}

Al Sabah became Kuwait's dynastic monarchy in 1938.<ref name="sab">{{Cite book|year=1999|title=All in the Family: Absolutism, Revolution, and Democracy in Middle Eastern Monarchies|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GFdEMIkSfwEC&pg=PA68|pages=68–69|author=Michael Herb|publisher=SUNY Press |isbn=9780791441671}}</ref> One tradition has it that political power went to the Sabahs as part of an explicit agreement; merchant families focused on the trade while the [[House of Sabah]] and other notable Kuwaiti families provided protection of the city housed within Kuwait's wall.