The carat (ct), is a unit of mass equal to 200 mg (0.00705 oz) or 0.00643 troy oz, and is used for measuring gemstones and pearls. The current definition, sometimes known as the metric carat, was adopted in 1907 at the Fourth General Conference on Weights and Measures, and soon afterwards in many countries around the world. The carat is divisible into 100 points of 2 mg. Other subdivisions, and slightly different mass values, have been used in the past in different locations.
Kuwait is a country in the Arabian Peninsula, surrounding the Gulf of Kuwait at the head of the Persian Gulf. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, Kuwait was a prosperous trade port.
Kuwait is a small country in the Middle East, bordering the Persian Gulf, between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. A prosperous trade center for many centuries, Kuwait came to greater international prominence in the post-World War II era, largely because of its strategic location at the head of the Persian Gulf and oil revenues.
Kuwait City is the capital and largest city of Kuwait. Located at the heart of the country on the shore of the Persian Gulf, and containing Kuwait's National Assembly (parliament), most governmental offices, the headquarters of most Kuwaiti corporations and banks, it is the indisputable political, cultural and economical centre of the emirate. It is considered a global city.
Bahrain has an open economy. The Bahraini currency is the second-highest-valued currency unit in the world. Since the late 20th century, Bahrain has heavily invested in the banking and tourism sectors. The country's capital, Manama is home to many large financial structures. Bahrain's finance industry is very successful. In 2008, Bahrain was named the world's fastest growing financial center by the City of London's Global Financial Centres Index. Bahrain's banking and financial services sector, particularly Islamic banking, have benefited from the regional boom driven by demand for oil. Petroleum production is Bahrain's most exported product, accounting for 60% of export receipts, 70% of government revenues, and 11% of GDP. Aluminium production is the second most exported product, followed by finance and construction materials.
The Gulf War, codenamed Operation Desert Shield for operations leading to the buildup of troops and defense of Saudi Arabia and Operation Desert Storm in its combat phase, was a war waged by coalition forces from 35 nations led by the United States against Iraq in response to Iraq's invasion and annexation of Kuwait arising from oil pricing and production disputes. The war is also known under other names, such as the Persian Gulf War, First Gulf War, Gulf War I, Kuwait War, First Iraq War or Iraq War, before the term "Iraq War" became identified instead with the post-2003 Iraq War.
Dhow is the generic name of a number of traditional sailing vessels with one or more masts with settee or sometimes lateen sails, used in the Red Sea and Indian Ocean region. Historians are divided as to whether the dhow was invented by Arabs or Indians. Typically sporting long thin hulls, dhows are trading vessels primarily used to carry heavy items, such as fruit, fresh water, or other heavy merchandise, along the coasts of Eastern Arabia, East Africa, Yemen and coastal South Asia. Larger dhows have crews of approximately thirty, smaller ones typically around twelve.
The Peacock Throne was a famous jewelled throne that was the seat of the Mughal emperors of India. It was commissioned in the early 17th century by emperor Shah Jahan and was located in the Diwan-i-Khas in the Red Fort of Delhi. The original throne was subsequently captured and taken as a war trophy in 1739 by the Persian emperor Nadir Shah, and has been lost since. A replacement throne based on the original was commissioned afterwards and existed until the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
USS Vandegrift (FFG-48) was an Oliver Hazard Perry-class frigate of the United States Navy. The ship was named for General Alexander A. Vandegrift (1887–1973), 18th Commandant of the Marine Corps.
Kuwait is well known in the region for its exploration of many different and new forms of music and dance. Kuwait is the birthplace of various popular musical genres such as sawt. Kuwait is widely considered the centre of traditional music in the Persian Gulf. The Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmad Cultural Centre is the largest opera house in the Middle East.
The flag of Kuwait was adopted on September 7, 1961, and officially hoisted November 24, 1961. Before 1961, the flag of Kuwait was red and white, like those of other Persian Gulf states at the time, with the field being red and words or charges being written in white.
The Anglo-Ottoman Convention of 1913 was an agreement between the Sublime Porte of the Ottoman Empire and the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland which defined the limits of Ottoman jurisdiction in the area of the Persian Gulf with respect to Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, and the Shatt al-‘Arab. Signed, but never ratified, the long-lasting impact of the agreement was that of the status of Kuwait; the basis for both formal independence and the frontiers of modern Kuwait were established.
Pearl hunting is the activity of recovering pearls from wild mollusks, usually oysters or mussels, in the sea or fresh water. Pearl hunting used to be prevalent in the Persian Gulf region and Japan, but also occurred in other regions. In most cases the pearl-bearing mulluscs live at depths where they are not manually accessible from the surface, and diving or the use of some form of tool is needed to reach them. Historically the mulluscs were retrieved by freediving, a technique where the diver descends to the bottom, collects what they can, and surfaces on a single breath. The diving mask improved the ability of the diver to see while underwater. When the surface-supplied diving helmet became available for underwater work, it was also applied to the task of pearl hunting, and the associated activity of collecting pearl shell as a raw material for the manufacture of buttons, inlays and other decorative work. The surface supplied diving helmet greatly extended the time the diver could stay at depth, and introduced the previously unfamiliar hazards of barotrauma of ascent and decompression sickness.
Zubarah, also referred to as Al Zubarah or Az Zubarah, is a ruined and ancient fort located on the north western coast of the Qatar peninsula in the Al Shamal municipality, about 105 km from the Qatari capital of Doha. It was founded by Shaikh Muhammed bin Khalifa, the founder father of Al Khalifa royal family of Bahrain, the main and principal Utub tribe in the first half of the eighteenth century. It was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013.
The Arab states of the Persian Gulf are the seven Arab states which border the Persian Gulf, namely Bahrain, Iraq, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). All of these nations except Iraq are part of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and prefer to use the term "Arabian Gulf" rather than the historical name of the Persian Gulf.
Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it shares borders with Iraq and Saudi Arabia. As of 2016, Kuwait has a population of 4.5 million people: 1.3 million are Kuwaitis and 3.2 million are expatriates. Expatriates account for 70% of the population.
The Sheikhdom of Kuwait was a sheikhdom which gained independence from the Khalidi Emirate of Al Hasa under Sabah I bin Jaber in the year 1752. The Sheikhdom became a British protectorate between 1899 and 1961 after the Anglo-Kuwaiti agreement of 1899 was signed between Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah and the British government in India due to severe threats to Kuwait's independence from the Ottoman Empire.
