Kuwait

Kuwait, officially the State of Kuwait, is a country in West Asia at the head of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south, with most of its population in the urban agglomeration of Kuwait City. The territory became known as the Sheikdom of Kuwait in 1752 and a British protectorate in 1899, and the protectorate agreements with the United Kingdom ended in June 1961 when Kuwait officially became an independent state. Kuwait underwent large-scale modernization from 1946 to 1982 based on oil income, suffered pro-Iranian attacks during the Iran-Iraq War due to its financial support of Iraq, and in 1990 was invaded and annexed by Ba'athist Iraq under Saddam Hussein, with the occupation ending on 26 February 1991 after a United States-led international coalition expelled Iraqi forces during the Gulf War. Kuwait is an emirate led by the Al Sabah family and a founding member of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with the world's sixth largest oil reserves.