KUWAIT

KUWAIT / الكويت

Definitive stamps.
Pipelines.
Fifth stamp in a set of 10, issued on 01.02.1959.
Face value: 50 Gulf naye paise.
Printing: Recess.

Catalogs
- Michel No. 137.
- Scott No. 147.
- StampWorld No. 137.
- Stanley Gibbons No. 138.
- Yvert et Tellier No. 135.

In February 1938, the first oil fields were discovered in Burgan, south of present-day Kuwait City, and the oil refining industry began to develop after World War II, making the country prosperous. Kuwait became independent from the United Kingdom on June 19, 1961, and since then has earned more than 75 percent of its revenue from oil and natural gas exports. Before the British colonization, the Kuwaiti territory had been occupied by the Greeks (since approximately 600 BC and for three centuries they settled on Failaka Island), then by the Persians until the year 623 when they were expelled by the Arabs. In the 16th century the territory became a Portuguese protectorate; At that time several clans of the Anazah tribe migrated to the northern shore of the Persian Gulf from the Najd in central Arabia and established what is considered the first Kuwaiti state. Officially, however, according to local sources, the country was founded in 1672. Kuwait was later incorporated into the Ottoman Empire. In 1899, growing British influence caused the country to become a British protectorate, which remained until 1961.