Since ancient times, the Sate of Kuwait has served as the gateway to the Middle East because of its geographical location. Within a few decades, after the discovery of oil, a nation of resourceful people, fishermen, pearl divers and traders has transformed into a modern nation offering state-of-art amenities, secure infrastructural facilities developments and technical excellence institutions. The Kuwaitis’ pride in their national prosperity, history and heritage has given rise to an identity, which is uniquely Kuwaiti.

Kuwait lies at the north-west corner of the Gulf, between 28o and 30o East latitudes and between 46o and 48o North longitudes. To the north and the west, it shares a border of 240 km (149 miles) with Iraq, and to the south and south-west it shares 250 km (155 miles) with Saudi Arabia. On the east it has a coastline of 290 km (181 miles) on the Gulf.

The total area of Kuwait is 17,818 sq km. Most of the mainland is a flat sandy desert gradually sloping towards sea level in the east. It is broken by shallow depressions and low hills, which form a ridge at Jal Al-Zur (145 meters above sea level), cut by the Umm Al-Ramam Wadi. The southern part of Kuwait is generally flat, with the exception of Ahmadi hill, which is 137 meters above sea level.

The Kuwaiti mainland, with no mountains, rivers or other natural features, was for a long time a transit area for nomadic tribes and caravans. Such freedom of movement made delineation of borders rather difficult. On July 7, 1965, a neutral zone has been created between the State of Kuwait and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The northern part of the partitioned zone was administered by Kuwait, whilst the southern part is the administrative responsibility of Saudi Arabia. The crude oil extracted from the partitioned zone has been equally shared by both countries.

The area of Kuwaiti territorial waters is estimated at about 2,200 sq miles, defined the boundaries of Kuwait’s territorial waters as 12 miles, for both the mainland and islands. They are divided into two parts; the shallow northern area, which is less than 5 meters deep in most places with a muddy bed, and the relatively deep southern area, which has a bed of sand and silica deposits. Most of Kuwait’s ports are located on the southern shore, taking advantage of the deep waters in this area.

Due to the location of Kuwait in the Sahara geographical region, the weather of the country is characterized by long, hot and dry summers and short, warm and sometimes rainy winters. Dust storms usually occur with a rise in humidity during summer. The highest temperature ever recorded was 52oC in July 1978, (making Kuwait the fourth hottest place in the world). The lowest temperature, -6oC, was recorded in January 1964. There is a wide variation of temperature, ranging from an average of 45oC in summer to an average of 8oC in winter. Such climate fluctuation is often accompanied by a change in the annual rainfall, which may vary from 22 mm one year to 352 mm the next.