STATE OF KUWAIT - Dawlat al-Kuwait

Kuwait (Arabic: الكويت‎ al-Kuwait), officially the State of Kuwait (Arabic: دولة الكويت‎ Dawlat al-Kuwait), is a country in Western Asia. Situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, it borders Iraq to the north and Saudi Arabia to the south. 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 approximately 70% of the population. Oil reserves were discovered in commercial quantities in 1938. In 1946, crude oil was exported for the first time. From 1946 to 1982, the country underwent large-scale modernization. In the 1980s, Kuwait experienced a period of geopolitical instability and an economic crisis following the stock market crash. In 1990, Kuwait was invaded, and later annexed, by Saddam's Iraq. The Iraqi occupation of Kuwait came to an end in 1991 after military intervention by a military coalition led by the United States. Kuwait is a constitutional sovereign state with a semi-democratic political system. Kuwait has a high-income economy backed by the world's sixth largest oil reserves. The Kuwaiti dinar is the highest valued currency in the world.

At present, there are five protected areas in Kuwait recognized by the IUCN. In response to Kuwait becoming the 169th signatory of the Ramsar Convention, Bubyan island's Mubarak al-Kabeer reserve was designated as the country's first Wetland of International Importance. The 50,948 ha reserve consists of small lagoons and shallow salt marshes and is important as a stop-over for migrating birds on two migration routes. The reserve is home to the world's largest breeding colony of crab-plover. More than 363 species of birds were recorded in Kuwait, 18 species of which breed in the country. Kuwait is situated at the crossroads of several major bird migration routes and between two and three million birds pass each year. The marshes in northern Kuwait and Jahra have become increasingly important as a refuge for passage migrants. Kuwaiti islands are important breeding areas for four species of tern and the socotra cormorant.

Kuwait's marine and littoral ecosystems contain the bulk of the country's biodiversity heritage. Twenty eight species of mammal are found in Kuwait; animals such as gerboa, desert rabbits and hedgehogs are common in the desert. Large carnivores, such as the wolf, caracal and jackal, are not found. Among the endangered mammalian species are the red fox and wild cat. Causes for wildlife extinction are habitat destruction and extensive unregulated hunting. Forty reptile species have been recorded although none are endemic to Kuwait.

The postal history of Kuwait begins around 1775, when the East India Company began an overland desert camel service from the head of the Persian Gulf to Aleppo and Constantinople as an alternative to slower sea travel around the Arabian Peninsula. This service operated until 1795. After the treaty with the British in 1899, the consul's office handled mail, using stamps sent from Bushire, and forwarding mail to Bushire or putting it on passing ships. The first dedicated post office opened on 21 January 1915, and used stamps of India. From 1 August 1921 to April 1941 the office was administered from nearby Basra in Iraq. From 1 April 1923, Indian stamp were issued with "KUWAIT" overprints; this practice continued for many years. 

In 1941 the post office was temporarily closed for about a month because of the Anglo-French invasion of Iraq (during which time mail was carried by diplomatic bag through London), then re-opened under Indian administration. Owing to wartime exigencies, the office used un-overprinted Indian stamps until 1945, when a new set of Indian stamps was overprinted. This phase came to an end with Indian independence; Kuwait was administered by Pakistan in 1947 and 1948, then by the British government directly from 1 April 1948. In 1957, the currency was decimalised, 100 naye paise (np) to a rupee, which necessitated a fresh set of overprints. These were to be the last stamps issued by the British. In anticipation of their coming independence, the Kuwaitis took over postal administration on 31 January 1959. A first set of Kuwaiti stamps had already gone into production, with 5np and 10np values depicting Sheik 'Abd Allah III al-Salim al-Sabah, and a 40np value showing a dhow, being used on local mail in 1958. 

As part of independence in 1961, the government established the Kuwaiti dinar as its currency and reissued the 1959 stamps in the new values. Kuwaiti issues came to an abrupt end with the 1990 invasion by Iraq. Iraqi stamps were used in the country until early 1991, at which point the regular Kuwaiti stamp program resumed.

The covers posted on October 4, 2015 and I received on December 01, 2015.