Short answers, pulled from the story.
Kuwait officially became an independent state in June 1961, when its British protectorate agreements ended and Sheikh Abdullah Al-Salim Al-Sabah became Emir. Iraq initially refused to recognize the new state, claiming Kuwait as its own territory, but recognized Kuwait's 1932 borders in a treaty signed in 1963.
Oil was first discovered in Kuwait on the 22nd of February 1938, in the Burgan field. Commercial crude oil exports began in 1946, and by 1952 Kuwait had become the largest oil exporter in the Persian Gulf region.
Iraqi forces invaded and annexed Kuwait in August 1990 without warning, installing a puppet regime under Saddam Hussein. Nearly 1,000 civilians were killed during the occupation, and 600 people went missing; remains of approximately 375 were later found in mass graves in Iraq. A US-led coalition expelled Iraqi forces on the 26th of February 1991 during Operation Desert Storm.
Kuwait's population of 4.82 million consists of 1.53 million Kuwaiti citizens and 3.29 million foreign nationals from over 100 countries. Citizens account for fewer than 30 percent of the total population. In 2024, Kuwait ranked seventh in the world for the proportion of its population made up of foreign nationals.
The Kuwait Investment Authority is the world's oldest sovereign wealth fund, established in 1953 when the Kuwaiti government began directing oil revenues into investments in Europe, the United States, and the Asia-Pacific. By 2021, its holdings were valued at around $700 billion in assets, making it the third largest sovereign wealth fund in the world.
At its height, Kuwait's pearl industry led the world's luxury market, regularly sending out between 750 and 800 ships to supply European buyers with pearls. The industry collapsed during the Great Depression when European demand for luxury goods fell, and Japan's introduction of cultured pearls removed Kuwait's competitive advantage.