My trip to Kuwait, part 2: Kuwaiti society and culture

When I first got to Kuwait, I was expecting to see all the men wearing keffiyehs and agals like I showed you in my last post. I like to discover as much traditional local culture as possible when I travel. But what I found was that not as many men wear keffiyehs as I had anticipated. It turns out that only about half of Kuwait's population is actually from Kuwait. The other half is made up of migrants from all over the world who have come to live and work in Kuwait, especially in the oil industry. Often, these migrants are men who travel to Kuwait without their families and only intend to stay for a short period of time. In some other Persian Gulf countries (such as Bahrain), the number of foreign migrants greatly exceeds the local population. In Kuwait, the foreign population is about 50%. The greatest number of migrants come from poor countries in South Asia such as Pakistan and Bangladesh. Their presence, along with Kuwait's traditional cultural and economic links to other parts of the world, make Kuwait a very diverse place.

My trip to Kuwait, part 1: the Persian Gulf

In March, I had an opportunity to head to Kuwait. Kuwait is a very small country on the Persian Gulf. Those of you who are keeping track of all my adventures will know that Kuwait is the fourth Arab country I have blogged about (after Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon, plus Bobbe is in Morocco). It is also the seventh predominately Muslim country I have visited (after Tunisia, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Pakistan, and Malaysia).

One thing you need to know about Kuwait is that it is a very rich country. The Persian Gulf, as you might know, is a place where lots of oil can be found. All of the eight countries that border the Persian Gulf (Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, and Oman) have very important oil industries. The Persian Gulf, however, is important for more than just oil. For hundreds of years, Kuwait's economy and culture have been based on the exchange of goods and ideas throughout the Persian Gulf and beyond into the Indian Ocean.