History of Kuwait late 16th century, the Portuguese built a defensive settlement in Kuwait. In 1613, the town of Kuwait was founded in the present-day location of Kuwait City. Kuwait was initially under the control of the Bani Khalid clan, who built a fishing village in present-day Kuwait Bay. The beginning of the eighteenth century witnessed the contention of Kuwait by the Bani Utub confederation. They migrated to Kuwait in 1682. As a result of successive matrimonial alliances, they were able to wrest control of Kuwait sometime after the death of Barrak Bin Urair [Bani Khaled] and the fall of the Bani Khaled
History of Kuwait terms of the newly drafted constitution, Kuwait held its first parliamentary elections in 1963. Kuwait was the first Arab state in the Persian Gulf to establish a constitution and parliament. In the 1960s and 1970s, Kuwait was the most developed country in the region. Kuwait was first Middle East country to diversify its revenue away from oil exports, establishing the Kuwait Investment Authority as the world's first sovereign wealth fund. From the 1970s onward, Kuwait scored highest of all Arab countries on the Human Development Index, and Kuwait University, founded in 1966, attracted students from neighboring countries. Kuwait's theatre industry