Early in the history of Kuwait, the island of Failaka, just off the coast, was settled by the Ancient Greeks in the 4th century BC. They named it Ikaros and it became a trading center for the area. Later the area would come under the control of the Parthian Empire and then the Sassanid Empire. During the 2nd century the land was known as Hajar.
The ancestors of the current Kuwaiti population arrived in the land in the 16th century. They were from the tribe of Nejd and set up the state of Kuwait in 1756. The first Emir of Kuwait was Sabah I bin Jaber. To this day his descendents rule Kuwait as the al-Sabah royal family.
In 1899, Kuwait signed an agreement with Britain where Britain would protect them as part of the agreement. Kuwait remained as a protectorate of Britain until 1961 when it became an independent nation.
In August 1990 Kuwait was invaded by Iraq. This sparked the First Gulf War when the United States led a United Nations force to remove Iraq from Kuwait.
