{{Short description|Small bay in Kuwait}} {{Use dmy dates|date=June 2024}} thumb|Kuwait Bay '''Jōn al Kuwayt''' (<small>{{langx|ar|جون الكويت}}, Gulf Arabic pronunciation: /d͡ʒoːn‿ɪlkweːt/</small>), also known as Kuwait Bay, is a bay in Kuwait. It is the head of the Persian Gulf. Kuwait City lies on a tip of the bay.
==History== Following the post-glacial flooding of the Persian Gulf basin, debris from the Tigris–Euphrates river formed a substantial delta, creating most of the land in present-day Kuwait and establishing the present coastlines.<ref name="flood">{{cite web|title=The Post-glacial Flooding of the Persian Gulf, animation and images|url=http://emvc.geol.ucsb.edu/2_infopgs/IP2IceAge/ePersGulfFlood.html|work=University of California, Santa Barbara}}</ref> Historically, northern Kuwait was part of ancient Mesopotamia.<ref name="palgrave">{{cite book |last1=Macmillan|first1=Palgrave|title=The Statesman's Yearbook |chapter=Kuwait |series=The Statesman's Yearbook|year=2016|pages=727–731|doi=10.1007/978-1-349-68398-7_258 |isbn=978-1-137-44008-2|chapter-url=https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007%2F978-1-349-68398-7_258}}</ref> One of the earliest evidence of human habitation in southern Kuwait dates back 8000 B.C. where Mesolithic tools were found in Burgan.<ref name="archa">{{cite web|work=Cardiff University|title=The Archaeology of Kuwait|url=http://orca.cf.ac.uk/41961/7/Almutari%20PhD.pdf|pages=1–427}}</ref> The Neolithic inhabitants of Kuwait were among the world's earliest maritime traders.<ref name="se">{{cite journal|author= Robert Carter|year=2011|title=The Neolithic origins of seafaring in the Arabian Gulf |journal=Archaeology International|volume=24 |issue=3|pages=44|doi=10.5334/ai.0613|doi-access=free}}</ref> During the Ubaid period (6500 BC), Kuwait was the central site of interaction between the peoples of Mesopotamia and Neolithic Eastern Arabia,<ref name="meso">{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|year=2019|title=The Mesopotamian frontier of the Arabian Neolithic: A cultural borderland of the sixth–fifth millennia BC|url=https://www.academia.edu/41130012|journal=Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=31|issue=1|pages=69–85|doi=10.1111/aae.12145|s2cid=213877028 |doi-access=}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Robert Carter|title=Maritime Interactions in the Arabian Neolithic: The Evidence from H3, As-Sabiyah, an Ubaid-Related Site in Kuwait|url=http://www.brill.com/maritime-interactions-arabian-neolithic|isbn=9789004163591|publisher=BRILL|date=25 October 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|title=Boat remains and maritime trade in the Persian Gulf during the sixth and fifth millennia BC|journal=Antiquity |date=2006 |volume=80 |issue=307 |pages=52–63 |doi=10.1017/s0003598x0009325x |s2cid=162674282 |url=http://dro.dur.ac.uk/3673/1/3673.pdf}}</ref> including Bahra 1 and site H3 in Subiya.<ref name="meso"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Robert Carter|title=Ubaid-period boat remains from As-Sabiyah: excavations by the British Archaeological Expedition to Kuwait|journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies|volume=32|pages=13–30|jstor=41223721|year=2002}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author1=Robert Carter |author2=Graham Philip |title=Beyond the Ubaid: Transformation and integration in the late prehistoric societies of the Middle East|url=https://oi.uchicago.edu/sites/oi.uchicago.edu/files/uploads/shared/docs/saoc63.pdf}}</ref> One of the world's earliest reed-boats was discovered at site H3 dating back to the Ubaid period.<ref name="auto">{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/kuwait/1314980/Secrets-of-worlds-oldest-boat-are-discovered-in-Kuwait-sands.html |title=Secrets of world's oldest boat are discovered in Kuwait sands|work=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=21 August 2013|date=31 March 2001|last1=Weekes|first1=Richard}}</ref>
In 4000 BC until 2000 BC, Kuwait Bay was home to the Dilmun civilization.<ref name=ak>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-wzw-SeJic&t=171 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/g-wzw-SeJic |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Kuwait's archaeological sites reflect human history & civilizations (2:50 – 3:02)|work=Ministry of Interior News}}{{cbignore}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fhMTRcUm9WsC&pg=PA7|title=The Invention of Cuneiform: Writing in Sumer|work=Jean-Jacques Glassner|year=1990|page=7|isbn=9780801873898|last1=Glassner|first1=Jean-Jacques|last2=Herron|first2=Donald M.|publisher=JHU Press }}</ref><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BPX0h_wbFtEC&pg=PA11 |title=Area Handbook for the Persian Gulf States|work=Richard F. Nyrop|year=2008|page=11|quote=From about 4000 to 2000 B.C. the civilization of Dilmun dominated 250 miles of the eastern coast of Arabia from present-day Kuwait to Bahrain and extended sixty miles into the interior to the oasis of Hufuf (see fig. 2).|isbn=9781434462107|last1=Nyrop|first1=Richard F.|publisher=Wildside Press LLC }}</ref> Dilmun's control of the bay of Kuwait included mainland Akkaz,<ref name=ak/> Umm an Namil,<ref name=ak/><ref name=akkaz>{{cite journal|journal=Jacques Connan, Robert Carter|volume=18|issue=2|pages=139–181|title=A geochemical study of bituminous mixtures from Failaka and Umm an-Namel (Kuwait), from the Early Dilmun to the Early Islamic period|year=2007|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0471.2007.00283.x|last1=Connan|first1=Jacques|last2=Carter|first2=Robert}}</ref> and Failaka.<ref name=ak/><ref name="umm">{{cite journal |last1=Calvet |first1=Yves |year=1989 |title=Failaka and the Northern Part of Dilmun |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41223078 |journal=Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies |volume=19 |pages=5–11 |jstor=41223078}}</ref> At its peak in 2000 BC, the Dilmun empire controlled the trade routes from Mesopotamia to India and the Indus Valley civilization. Dilmun's commercial power began to decline after 1800 BC. Piracy flourished throughout the region during Dilmun's decline. After 600 BC, the Babylonians added Dilmun to their empire.
At the time of Alexander the Great, the mouth of the Euphrates River was located in northern Kuwait.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/> The Euphrates river flowed directly into the Persian Gulf via Khor Subiya which was a river channel at the time.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates>{{cite book|author=Andreas P. Parpas|title=Naval and Maritime Activities of Alexander the Great in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf|url=https://www.academia.edu/35498091|pages=62–117|year=2016}}</ref><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river>{{cite book|editor=Hermann Gasche|title=The Persian Gulf shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach|url=https://www.academia.edu/7531835|pages=19–54|year=2004}}</ref> Failaka was located 15 kilometers from the mouth of the Euphrates river.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/> By the first century BC, the Khor Subiya river channel dried out completely.<ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates/><ref name=Khor_Subiya_Mouth_of_Euphrates_river/>
During the Achaemenid period (c. 550‒330 BC), Kuwait Bay was repopulated.<ref name=journal>{{cite journal|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aae.12195?af=R|last1=Bonnéric|first1=Julie|title=Guest editors' foreword|year=2021|journal= Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy|volume=32|pages=1–5|doi=10.1111/aae.12195|s2cid=243182467}}</ref> There are Aramaic inscriptions that testify Achaemenid presence.<ref name=antiquity>{{cite web|url=https://www.ancientportsantiques.com/wp-content/uploads/Documents/PLACES/IndOc-Gulf/IkarosFailaka-Parpas2014.pdf|title=Hellenistic Ikaros-Failaka|author=Andreas P. Parpas|pages=5}}</ref> In 127 BC, Kuwait was part of the Parthian Empire and the kingdom of Characene was established around Teredon in present-day Kuwait. Characene was centered in the region encompassing southern Mesopotamia,<ref>{{cite book|author=Kaveh Farrokh|title=Shadows in the Desert: Ancient Persia at War|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qbSuPQAACAAJ|pages=124|quote=With Babylon and Seleucia secured, Mehrdad turned to Charax in southern Mesopotamia (modern south Iraq and Kuwait).|year=2007|publisher=Bloomsbury USA |isbn=9781846031083}}</ref> Characene coins were discovered in Akkaz, Umm an Namil, and Failaka.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PtzWAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA275|title=Indian Ocean In Antiquity|page=275|year=1996|publisher=Routledge |isbn=9781136155314|editor=Julian Reade}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://berlinarchaeology.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/colledge-1987.pdf|title=Hellenism in the East|work=Amelie Kuhrt, Susan Sherwin-White|year=1987|quote=To the south of Characene, on Failaka, the north wall of the fort was pushed forward, before occupation ceased around 100 BC.}}</ref> A busy Parthian era Characene commercial station existed in Kuwait.<ref name=chach>{{cite web|url=https://www.academia.edu/1382592|title=A Parthian Harbour in the Gulf: the Characene|author=Leonardo Gregoratti|pages=216|access-date=30 April 2022|archive-date=20 September 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220920172736/https://www.academia.edu/1382592|url-status=dead}}</ref> The earliest recorded mention of Kuwait was in 150 AD in the geographical treatise ''Geography'' by Greek scholar Ptolemy.<ref name=sa>{{cite web|url= https://www.medea.be/2010/02/the-european-exploration-of-kuwait/|title=The European Exploration of Kuwait|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140323134157/https://www.medea.be/2010/02/the-european-exploration-of-kuwait/|access-date=21 July 2013|archive-date=23 March 2014}}</ref> Ptolemy mentioned the Bay of Kuwait as ''Hieros Kolpos'' (''Sacer Sinus'' in the Latin versions).<ref name=sa/>
Most of present-day Kuwait Bay is still archaeologically unexplored.<ref name="meso"/><ref name="archa"/> According to several famous archaeologists and geologists, Kuwait was likely the original location of the Pishon River which watered the Garden of Eden.<ref name="The_Kuwait_River">{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/30/science/science-watch-signs-of-ancient-river.html|title=Signs of Ancient River|date=30 March 1993|work=The New York Times}}</ref><ref name="pishon">[https://web.archive.org/web/20110725001800/http://focusmagazine.org/Articles/pishonriver.htm The Pishon River – Found]</ref><ref name="jamesk">James K. Hoffmeier, ''The Archaeology of the Bible'', Lion Hudson: Oxford, England, 34–35</ref> Juris Zarins argued that the Garden of Eden was situated at the head of the Persian Gulf (present-day Kuwait), where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers run into the sea, from his research on this area using information from many different sources, including LANDSAT images from space. His suggestion about the Pishon River was supported by James A. Sauer of the American Center of Oriental Research.<ref name="Kuwait_River">{{cite magazine | last = Sauer | first = James A. | date = July–August 1996 | title = The River Runs Dry: Creation Story Preserves Historical Memory | url = https://www.baslibrary.org/biblical-archaeology-review/22/4/3 | magazine = Biblical Archaeology Review | publisher = Biblical Archaeology Society | volume = 22 | issue = 4 | pages = 52–54, 57, 64 | access-date = 17 November 2019 }}</ref> Sauer made an argument from geology and history that Pishon River was the now-defunct Kuwait River.<ref name="Kuwait_River"/> With the aid of satellite photos, Farouk El-Baz traced the dry channel from Kuwait up the Wadi Al-Batin.<ref name="The_Kuwait_River"/><ref name="jamesk"/><ref name="pishon"/>
==See also== *Geography of Kuwait
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
{{Coord|29|26|N|47|56|E|display=title|region:KW_type:waterbody_source:GNS-enwiki}} {{Kuwait City}} {{Authority control}}
Category:Bodies of water of Kuwait Category:Bays of Kuwait Category:Archaeological sites in Kuwait