Failaka Island
Native name: جزيرة فيلچا | |
---|---|
Geography | |
Location | Persian Gulf |
Coordinates | 29°26′20″N 48°20′00″E / 29.43889°N 48.33333°E |
Administration | |
Province | Capital Governorate (Kuwait) |
Demographics | |
Population | 147 (2011)[1] |
Failaka Island (
Failaka Island is located 50 km southeast of the spot where the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers empty into the Persian Gulf.[3] For thousands of years, the island has been a strategic prize to control the lucrative trade that passed up and down the Persian Gulf.[4][3] Failaka Island has been a strategic location since the rise of the Sumerian city-state of Ur.[4] Up until the Gulf War, it was the longest continuously inhabited place in Kuwait.[5]
History
Antiquity
Failaka has been a strategic location since the rise of the
In 4000 BC until 2000 BC, the
During the Dilmun era (from ca. 3000 BC), Failaka was known as "
From about 1650 BC there is a further inscription on a seal found at Failaka and preserving a king's name. The short text readsː [La]'ù-la Panipa, daughter of Sumu-lěl, the servant of Inzak of Akarum. Sumu-lěl was evidently a third king of Dilmun belonging to about this period. Servant of Inzak of Akarum was the king's title in Dilmun. The names of these later rulers are Amoritic.[15]
Despite the scholarly consensus that ancient Dilmun encompasses three modern locations - the eastern littoral of Arabia from the vicinity of modern Kuwait to Bahrain; the island of Bahrain; the island of Failaka of Kuwait - few researchers have taken into account the radically different geography of the basin represented by the Persian Gulf before its reflooding as sea levels rose about 6000 BCE.[16]
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.
After the Dilmun civilization, Failaka was inhabited by the Kassites of Mesopotamia,[17] and was formally under the control of the Kassite dynasty of Babylon.[17] Studies indicate traces of human settlement can be found on Failaka dating back to as early as the end of the 3rd millennium BC, and extending until the 20th century AD.[12] Many of the artifacts found in Falaika are linked to Mesopotamian civilizations and seem to show that Failaka was gradually drawn toward the civilization based in Antioch.[18]
Under
After an apparent abandonment of about seven centuries, the bay of Kuwait was repopulated during the
According to
According to another account, having returned from
During
Remains of the settlement include a large
At the time of Alexander the Great, the mouth of the Euphrates River was located in northern Kuwait.[43][44] The Euphrates river flowed directly into the Persian Gulf via Khor Subiya which was a river channel at the time.[43][44] Failaka was located 15 kilometers from the mouth of the Euphrates river.[43][44] By the first century BC, the Khor Subiya river channel dried out completely.[43][44]
In 127 BC, the kingdom of Characene was established around Teredon in present-day Kuwait.[45][46][47] Characene was centered in the region encompassing southern Mesopotamia,[48] including Failaka island.[49] A busy Parthian era Characene commercial station existed on Failaka island.[40]
Failaka was also under the influence of the Achaemenid Empire.[42][21] There are Aramaic inscriptions that testify Achaemenid presence.[42]
There are also late
Modern era
Prior to the 1990
After the war, Failaka was cleared of mines, but it remains under military use to some extent. Nevertheless, Failaka Island is becoming a popular holiday destination from Kuwait City since the establishment of the "Wanasa Beach" resort including live music, horse-riding, canoeing, and kayaking activities.
Climate, geography and the future
Failaka Island is located in the northern part of the Persian Gulf. Springtime on Failaka Island is regarded as particularly special by Kuwaitis. Failaka has quite a different ecosystem than mainland Kuwait and its budding flowers and changing temperatures are much appreciated. Although the island's infrastructure remains poor, Failaka is beginning to develop a local tourist industry based upon fishing, boating, swimming, sailing and other water sports.
The few remaining local residents are mostly those Failakawans who lived with their families on the island prior to the Iraqi Invasion of 1990. Most Failakawans have their own boats; while some are involved in tourism many others reticent about letting tourism detract from the quiet island life. Some Failakawan families, although now living in mainland Kuwait, regularly go to the island on weekends.
On the mainland, in Kuwait City, there have been various schemes to build a bridge to the island and develop Failaka into a vacation paradise. A new hotel resort has encouraged many of the improvements.
Archaeology
Failaka is a principal center of archaeology in Kuwait. Since the fieldwork conducted by the Danish team under the supervision of Geoffrey Bibby in the 1950s, archaeologists from France, the United States, Slovakia, Italy, Greece, and, more recently, from Poland and Georgia have worked there.[57][58]
Population
The majority of Kuwaitis from Failaka Island are of Iranian ancestry.
See also
- Akkaz Island
- Umm an Namil Island
- Ikaros (Failaka Island)
- Agarum
- H3 (Kuwait)
- Bahra 1
- Kazma
- Subiya, Kuwait
Notes
- ^ "Geoportal for Kuwait Census 2011". Central Statistical Bureau of Kuwait. Retrieved 26 November 2019.
- ^ BBC News article
- ^ a b "Failaka Island, Kuwait". Jet Propulsion Laboratory. 4 April 2013.
- ^ a b c d e f "Failaka Island – Silk Roads Programme". UNESCO.
- ISBN 9781502636416.
- ^ Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- ^ a b c d "Kuwait's archaeological sites reflect human history & civilizations (2:50 – 3:02)". Ministry of Interior News. Archived from the original on 2021-12-21.
- )
- ISBN 9781434462107.)
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).
{{cite book}}
:|work=
ignored (help - ^ JSTOR 41223078.
- .
- ^ a b c "Sa'ad and Sae'ed Area in Failaka Island". UNESCO. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
- ^ Black & Green 1992, p. 66.
- ^ Potts, Daniel T.. Mesopotamian civilization: the material foundations. 1997
- ISBN 978-87-93423-16-9, pp. 428-430
- ^ "8000 years BP": Jeffrey Rose, "New light on human prehistory in the Arabo-Persian Gulf oasis" Current Anthropology 51.6 (December 2010)
- ^ a b Potts, D.T. (2009). "Potts 2009 – The archaeology and early history of the Persian Gulf": 35.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Tétreault, Mary Ann. "Failaka Island: Unearthing the Past in Kuwait". Middle East Institute. Retrieved 21 July 2013.
- ^ "Brill's New Pauly: encyclopedia of the ancient world". 2007. p. 212.
- )
- ^ )
- ^ )
- S2CID 243182467.
- ISBN 9780333212479.
- ISBN 9780904439106.
- ISBN 9780900751127.
- ^ Jalālzaʼī, Mūsá Ḵh̲ān (1991). "as+provedby+the+famous+stone+of+Ikaros K̲h̲alīj aur bainulaqvāmī siyāsat. p. 34.
- ^ Makharadze, Zurab; Kvirkvelia, Guram; Murvanidze, Bidzina; Chkhvimiani, Jimsher; Ad Duweish, Sultan; Al Mutairi, Hamed; Lordkipanidze, David (2017). "Kuwait-Georgian Archaeological Mission – Archaeological Investigations on the Island of Failaka in 2011–2017" (PDF). Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. 11 (4): 178.
- ^ J. Hansamans, Charax and the Karkhen, Iranica Antiquitua 7 (1967) page 21-58
- ^ a b c Arrian, Anabasis of Alexander, §7.20
- ISBN 9788793423190.
- ISBN 9781134967933.
- ISBN 9781136155314.
- ^ Dionysius of Alexandria, Guide to the Inhabited World, §600
- ^ Aelian, Characteristics of Animals, §11.9
- ^ Strabo, Geography, §16.3.2
- ^ Stephanus of Byzantium, Ethnica, §I329.12
- ^ Ptolemaeus, Geography, §6.7.47
- Medieval Times Princeton University Press, page 131
- ^ a b Leonardo Gregoratti. "A Parthian Harbour in the Gulf: the Characene". p. 216.
- ISBN 978-0-19-754327-6.
- ^ a b c d e Andreas P. Parpas. "HELLENISTIC IKAROS-FAILAKA" (PDF). p. 5.
- ^ a b c d Andreas P. Parpas (2016). Naval and Maritime Activities of Alexander the Great in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf. pp. 62–117.
- ^ a b c d Hermann Gasche, ed. (2004). "The Persian Gulf shorelines and the Karkheh, Karun and Jarrahi Rivers: A Geo-Archaeological Approach": 19–54.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^ Andreas P. Parpas (2016). The Hellenistic Gulf: Greek Naval Presence in South Mesopotamia and the Gulf (324-64 B.C.). p. 79.
- ^ "Travel - Peter Harrington London" (PDF). Peter Harrington. 2017. p. 4.
- JSTOR 1801121.
- ISBN 9781846031083.
With Babylon and Seleucia secured, Mehrdad turned to Charax in southern Mesopotamia (modern south Iraq and Kuwait).
- ^ "Hellenism in the East" (PDF). Amelie Kuhrt, Susan Sherwin-White. 1987.
To the south of Characene, on Failaka, the north wall of the fort was pushed forward, before occupation ceased around 100 BC.
- S2CID 234836940.
- S2CID 233612913.
- ^ Archaeology Magazine. Retrieved 28 August 2013.
- ^ "Christianity in the Arab-Persian Gulf: an ancient but still obscure history", Julie Bonnéric
- ^ Vincent Bernard and Jean Francois Salles, "Discovery of a Christian Church at Al-Qusur, Failaka (Kuwait)," Proceedings of the Seminar for Arabian Studies 21 (1991), 7–21. Vincent Bernard, Olivier Callot and Jean Francois Salles, "L'eglise d'al-Qousour Failaka, Etat de Koweit," Arabian Archaeology and Epigraphy 2 (1991): 145–181.
- ^ Yves Calvet, "Monuments paléo-chrétiens à Koweit et dans la région du Golfe," Symposium Syriacum, Uppsala University, Department of Asian and African Languages, 11–14 August 1996, Orientalia Christiana Analecta 256 (Rome, 1998), 671–673.
- ^ "US psy-ops play it loud". BBC News. 2003-03-17. Retrieved 2010-05-02.
- ^ Αρχαιολογία: Ελληνες στο Κουβέιτ[permanent dead link] (in Greek)
- ^ Makharadze, Zurab; Kvirkvelia, Guram; Murvanidze, Bidzina; Chkhvimiani, Jimsher; Ad Duweish, Sultan; Al Mutairi, Hamed; Lordkipanidze, David (2017). "Kuwait-Georgian Archaeological Mission – Archaeological Investigations on the Island of Failaka in 2011–2017" (PDF). Bulletin of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. 11 (4): 178.
- ^ a b c d e f g Zubaydah Ali M. Ashkanani (June 1988). Middle-aged women in Kuwait: Victims of change (Thesis). Durham University. pp. 309–310.
The Social Composition of Failakans
Further reading
Hellenistic Failaka
- H.E. Mathiesen et al., Ikaros: The Hellenistic Settlements, 4 vols. (Copenhagen, 1982–1989).
- C. Roueché and S. Sherwin-White, 'Some aspects of the Seleucid Empire: The Greek inscriptions from Failaka in the Persian Gulf' Chiron 15 (1985) 1–39.
- J. Naveh, 'The inscriptions from Failaka and the lapidary Aramaic script' Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 297 (1995) 1–4.
Bibliography
- Black, Jeremy; Green, Anthony (1992), Gods, Demons and Symbols of Ancient Mesopotamia: An Illustrated Dictionary, The British Museum * Press, ISBN 0714117056