This agreement was made between Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah and the British Government in India, primarily as a defensive measure against threats from the Ottoman Empire.

[3][4][5] After Al-Hasa Expedition 1871, Kuwait become a nominal vassal of the Ottoman Empire in 1871 and was included in the Basra Vilayet.

After a quarrel between them and some inhabitants of the region, they departed and settled near Umm Qasr in December 1701, living as brigands, raiding passing caravans and levying taxes over the shipping of the Shatt al-Arab.

After the arrival of the Bani Utbah, Kuwait gradually became a port for the transit of goods between India, Muscat, Baghdad, Persia, and Arabia.

[12] Between the years 1775 and 1779, the Indian trade routes with Baghdad, Aleppo, Smyrna and Constantinople were diverted to Kuwait.

[11] The English Factory secured the sea routes between Kuwait, India and the east coasts of Africa.

[11] This allowed Kuwaiti vessels to venture all the way to the pearling banks of Sri Lanka and trade goods with India and East Africa.

[13] In the late 18th century, Kuwait partly functioned as a haven for Basra's merchants fleeing Ottoman government persecution.

[11] By 1800, it was estimated that Kuwait's sea trade reached 16 million Bombay rupees, a substantial amount at that time.

Kuwait was a central part of the trade in frankincense from Oman, textiles from China, and Indian spices, all destined for lucrative European markets.

[14] In the 1870s, Ottoman officials were reasserting their presence in the Persian Gulf, with a military intervention in 1871—which was not effectively pursued—where family rivalries in Kuwait were breeding chaos.

[2] In May 1896, Shaikh Muhammad Al-Sabah was assassinated by his half-brother, Mubarak, who, in early 1897, was recognized, by the Ottoman sultan, as the qaimmaqam (provincial sub-governor) of Kuwait.

[1] Mubarak's seizure of the throne via murder left his brother's former allies as a threat to his rule, especially as his opponents gained the backing of the Ottomans.

[2] This led to what is known as the First Kuwaiti Crisis, in which the Ottomans demanded that the British stop interfering within what they believed to be was their sphere of influence.

Therefore, three wealthy business men Ibrahim Al-Mudhaf, Helal Al-Mutairi, and Shamlan Ali bin Saif Al-Roumi (brother of Hussain Ali bin Saif Al-Roumi), led a protest against Mubarak by making Bahrain their main trade point, which negatively affected the Kuwaiti economy.

In 1915, Mubarak the Great died and was succeeded by his son Jaber II Al-Sabah, who reigned for just over one year until his death in early 1917.

Under the rule of Mubarak, Kuwait was dubbed the "Marseille of the Gulf" because its economic vitality attracted a large variety of people.

As it was the outlet from the north to the Gulf and hence to the Indies, merchants from Bombay and Tehran, Indians, Persians, Syrians from Aleppo and Damascus, Armenians, Turks and Jews, traders from all the East, and some Europeans came to Kuwait.

[29] The convention ruled that Sheikh Mubarak had independent authority over an area extending out to a radius of 80 kilometres (50 mi) from the capital.

This region was marked by a red circle and included the islands of Auhah, Bubiyan, Failaka, Kubbar, Mashyan, and Warba.

A green circle designated an area extending out an additional 100 kilometres (62 mi) in radius, within which the kaymakam was authorised to collect tribute and taxes from the natives.

In the first decades of the twentieth century, Kuwait had a well-established elite: wealthy trading families who were linked by marriage and shared economic interests.

[36] A force of 4,000 Saudi Ikhwan, led by Faisal Al-Dawish, attacked the Kuwait Red Fort at Al-Jahra, defended by 2,000 Kuwaiti men.

In response to the various Bedouin raids, the British High Commissioner in Baghdad, Sir Percy Cox, imposed the Uqair Protocol of 1922 which defined the boundaries between Iraq, Kuwait and Nejd.

On 19 April, Sir Percy stated that the British government recognised the outer line of the convention as the border between Iraq and Kuwait.

In 1913, Kuwait was recognised as a separate province from Basra Vilayet and given autonomy under Ottoman suzerainty in the draft Anglo-Ottoman Convention, however this was not signed before the outbreak of the first World War.