Bubiyan Island ( ar, جزيرة بوبيان) is the largest

island An island (or isle) is an isolated piece of habitat that is surrounded by a dramatically different habitat, such as water. Very small islands such as emergent land features on atolls can be called islets, skerries, cays or keys. An island ...

in the

Kuwait Kuwait (; ar, الكويت ', or ), officially the State of Kuwait ( ar, دولة الكويت '), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated in the northern edge of Eastern Arabia at the tip of the Persian Gulf, bordering Iraq to the nort ...

i coastal island chain situated in the north-western corner of the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf ( fa, خلیج فارس, translit=xalij-e fârs, lit=Gulf of Persis, Fars, ), sometimes called the ( ar, اَلْخَلِيْجُ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Khalīj al-ˁArabī), is a Mediterranean sea (oceanography), me ...

, with an area of . Bubiyan Island is part of the

Shatt al-Arab The Shatt al-Arab ( ar, شط العرب, lit=River of the Arabs; fa, اروندرود, Arvand Rud, lit=Swift River) is a river of some in length that is formed at the confluence of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the town of al-Qurnah in ...

delta. The

Mubarak Al Kabeer Port Mubarak Al Kabeer Port is a port in Bubiyan Island, Kuwait. The port is currently under construction. In April 2021, the port's first phase was completed (4 berths). The port is part of the Belt and Road Initiative. Purpose Mubarak Al Kabeer Por ...

is currently under construction on the island. As part of Mubarak Al Kabeer Port's development, there are plans for Bubiyan Island to contain power plants and substations. A 5,000-megawatt power plant has already been built in the neighbouring Kuwaiti region of Subiya.

History

Antiquity

Bubiyan was formed by debris from the Tigris–Euphrates river. There is archaeological evidence of

Sassanian The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

(300–650 AD) to early Islamic (650–800 AD) periods of human presence on Bubiyan as evidenced by the recent discovery of torpedo-jar pottery sherds on several prominent beach ridges.

Gulf War

During the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

of 1991, there was a big oil spill in the area; in addition to this, four spans of the bridge were destroyed; they were rebuilt in 1999. The island itself was converted to a military base in 1991. In November 1994,

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

formally accepted the UN-demarcated

border Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders c ...

with Kuwait which had been spelled out in

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

Resolutions 687 (1991),

773 __NOTOC__ Year 773 ( DCCLXXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. The denomination 773 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar e ...

(1992), and

833 __NOTOC__ Year 833 ( DCCCXXXIII) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Byzantine-Arab War: Emperor Theophilos signs an armistice for p ...

(1993) which formally ended an earlier claim to Bubiyan Island. The Iranian mainland is also very close to the island.

Ramsar Convention

In response to Kuwait becoming the 169th signatory of the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on Wetlands. It i ...

, the Mubarak al-Kabeer reserve was designated as the country's first Wetland of International Importance. The 50,948 hectare reserve consists of small lagoons and shallow

salt marsh A salt marsh or saltmarsh, also known as a coastal salt marsh or a tidal marsh, is a coastal ecosystem in the upper coastal intertidal zone between land and open saltwater or brackish water that is regularly flooded by the tides. It is domin ...

es and is important as a stop-over for migrating birds on two migration routes; Turkey to India and Eurasia to Africa. Breeding water-birds include the world's largest breeding colony of

Crab-plover The crab-plover or crab plover (''Dromas ardeola)'' is a bird related to the waders, but sufficiently distinctive to merit its own family Dromadidae. Its relationship within the Charadriiformes is unclear, some have considered it to be closely ...

(''Dromas ardeola''), and the surrounding sea is major nursery for many commercial fish species.

Geography

The island is mainly flat, while

es cover some coasts. There are several intermittent ''

wadi Wadi ( ar, وَادِي, wādī), alternatively ''wād'' ( ar, وَاد), North African Arabic Oued, is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley. In some instances, it may refer to a wet (ephemeral) riverbed that contains water onl ...

s'' in the center of the island. It is separated from the Iraqi coast in the northeast by the ''Al-Zubayr'' channel and from the Kuwaiti mainland in the southwest by the ''Al-Sabiyyah'' channel. The latter channel trends around the northern end of Bubiyan Island, separating it from

Warbah Island Warbah Island ( ar, جزيرة وربة) is an island belonging to Kuwait, located in the Persian Gulf, near the mouth of the Euphrates River. It is located roughly east of the Kuwaiti mainland, north of Bubiyan Island, and south of the Iraqi m ...

. northwest of ''Ras al Barshah'', the southernmost point, Bubiyan is linked to the mainland by a concrete girder bridge over the ''Khawr as Sabiyah'' channel, long, built in 1981-1983 and opened February 1983. The island is considered to be at risk of inundation due to

sea level rise Globally, sea levels are rising due to human-caused climate change. Between 1901 and 2018, the globally averaged sea level rose by , or 1–2 mm per year on average.IPCC, 2019Summary for Policymakers InIPCC Special Report on the Ocean and Cry ...

Mubarak Al Kabeer Port

is part of China's Belt and Road Initiative. Under China's Belt and Road Initiative, the Mubarak Al Kabeer Port is part of the first phase of the Silk City project. In September 2020, it was reported that the port is 53% complete. In March 2021, it was announced that Kuwait and Pakistan will develop linkages between Gwadar Port and Mubarak Al Kabeer Port. The Mubarak Al Kabeer Port is currently under construction. As part of Mubarak Al Kabeer Port's development, Bubiyan Island will contain power plants and substations. A 5,000-megawatt power plant has already been built in Subiya.

In literature

The island is mentioned in the 1933 science fiction work ''

The Shape of Things to Come ''The Shape of Things to Come'' is a work of science fiction by British writer H. G. Wells, published in 1933. It takes the form of a future history which ends in 2106. Synopsis A long economic slump causes a major war that leaves Europe dev ...

'' by

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells"Wells, H. G."
Revised 18 May 2015. ''

Basra Basra ( ar, ٱلْبَصْرَة, al-Baṣrah) is an Iraqi city located on the Shatt al-Arab. It had an estimated population of 1.4 million in 2018. Basra is also Iraq's main port, although it does not have deep water access, which is hand ...

References

External links

* Islands of Kuwait Disputed territories in the Persian Gulf Iraq–Kuwait border Islands of the Persian Gulf Uninhabited islands of Kuwait Ramsar sites in Kuwait Archaeological sites in Kuwait {{Kuwait-geo-stub