La valoración de la funcionalidad entre el despido y las causas de empresa

Failaka was populated until the Iraq invasion of 1990, after which time people left and did not return; many of the remaining houses were destroyed by Gulf War II (Salem 2006, 289). Failaka Island has the most archaeological sites in Kuwait, beginning in the Bronze Age reaching to the modern period. It is located on the west coast of the Arabian Gulf, off Kuwait Bay, approximately 19km from the Ras al-Ardh port on the Kuwait mainland (see Figures 2.3 and 2.4). Ras-Sabbiyah is the closest point on the mainland to the island which is only approximately 12.7km away (al-Mutairi 2010, 12). Failaka Island is relatively small and triangular shaped (Salem 2006, 11). The length of the island is approximately 20km and its width 6.5km, and the estimated area of the island is around 44km (al-Failakāwī 2000, 13).

Figure 2.3. Kuwait Map showing Failaka Island (Gharbiah 1989, 15).

Figure 2.4. Archaeological sites in Failaka Island (Benediková 2008, 12).

The island is a flat land and the highest point is in the Shabaikā hills that reach up to approximately 7m. The island is characterised by shallow water. The tidal movements on the island create natural basins that are appropriate for docking, such as at Dohat Sa‘idā Port and al-Khidr Port (Mustafa 1988, 76-9).

The fertile land of Failaka Island consists of limestone with sand covering about 75% of the island (Mustafa 1988, 92-102). The climate of the island is similar

to Kuwait’s, where the weather is cold in the winter and the temperature range is 8-18 C˚, while the temperature rises in the summer up to 25-45 C˚. The movement of the wind is influenced by the northwest winds that are active throughout the year, and then by the southeast wind. Rainfall is relatively low and normally occurs in the winter only (al-Kūlayb 1990, 10-12, 75). As for the source of water on the island, it relies on rain and wells. Since records have begun ships have stopped to supply water from the ports of the island (al-Mutairi 2010, 14). According to Sumerian sources, the water was sacred and this is the place of the god of water, known as the Enki (Salem 2006, 10). Even in modern periods (e.g. 18th century AD) with the emergence of the State of Kuwait, Kuwait City was supplied with water from Failaka Island (Lorimer 1970, 1509). Al-Shamlan (1986a) stated that Failaka Island has many fresh wells (see Figure 2.5), such as, al-Mamzer, al-Jaryan, al-Naser, al-Mutaitah, Dar Um Salem, al- Quraniya, Sa‘ida Village, Khara’ib Dhasht and Bu Guba'ah well (al-Failakāwī 2000, 19-25).

Figure 2.5. Map showing some well locations in Failaka Island as indicated by black dots (al-Mutairi 2010, 247).

A brief history of Failaka Island

Failaka was mentioned in many ancient sources, and perhaps the most famous one is by the Greek voyager Strabo (64BC - AD21); he borrowed most of the description from Eratosthenes who was a geographer living in the 3rd century BC. Strabo stated that when Alexander the Great returned from the Indus land, he demanded that his naval commander, Nearchos, return to Babylon by sea in order to identify the Arabian Gulf coast. The commander, when he returned to Alexander the Great, mentioned the Island at the mouth of the Euphrates (Shatt al-Arab) and Alexander named it ‘Ikaros’ (Calvet 1983, 21-2).

Arrian, in AD170, wrote about the campaign of Alexander the Great and stated that there were two islands away from the mouth of the Euphrates. The first one was away from the Euphrates by approximately 120 stadiums (an ancient Greek measurement: 1 stadium = 185m) and this island was covered by types of trees and had a temple for the goddess Artemis and its people took care of the temple. They herded wild goats, which were not allowed to be hunted except to sacrifice them to Artemis gods. Arrian attributed the name of Ikaros to Alexander as there was an island located on the Aegean Sea called Ikaros also. The second one was Tylos, which is Bahrian Island (Calvet 1983, 26-7).

The name was possibly formulated from the name of a famous temple of the island of Failaka, which was the Ichara temple, in the first half of the first millennium BC (Glassner 1983, 47; Gharbiah and al-Najjar 1990, 118-9). This has not been found so far, but the strong similarities between the name of the temple and the Greek name make this possible (Rice 2002, 304; Potts 2003a, 928-932).

The Danish archaeological team began its excavations on Failaka Island in 1957-1963. The team discovered in the Hellenistic fort site F5, engraved sand stone with Greek writing consisting of 44 lines, which was a message from one of the Seleucsid rulers, who perhaps was Seleucus II (246 - 226BC), to Ikadion who was one of the Khuzestan leaders. The latter sent it to the Failaka Island Governor Anaxarchos to regulate activities on the island. This inscription confirmed the Ikaros name of Failaka Island (Jeppesen 1989, 103). There are no indications for the name of the island before the Hellenistic period, but Glassner (1983) reported that there is a possibility that the name ‘Agarum’, which was found inscribed on a piece of stone, may have been formulated from the word ‘Akarum‘, and perhaps the Greeks changed it to Ikaros.

The name of Ichara mentioned in the map of the Arabian Peninsula and the Arabian Gulf region, dates to AD150 (al-Ghunaim 1992, 12). During subsequent centuries, the name of the island was not mentioned in the historical and geographical sources until the 17th century AD, during the presence of the Portuguese in the Arabian Gulf, who refer to it as ‘il ya de Aguada’, which means ‘Well Island‘. On this point, al-Mutairi (2010) reported that in the beginning of AD1000 perhaps the boats developed and became much bigger, therefore they needed deeper water. For this reason the route may have been changed and the name of Failaka Island neglected. As for the current name of Failaka, or by local pronunciation Failacha, it was mentioned as Peluche on a map drawn by Thornton, AD1716, who was a British pilot. It may be that he formulated this name from the local name (Slot 2003. 95). The local name Failacha may have been formulated from ‘Falach’ which means ‘water channel’, and there is a possibility that there was a water channel exposed during a drought in Failaka Island (Salem 1985, 14).

The economies of Failaka Island

Failaka is an island and links to the outside world by boat. The vital role of this island was in its commercial abilities. However, the information associated with the commercial activity of the island is limited, and most dates back to the prehistoric period. Failaka has been identified as a transit station in the Arabian Gulf during the second millennium BC. This interpretation is supported by the archaeology as there is evidence of pottery from Mesopotamia, Iran, Oman and the Indus Valley (Hojlund1987, 11-2; see Chapter 5). Signs indicate to the continuation of the island as a trading station during the first millennium BC, despite the collapse of the second millennium BC settlements (see Chapters 5 and 6). The information derived from archaeological sites, such as the Governor's Palace and the Temple Tower, Tell al- Khazna and the Hellenistic fort, promotes the commercial role which has been played by the island between Mesopotamia and southern Arabian Gulf (al-Mutairi 2010, 31). Archaeological evidence of the Islamic period is available through the al- Qusur site (see Chapters 7 and 8). In this site, stones from the date fruit (Phoenix dactylifera) have been found, which indicates that residents practiced agricultural activity; and pottery relating to Mesopotamia, pieces imported from the southern Arabian Gulf, and pieces imported from Iran and China were found (al-Mutairi 2010, 32).

Generally Failaka Island is characterised by fertile land and wells, which paved the way for the emergence of agricultural communities. There is evidence on the island that indicates that some people may have been planting palm trees since 1500BC (Conwy 1987, 181-3). In al-Qusur site, there are Christain and Islamic settlements that are surrounded with low fences with doors, wells and cisterns of

water, indicating an agricultural land (al-Mutairi 2010, 32; Callot and Calvet 1999, 7; see also Chapters 7 and 8).

In the modern periods, Abu- Hakma (1970) reported that the people of Failaka Island never exceeded 150 persons distributed in about 70-80 houses, mostly owning sailing ships, small fishing boats and some cattle. They were planting palm trees, onion, watermelon, and a little wheat. Lorimer (1970) stated that Failaka Island had 70-80 average-sized boats, small fishing boats, palm trees, and planted wheat, barley, and some vegetables, such as onions, carrots and radishes during the late 20th century. Regarding grazing, the oldest known text is Greek, in which Arrian mentioned the inhabitants of the island caring for wild goats, which were sacrificed to the god (Calvet 1983, 21-2). At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a historical text that mentioned the island contained 12 camels, a number of donkeys, cows and sheep. There were poultry and a few wild deer, which were owned by the Kuwaiti Royal Family (Lorimer 1970, 793). All the other evidence is derived from archaeological sites; for example, al-Khidr site has some cattle bones, sheep, goats and deer (Barta 2008, 126). It is likely that people living on Failaka Island have practiced fishing since prehistoric times. In the Sa'ida site, three weights of fishing nets and several pieces of fish bones were found (al-Failakāwī 2000, 65).

The Kuwaiti shoreline is a model for all of the topographic features known to the Arabian Gulf. Although it has limited shores, which is in the region of 170km, there are several types of coast, which usually prevail in the Arabian Gulf shores. There are sandy beaches, flat muddy shores and rocky coasts. In additional, there are creeks and coral reef islands (al-Mutar 2003, 22). There are some Sabkhas, which are salty flats, (al-Shaikh 1992, 19) which contain several plants, such as Nitraria, at- tanan and al-Trafa (al-Mutar et al. 2003, 22).