Crowning the Persian Gulf, the Emirate of Kuwait has a rich history of trials and triumphs. Kuwait City, also known as Al-Kuwait, has the proud distinction of being the capital of this oil-rich state. Home to government offices, towering buildings and sprawling parks, it is located just 16 kilometres from the Kuwait International Airport. One among the more cosmopolitan cities of the Middle East, it has managed in recent years to put the horrors of the '90s Gulf War behind it and rise once more from the ashes, a bustling metropolis that makes the rest of this tiny sheikhdom proud