Yemen, officially Republic of Yemen, republic (1995 est. pop.
14,728,000), 207,000 sq mi (536,000 sq km), SW Asia, on the S Arabian peninsula,
bordered by Saudia Arabia (N), Oman (E), the Gulf of Aden (S), and the Red Sea
(W); formed in 1990 by the union of the Yemen Arab Republic (Yemen or Northern
Yemen) and People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (Southern Yemen). The capital
is Sana; the port of Adenis the commercial capital. A narrow coastal plain rises
to interior highlands and the Rub al Khali desert. The country includes several
islands, e.g., Perim and Socotra. Yemen is very poor. Most of the population is
engaged in growing grains, vegetables, fruits, cotton, coffee, and khat (a
stimulant-containing shrub) and raising sheep, goats, and camels. Oil has been
produced since the late 1980s, and imported oil is also processed into petroleum
products for export. Salt is the only other commercially exploitable mineral.
Manufacturing, largely based on agricultural products, provides little revenue.
Foreign aid and remittances from Yemenis working abroad are important to the
economy. Yemen is the most populous nation on the Arabian peninsula. The great
majority of the inhabitants are Arabs, about two thirds of whom are Sunni
Muslims; the rest are Shiite Muslims. Arabic is the official language.
History Once part of the ancient Sabaean kingdom (fl. c.750
&BC;–115 &BC;), Yemen was later ruled by the Himyarites, Romans,
Ethiopians, and Persians. It was conquered by Muslim Arabs in the 7th cent.
&AD;, and in the 16th cent. it became part of the Ottoman Empire. The
northwestern portion bordering on the Red Sea became (1918) an independent
kingdom (known as Yemen or Northern Yemen) ruled by the Rassite dynasty, imams
of the Zaidi Shiite sect of Islam.
In 1962 an army coup led to the proclamation of a republic. Civil war
followed, with Egypt supporting the republicans and Saudi Arabia and Jordan
backing the royalists; it ended in 1970 with a republic in place. The southern
portion bordering on the Gulf of Aden was penetrated in the 19th cent. by the
British, who conquered Aden in 1839 and between 1886 and 1914 signed a number of
protectorate treaties with local rulers. Aden was made a crown colony in 1935,
and the area to its east became the Aden Protectorate in 1937.
In the 1960s, nationalist groups demanding independence began a terrorist
campaign against the British, and independence was granted to Southern Yemen in
1967. The National Liberation Front gained control of the government and
established a Marxist regime in 1971. Unity agreements between the two Yemens in
1971 and 1981 were not implemented because of recurrent warfare, but a merger
negotiated in 1989 resulted in formal unification in 1990. Pres. Ali Abdullah
Saleh of Northern Yemen became president. By 1993, however, relations between
the north and south had grown tense, and fighting between army units in 1994
erupted into a nine-week civil war in which northern forces were victorious.
Yemen clashed with Eritrea over control of the Hanish Islands in the Red Sea in
1995; the Hague Tribunal awarded the islands to Yemen in 1998.
In 1999, in Yemen's first direct presidential election, Saleh was returned to
office amid opposition charges of fraud. A border treaty ending disputes with
Saudi Arabia that dated to the 1930s was signed in 2000, and early in 2001 the
two nations began implementing the pact.
President Saleh announced support for the U.S. “war on terror” in 2001 and
subsequently received American aid and made some moves against Muslim
extremists, but the terror attacks also continued. Saleh’s General People’s
Congress won more than two thirds of the seats in the 2003 legislative
elections. In June, 2004, government forces began raids against supporters of
Shiite cleric Hussein al-Hawthi, who was accused of sedition and extremism. The
cleric had denounced the government’s pro-American policies and government
corruption. Several months of fighting in N Yemen, in which hundreds died,
followed, and in September Sheikh Hawthi was killed and a cease-fire mediated.
********
Copyright (c) 2003 Columbia
University Press. Used by permission of Columbia University Press.
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Recommended reading:
A
History of Modern Yemen By Paul Dresch The book is augmented by
illustrations, maps and a detailed chronology
Domestic
Government: Kinship, Community and Policy in North Yemen By Martha
Mundy Suggests subtle ways in which household and house relate to locality,
region and wider notions of government and legal authority
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History, country, population....
Sanaa - The ancestral heartland of the Arabs....
Center for
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