Yemen

Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen (Arabic: الجمهورية اليمنية ), is a Middle Eastern country located on the Arabian Peninsula in Southwest Asia. Yemen is composed of former North and South Yemen. more...

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It borders the Arabian Sea and Gulf of Aden on the south, the Red Sea on the west, Oman to the northeast and the rest of the country borders Saudi Arabia. Its territory includes the remote island of Socotra, about 350 kilometres (217 mi) to the south off the coast of East Africa.

History

Yemen is one of the oldest centers of civilization in the world. Between the ninth century BC and the sixth century AD, it was part of the Sabaean, Awsanian, Minaean, Qatabanian, Hadhramawtian, Himyarite, and some other kingdoms, which controlled the lucrative spice trade. It was known to the Romans as "Arabia Felix" ("Happy Arabia") because of the riches its trade generated. Augustus Caesar attempted to annex it, but the expedition failed. It was annexed by the Ethiopian Kingdom of Aksum around 520, and subsequently taken by the Sassanids around 570.

In the late sixth and early seventh centuries, many Sabaean people had continued to migrate from the land of Yemen following the destruction of the Ma'rib Dam (sadd Ma'rib) and became Bedouin. At this time when the Kingdom of Aksum did not have any intentions on keeping their ancient lush kingdom. That had become barren land from extending commerce trade of its lucrative spice trade with the Romans, Persian Sassanid kings. Yemen was successively incorporated into the Ethiopian and Persian Sassanid empires. In the 7th century, Islamic caliphs began to exert control over the area. After this caliphate broke up, the former North Yemen came under control of Imams of various dynasties usually of the Zaidi sect, who established a theocratic political structure that survived until modern times. (Imam is a religious term. The Shiites apply it to the prophet Muhammad's son-in-law Ali, his sons Hassan and Hussein, and subsequent lineal descendants, whom they consider to have been divinely ordained unclassified successors of the prophet.)

Egyptian Sunni Caliphs occupied much of North Yemen throughout the eleventh century. By the sixteenth century and again in the nineteenth century, north Yemen was part of the Ottoman Empire, and in some periods its Imams exerted control over south Yemen.

North Yemen became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1918 and became a republic in 1962. In 1839, the British occupied the port of Aden and established it as a colony in September of that year. They also set up a zone of loose alliances (known as protectorates) around Aden to act as a protective buffer. In 1967, they withdrew following increasing pressure from local insurgency and Egyptian-sponsored attacks from the north. After the British withdrawal, this area became known as South Yemen. In 1970, the southern government adopted a communist governmental system. The two countries were formally united as the Republic of Yemen on May 22, 1990.

Read more at Wikipedia.org