Sneak Preview
Yemen is a country of contrasts, of past and present, where people still live in medieval times of the Arabian Nights, but are gradually waking up to the fact that there is a vast and excitingly different world outside their vision or knowledge. Despite lack of resources and recurrent political crises that have prevented the growth of tourism, Yemen is a very exciting country to visit.
It is the land of the Thousand and One (Arabian) Nights and the land of the Queen of Sheba. Due to its insularity, Yemen has an unusual cultural heritage acquired over a period of 3000 years of recorded history. There are no holiday resorts in Yemen, western style hotels are few and many of the country’s remarkable places are inaccessible, yet for the adventurous nothing is impossible, and it is worth making that effort.
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Historically Speaking
The history of pre-Islamic Yemen began around 1000 years BC. It was a part of the ancient kingdom of southern Arabia and lived mostly on agriculture and trade, which included export of myrrh and frankincense (the resin of the Commiphora and Boswellia trees) that grow only on the coast of the Gulf of Aden. These aromatics were highly valued in rituals, where they were burned as incense, in the ancient civilized world of Egypt, Greece and Rome. Around 11th century BC, with the use of the camel as transport, it became possible to traverse the great arid desert carrying frankincense, gold and other items that came by sea from India.
In the 1st century AD, Greeks and Romans discovered the method of using the monsoon winds favourably on their voyages to India and transferred their goods from camels to ships bringing prosperity to the port of Aden. With the rise and spread of Christianity in the Roman Empire in the Mediterranean shores, pagan rituals using frankincense were abandoned. The ancient kingdom of Yemen suffered an economic setback with the decline of the frankincense trade. This led to lack of maintenance of the dam at Ma’rib, which broke down in 570 AD and inhabitants had to settle elsewhere.
The Persians conquered medieval Yemen by 575 AD and its governors and the entire population converted to Islam in 628 AD. By 630 AD, the first Yemeni mosques were built in San’a, Al-Janad and near Wadi Zabid. With the death of Prophet Mohammed, the Abbasid Caliphs shifted the capital of the newly founded empire from the Arabian Peninsula to Baghdad in 750 AD. Small, short-lived, semi-independent states and dynastic kingdoms ruled Yemen thereafter.
The Europeans came in the form of the Portuguese who attacked and took over Aden in 1513. The Ottomans expelled the Portuguese in 1517, and conquered most of Yemen, from Aden to San’a, by 1598. The occupation of the Ottoman Turks ended in 1636 when the Zaydi Imams freed all of Yemen from Turkish rule. The Zaydi, who were descendents of the Prophet Mohammed, had founded a dynasty in 897 AD. They established a very strong and stable state based on strict Islamic values. The rule of the Zaydis ended only with the revolution of 1962.
The British occupied Aden in 1839, because of its strategic location on the sea route to India, and Aden became known as the "Protectorate of Aden". The Turks came back again in 1849, but the struggle between the local sheikhs and authorities and their effort to expel the Turks continued. It was only after the World War I when the Turkish Empire was stripped of its imperial status that the local sheikh, Imam Yahya, finally became the king of Yemen.
Aden was granted independence in 1925 by the British who did nothing to improve the economy or work for the betterment of the country. Imam Yahya and his son Ahmed ruled Yemen for several decades in a time warp because they did nothing to improve or modernize the country of Yemen. There were no paved roads, no doctors, and only one child out of 20 attended the Quran schools. Legislature was based on Quranic Shari’ a law. After Ahmed’s death in 1962, Col Abdullah as - Sailal, took over Yemen in a coup, and founded the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). Neighbouring super power, Saudi Arabia, recognized YAR in 1970 ending a period of interference and civil war.
With the closure of the Suez Canal in 1967 and the subsequent breakdown of the economy of Yemen, the new People’s Republic of South Yemen (the first and only Arab Marxist state), was formed in November 30th 1967 with the support of the Communist countries.
The name of southern Yemen was changed to People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) in 1970 and it broke away from northern Yemen (YAR). There were constant tensions, civil wars and border skirmishes between the two Yemens from 1970 to 1980. In 1978, the elected President Ali Abdullah Saleh of YAR stabilized the nation and by 1989 gradually established better relations with PDRY because of the mutual economic concerns about oil deposits. The two Yemens (YAR & PDRY) were united on May 22nd 1990 and the Republic of Yemen was formed with President Saleh as its head, a 5-member council and a combined house of representatives.
Political upheavals continued in Yemen because of its sympathies with Iraq in the Gulf War of 1991. The Arabs suspended aid to Yemen and the Saudis expelled 800,000 Yemenis from Saudi Arabia, leading to a severe economic crisis. Though democratic elections were held on April 27th, 1993, there was a civil war in 1994. As internal strife still continues, tourists must always find out first about the political situation before venturing to Yemen.
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Habitat
Yemen’s intense cultivation has destroyed almost all its natural vegetation. The vegetation in Tihama, the coastal strip ranges from the mangroves and salt resistant plants of the seashore to the sparse grasses and shrubs of the inner Tihama’s dune valleys. Further inland, the wadi (creek) shores and mountain foothills are humid enough to allow the growth of evergreen plants such as palms and acacias.
The natural vegetation on the western and southern mountain slopes is tropical, with evergreen forests of acacia, ficus and tamarisk. Cultivation of tropical fruit is common on the lower slopes. At higher altitudes (up to 1500m) cereals are typical. From 1500m to 2500m cash crops of coffee and "qat" (a mild narcotic) are grown.
On the central highland plateau, sorghum is widely cultivated at about 2300m above sea level. All kinds of vegetables as well as various spice plants are grown here. Fruits grow in the various wadis (creeks) and springs of the highlands.
Continuous hunting has destroyed most of the animals. But Yemen is a great place to watch migratory birds on their way to and from East Africa.
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