Yemen: History

Pre-20th-Century History

People have been setting up shacks in the area known as Yemen for more than 3000 years. Ancient kingdoms earned their cash by selling scented tree resins known as myrrh and frankincense to the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Various states rose and fell along the trade routes; mightiest among them was the Sabaean kingdom, which hung around for 14 centuries from 1000BC, and based its huge agricultural wealth around the famous dam of Ma'rib. When, in the 1st century AD, the Greeks and Romans discovered they could travel to and from India by boat, Yemen's ports made a killing, eclipsing the towns which had grown up along land trade routes. As Sabaean power began to wane, new powers and empires began to rise in its wake. The greatest of these was the Himyar empire, which by the 3rd century AD had seized control of most of the country. In 395, the Holy Roman Emperor Theodisius made Christianity the new state religion, effectively putting an end to the demand for frankincense and sending the Sabean kingdom into an irreversible decline. By 575, the Persians had waltzed in and were lords of all they surveyed.

In the 7th century, the Persian governor of Yemen converted to Islam - like good subjects, the rest of the population soon followed and, by mid-century, the Yemenis had knocked up a mosque or three. As the centre of Islamic power moved from the Arabian Peninsula to the Persian Gulf, Yemen was left more or less to its own devices, and a number of short-lived dynastic kingdoms sprang up. The Zaydi dynasty, a strict Islamic state founded in 897 in the north of the country, survived until Yemen's 1962 revolution. The Kathirids, who took power in the south in the 15th century, lasted until 1967.

Europe's hungry colonial powers first started grabbing at the peninsula in 1513, when Portugal set its sights on Aden. Egypt's Mamluks and Turkey's Ottomans were none too keen on this Iberian invasion and, after a four-year tussle, Yemen fell to the Ottomans. In 1636, the Zaydi dynasty threw the Turks out, then in 1839 the British took Aden and made it a protectorate, extending their rule over most of the south by the 1950s. The Ottomans returned in 1849, taking over the northwest of the country.

Modern History

After decades of insurrection, the Ottomans left Yemen to its new king, Imam Yahya (although Britain still held on to its protectorate states).

Yemen's northern tribes, who wanted their own leader in power, allied with the newly formed state of Saudi Arabia. The 1934 Saudi-Yemeni war saw Saudi Arabia take over Yemen's 'Asir region. For the next 30 years, Yemen remained isolated and underdeveloped.

Throughout the '50s, it indulged in border scuffles with the Aden protectorate. As part of its pact with Egypt, Yemen joined the United Arab States, made up of Egypt and Syria. In 1962, when the Imam died, a group of army officers founded the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). Those loyal to the Imam's son fled to the north, attaining support from Britain and Saudi Arabia and waging war on the Republicans. In 1967, the Egyptians pulled out, but the Royalists could not defeat the Republicans. In 1970, the Imam-in-waiting was exiled to Britain and the YAR was recognised by Saudi Arabia.

The National Liberation Front - a Marxist, nationalist guerilla group - began a war against the British in 1963. In 1967, the British abandoned Aden and the People's Republic of South Yemen was born. To obtain economic support from Communist countries, Yemen nationalised much of the economy, declared itself a Marxist state and changed its name to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY).

During the '70s, the two Yemens had border spats aplenty. In 1978, Lieutenant Colonel Ali Abdullah Saleh became president of the YAR and stability ensued during the '80s. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the PDRY lost its source of cash and united with the YAR.

The Unified Republic of Yemen was declared in May 1990. In 1991, a ratified constitution provided for free elections, a multi-party system and recognition of human rights. But power struggles between the two factions led to full-scale civil war in 1994. Southerners tried to found their own state, but the country was reunified under President Saleh.

Recent History

Yemen has bent over backwards to cooperate with the US over terrorism. Following the attacks of 11 September 2001, Yemen was viewed with suspicion by the US. With its remote, unruly and little-policed interior, Yemen was suspected of providing a refuge for Al-Qaeda members and supporters, as well as supplying a bolt hole for militant Islamists fleeing Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia or Pakistan. Following September 11, President Saleh was quick to pledge full cooperation with the US, and in November 2001 he flew to the US for talks with President Bush.

Over recent years, the Yemeni government has received US military support to curb terrorism in the Saada province. In 2004, an anti-government Shiite rebel movement was formed in the northern mountains in protest against the government's ties with the US and a perceived shift to Western-style social and democratic reform. The current conflict is the third government crackdown on the now deadly insurgency in three years.

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