officially Republic of Yemen
Country, southwestern Arabian Peninsula.
It also includes the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean and Kamaran Island in the Red Sea . Area: 214,300 sq mi (555,000 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 19,495,000. Capital: Sanaa . The population is mainly Arab. Language: Arabic (official). Religions: Islam (official), Sunnite and Shīʽite (mostly Zaydī); remnants of Christianity, Hinduism, and Judaism. Currency: Yemeni rial. From the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea, a narrow coastal plain leads to highlands that cover most of the country. The northern region covers the southern and southwestern parts of the Ayyūbid dynasty ruled there from 1173 to 1229, after which the region passed to the Rasūlids. From 1517 through 1918 the Ottoman Empire maintained varying degrees of control, especially in the northwestern section. A boundary agreement was reached in 1934 between the northwestern territory (controlled by a local religious leader), which subsequently became the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen), and the southeastern British-controlled territory, which subsequently became the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen). Relations between the two Yemens remained tense and were marked by conflict throughout the 1970s and '80s. The two officially united as the Republic of Yemen in 1990. Its 1993 elections were the first free, multiparty general elections held in the Arabian Peninsula, and they were the first in which women participated. In 1994, after a two-month civil war, a new constitution was approved.