IBARRURI GOMEZ, ISIDORA DOLORES

Ibrruri Lapi-Viollet Ibb city, southwestern Yemen, lying in the Yemen Highlands on a spur of the rugged Mount Shamahi, at 6,725 feet (2,050 m) above sea level. The city's origins, according to Arab myth, date to biblical times. The area became important in the Middle Ages, when the Sulayhid princess Sayyidah Arwa ruled over much of Yemen from her capital at nearby Jiblah (11th century AD). Long an administrative capital, Ibb in the 20th century was the seat of a semiautonomous emirate, abolished by an administrative reform of the monarchy in the 1940s. Ibb is the centre of a fertile agricultural region. Elevations vary from 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200 to 1,800 m), and most of the cultivated area is terraced. Crops grown on the rich volcanic soil include grains (wheat, barley, millet), fruits and vegetables, coffee, and kat (a mild narcotic). Livestock, mainly sheep, are extensively grazed. The city is one of the most picturesque in Yemen; it is surrounded by a thick wall, inset with tall houses. There are about 60 mosques in Ibb; the twin-minareted Muzaffariyah Mosque is particularly fine. Well-built multistory houses, typical of Yemeni urban architecture, are numerous. An aqueduct from the nearby mountains, supplemented by a small-scale modern distribution system, supplies running water to many of the housesan unusual feature for the country. The suq (marketplace) in Ibb is the trade centre for the agricultural and pastoral products of the region; the city also has some small handicraft industries. Ibb is an important way station on the northsouth highway from the old port of Mocha (al-Mukha), via Ta'izz and Dhamar, to the national capital of San'a'. Ibb suffered an earthquake in 1982. Pop. (1980 est.) 34,289.