TA'IZZ

also spelled Taiz, city, southwestern Yemen, in the Yemen Highlands. It is one of the country's chief urban centres and a former national capital. The Ayyubid dynasty under Turan Shah, brother of Saladin, which conquered Yemen in 117374, made its capital first at Zabid and then moved it to Ta'izz. The Ayyubids were succeeded by the Rasulids (12291454) and the Tahirids (14541516), who moved the capital to San'a'. In the latter year Ta'izz passed to Ottoman Turkish suzerainty, which lasted, with intervals, until 1918. The Zaydi imams (leaders) of Yemen frequently rebelled against Ottoman rule, however, and sporadically held the city. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire in World War I (1918), Ta'izz and the surrounding area came into uncontested possession of the imam. Picturesquely situated at an elevation of about 4,500 feet (1,400 m) above sea level, the walled city is at the northern foot of Mount Subr, 9,862 feet (3,006 m) high. It has many fine, elaborately decorated multistory houses. The Jami' (Al-Muzaffariyah) and Ash-Sharifiyah mosques are notable. Towering about 1,500 feet (450 m) above the city on a mountain spur is the old citadel and governor's residence. Ta'izz is the centre of the important coffee-growing district of southwestern Yemen; kat (a mild narcotic) and vegetables are also grown in the area. The first city in the country to have a citywide purified water system (built by the United States in the 1960s), Ta'izz also has aluminum, biscuit, and soft-drink plants. A Muslim madrasah (theological school) in Ta'izz is frequently referred to as an Islamic university. A government experimental farm and agricultural school are located nearby. Ta'izz is the junction of two important all-weather highways, the east-west road from Mocha (Al-Mukha) on the Red Sea coast, and the north-south route to the national capital of San'a', via Ibb and Dhamar. Another road links Ta'izz with Aden. Long an important administrative centre, the city was for a time under the monarchy the seat of Ta'izz (sometimes called South) liwa' (province), which was ruled as an emirate by a member of the princely Al Wazir house; the province came under the personal rule of the crown prince in 1944. From 1948 to 1962 (when the republic was established) Ta'izz was the residence of the imam and the administrative capital of the country. Places of interest in the vicinity include the former royal residence of 'Usayfirah and the ruins of ancient Thamad, a 12th-century mountain resort of the Sulayhid princes. Pop. (1986) city, 178,430.