YEMEN

officially Republic of Yemen, Arabic Al-Yaman, or Al-Jumhuriyah al-Yamaniyah country occupying the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Yemen is about 350 miles (565 km) across (north to south) at its widest extent and about 700 miles (1,100 km) long. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia on the north and by Oman on the east. It is separated from Djibouti and Somalia by the Gulf of Aden on the southwest and from Eritrea by the Red Sea on the west, and its southeastern coastline is formed by the Arabian Sea. Yemen also includes the island of Socotra, about 620 miles (1,000 km) due east of the city of Aden in the Indian Ocean, and the Kamaran group, located in the Red Sea. The capital of Yemen is San'a'. Area 182,278 square miles (472,099 square km). Pop. (1996 est.) 16,600,000. officially Republic of Yemen, Arabic Al-Yaman, or Al-Jumhuriyah al-Yamaniyah, country situated at the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. The mud-brick multistory houses of Shibam, Yemen. Most of Yemen's northern frontier with Saudi Arabia traverses the great desert of the peninsula, the Rub' al-Khali (Empty Quarter), and remains undemarcated, as does the eastern frontier with Oman. In the west and the south, Yemen is bounded by the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, respectively. Its territory includes a number of islands as well, including the Kamaran group, located in the Red Sea near Al-Hudaydah; Perim (Barim), in the Bab el-Mandeb, which separates the Arabian Peninsula from Africa; the most important and largest island, Socotra (Suqutra), located in the Arabian Sea nearly 620 miles (1,000 kilometres) east of Aden; and The Brothers, small islets near Socotra. Yemen's uncharted desert marches make its precise area impossible to determine. Most observers suggest a figure of about 156,000 square miles (405,000 square kilometres); the area of Socotra is 1,400 square miles. The present Yemen came into being in May 1990, when the former Yemen Arab Republic, or North Yemen, merged with the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, also called South Yemen. By stipulation of the reunification agreement of 1990, San'a', formerly the capital of North Yemen, functions as the political capital of the new nation, while Aden, formerly the capital of South Yemen, functions as the economic centre. The history, culture, economy, and population of Yemen have all been influenced by the country's strategic location at the southern entrance of the Red Seaa crossroads of both ancient and modern trade and communications routes. In the ancient world, the states that occupied the area known today as Yemen controlled the supply of such important commodities as frankincense and myrrh and dominated the trade in many other valuable items, such as the spices and medicines of Asia. Because of its fertility as well as its commercial prosperity, Yemen was known in the ancient world as Arabia Felix (Latin: Fortunate Arabia) to distinguish it from the vast forbidding reaches of Arabia Deserta (Desert Arabia). The two components of the Yemen Republic underwent strikingly different historical evolutions: North Yemen never experienced any period of colonial administration at the hands of a European power, while South Yemen was a part of the British Empire from 1839 to 1967. The contemporary borders are the consequence of British, Ottoman Empire, and Saudi Arabian foreign policy goals and actions, some of which date to the 18th and 19th centuries. These have had a substantial impact on many aspects of 20th-century Yemen. Additional reading Introductions are given in Manfred W. Wenner, The Yemen Arab Republic: Development and Change in an Ancient Land (1991); Tareq Y. Ismael and Jacqueline S. Ismael, The People's Democratic Republic of Yemen: Politics, Economics, and Society (1986); Robert W. Stookey, South Yemen, a Marxist Republic in Arabia (1982), and Yemen: The Politics of the Yemen Arab Republic (1978); B.R. Pridham (ed.), Economy, Society, & Culture in Contemporary Yemen (1985), and Contemporary Yemen: Politics and Historical Background (1984); Richard F. Nyrop (ed.), The Yemens: Country Studies, 2nd ed. (1986); and Werner Daum (ed.), Yemen: 3000 Years of Art and Civilisation in Arabia Felix (1987). Sociological and anthropological information may be found in Paul Bonnenfant (ed.), La Pninsule arabique d'aujourd'hui, 2 vol. (1982); and Joseph Chelhod et al., L'Arabie du sud: histoire et civilisation, 3 vol. (198485). Qat is discussed by John G. Kennedy, The Flower of Paradise (1987); and Shelagh Weir, Qat in Yemen: Consumption and Social Change (1985). Charles F. Swagman, Development and Change in Highland Yemen (1988); and Thomas B. Stevenson, Social Change in a Yemeni Highlands Town (1985), chronicle the impact of the changes of the past two decades. The background and the nature of Yemeni migration are addressed in Jon C. Swanson, Emigration and Economic Development: The Case of the Yemen Arab Republic (1979); and Jonathan Friedlander and Ron Kelley (eds.), Sojourners and Settlers: The Yemeni Immigrant Experience (1988). Economic characteristics are outlined in People's Democratic Republic of Yemen: A Review of Economic and Social Development (1979), a study published by the World Bank; and Ragaei El Mallakh, The Economic Development of the Yemen Arab Republic (1986). Fred Halliday, Revolution and Foreign Policy: The Case of South Yemen, 19671987 (1990); Stephen Page, The Soviet Union and the Yemens: Influence on Asymmetrical Relationships (1985); and Mark N. Katz, Russia & Arabia (1986), examine the P.D.R.Y.'s development and its relationship with the former U.S.S.R. and other countries.Works on the history of the past four centuries are Eric Macro, Yemen and the Western World, Since 1571 (1968); Husayn B. 'Abdullah al-'Amri (Husayn 'Abd Allah 'Amri), The Yemen in the 18th & 19th Centuries: A Political and Intellectual History (1985); Robin Bidwell, The Two Yemens (1983); and Manfred W. Wenner, Modern Yemen, 19181966 (1967). Manfred W. Wenner Administration and social conditions Government The former states of North Yemen and South Yemen, which merged in 1990, had sharply contrasting political systems. North Yemen was a republic, governed under a provisional constitution dating from the early 1970s. Although a succession of bodies (the Consultative Assembly, the Consultative Council, the People's Constituent Assembly, and the General People's Congress) carried out some of the functions of a legislature, they exercised little real power until the 1980s. Until that time, policy making remained in the hands of a technocratic elite that worked closely with a relatively progressive military elite. South Yemen, on the other hand, had an avowedly Marxist government, and the political system and economy reflected many of the goals and principles of Marxism. The Yemen Socialist Party (YSP), the only legal political organization, determined government policy. The unified political system created in 1990 represented a pronounced departure from either of the previous ones. The most important change was the decision to establishin the course of a 30-month transition perioda multiparty representative democracy. By the midpoint of the transition, the official political organizations of the respective predecessor statesthe General People's Congress and the Yemeni Socialist Partyhad become just two of more than 30 political parties representing virtually every shade of the political spectrum. Elections to the new parliament were scheduled to take place in the winter of 199293. One issue designated to be addressed during the transition phase was that of territorial and administrative subdivisions. In the north, the provinces had corresponded to more or less obvious topographical regions. Each province was subdivided into qada' (district) and nahiyah (tract) levels, largely representing distinctions within the population (e.g., tribal affiliations). In the south, under the British, there had been a major distinction regarding administrative autonomy and political influence between the city of Aden (governed directly from London via the colonial office) and the hinterland (divided into more than 20 statelets, many of which were clearly associated with ancient tribal groupings of one form or another). In order to break down the old tribal affiliations, and the associated economic and political factionalism, the postindependence government abolished these traditional units and reorganized the country into numbered governorates. Later this numbering system was also abolished, and the governorates were given names in order to encourage some degree of regional identity. The brief civil war of January 1986, however, indicated that these administrative changes had not succeeded in completely eliminating the older loyalties, affiliations, and ethnic associations. In their own ways, however, both north and south had moved to greater public participation in policy making by the 1980s. In the north, the various institutions that the government introduced during this period allowed an ever-increasing percentage of the population to participate in elections for both local office and the national legislature. In the south, the determinedly modernizing YSP had undertaken various measures to mobilize the population, including extensive programs of education and support designed to improve the economic, political, and social status of women. The more radical of these programs were among the objects of negotiation during the 199092 transition. The justice system The two parts of the new state had markedly contrasting legal traditions. In the north, two separate legal systems operated: (1) a religious one, applying the principles and precedents of the Shari'ah (the Islamic legal code; since the content of the Shari'ah varies according to sect, in effect there were two religious codes, the Zaydi and the Shafi'i), and (2) a tribal one ('urf), comprising the complex principles, including precedent, used by the tribes in regulating their civil and criminal disputes. In the south, although the Shafi'i version of the Shari'ah obtained in matters of personal status, there was a long history of applying essentially British commercial law, as well as the common law in many civil and criminal disputes. The Marxist government overlaid these principles with some significant modifications concerning economic and social affairs. The rural areas, on the other hand, continued to employ both the Shar i'ah and the 'urf in local disputes. The accommodation of these separate legal traditions was another of the many challenges posed by the reunification process. Cultural life Yemen is a part of the Islamic world and as such reflects many of the contemporary trends in Islam. At the same time, the Yemenis are intensely proud of their pre-Islamic heritage. The national museum in San'a' and the archaeological museum in Aden house important treasures from this period. In their extensive networks of overland and maritime trade, the ancient Yemenis encountered myriad cultures and civilizations. There is ample evidence of Greek, Roman, Indian, Indonesian, and Chinese influence on various aspects of both traditional and contemporary Yemeni culture. Similarities have been drawn, for example, between marriage institutions in India and Yemen and between religious music in Yemen and Byzantine masses. Dances, performed with or without musical accompaniment, are a feature of weddings and other social occasions; these are performed by men and women separately. The male dances are often performed with traditional weaponse.g., the jambiyah dagger. Some characteristics of Yemeni instruments and music remain unique. No doubt the best-known characteristic of Yemeni culture is its architecture, which dates back more than 2,000 years. In the mountainous interior, buildings are constructed of stone blocks to a height of four to six stories, with highly decorated windows and other features designed to beautify them and emphasize their height. In the desert regions, the buildings are usually made of adobe, with the various layers emphasized and often tinted. Among the more traditional crafts (e.g., silver and gold filigree work and jewelry, textiles, metalwork, and stone-cutting) in which Yemen developed a reputation for fine craftsmanship, few artisans remain. The markets are, sadly, filled with foreign imports of less interest and lower quality but bearing much lower prices. The most widespread and traditional cultural outlet is oral, in the form of proverbs, popular stories, and especially poetry that deal with timeless themes (such as love and death) as well as with Yemeni history, biography, Islamic themes and traditions, and so forth. Today, with modern communications and publishing and distribution networks, Yemen forms an integral part of contemporary Arab trends in literature, essays, and historical and political writings. Through its control of the media, education, and trade, the Marxist government of the south severely restricted the participation of its population in both regional and global cultural trends during its most ascetic period (the late 1970s and early 1980s). The northern government correspondingly exercised certain restrictions in order to protect itself from the influence of the south. These conditions changed drastically with the merger in 1990. Since that time more than 85 newspapers and journals, representing political, social, economic, and cultural organizations, have come into being. The national television and radio network, although still operated by the government, has been substantially freed of governmental control over its programming.