YEMEN, FLAG OF

horizontally striped red-white-black national flag. Its width-to-length ratio is approximately 2 to 3. In 1918, after decades of Ottoman domination, northern Yemen arose under its traditional religious leaderthe imamand proclaimed independence, which it maintained under a red flag with white religious inscriptions. The petty states of the British-dominated southern area had no international recognition; thus the flags of that region were largely ignored by the rest of the world. In 1962 an Egyptian-supported revolution broke out in northern Yemen, leading to the establishment of a republic. Its national flag was patterned on the Arab Liberation Flag used by the United Arab Republic, a horizontal tricolour of red-white-black. To distinguish its flag, Yemen added a green star in the centre. In 1967 similar nationalist forces in what was then known as the Federation of South Arabia (now southern Yemen) were successful in overthrowing British rule and proclaiming the People's Republic of South Yemen (later the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen). Its flag was also red-white-black but bore a light blue triangle at the hoist with a single red star. In 1990 the two states united as the Republic of Yemen with a common capital, government, and flag. The easiest approach with regard to choosing the new flag was to omit the distinctive elements from the existing designs. Since May 22, 1990, Yemen has used only the simple tricolour: black is said to stand for the dark days of the past, while white represents a bright future and red the blood of the struggle to achieve independence and unity. Similar flags have been used by Libya, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, and The Sudan. Whitney Smith History The pre-Islamic period In the millennia prior to the arrival of Islam, Yemen was the home of a series of powerful and wealthy city-states and empires whose wealth was largely based upon their control over the production of frankincense and myrrh, two of the most highly prized commodities of the ancient world, and their exclusive access to such non-Yemeni luxury commodities as various spices and condiments from southern Asia and ostrich plumes and ivory from eastern Africa. The three most famous and largest of these empires were the Minaean, the Sabaean (the Biblical Sheba), and the Himyarite (called Homeritae by the Romans), all of which were known throughout the ancient Mediterranean world; their periods of ascendancy overlap somewhat, extending from roughly 1200 BC to AD 525. The Romans began expanding their power and influence into the Red Sea in the 1st century AD and soon learned the secret of the Yemeni traders: how to exploit the monsoon winds to traffic between the Red Sea and southern Asia. It was then only a matter of time before Yemeni prestige began to dwindle, since they could not effectively compete against imperial Rome. The resulting economic decline made it impossible for the Yemeni states to maintain their extensive cities and attendant facilities; the most famous instance was the failure to maintain the Great Dam at Ma'ribthe heart of a monumental irrigation project and one of the engineering marvels of the ancient world. Its rupture in AD 525 constitutes the symbolic end to the ascendancy of the Yemeni empires. Dhu Nuwas (Yusuf As'ar Yath'ar; 6th century AD), the last Himyarite king, was a convert to Judaism, who carried out a major massacre of the Christian population of Yemen (there was once a major cathedral in San'a'). The survivors called upon the Byzantine emperor to avenge them, and he arranged to have the Christian Aksumites (Ethiopians) punish Dhu Nuwas. The Aksumite leader Abraha called for a massacre of Jews and subsequently ruled Yemen, attempting to add the Hejaz (the area around Mecca and Medina in modern Saudi Arabia) to his realm (this effort is reported in the Qur'an). The Himyarites, however, resented the Ethiopian usurpers and called in the Persians to expel them. By obliging, the Persians added the satrapy of Yemen to their domains. The last Persian governor of Yemen converted to Islam in AD 628. The advent of Islam The new faith of Islam spread readily and quickly in Yemen, no doubt at least in part because of the atrocious behaviour of both Jews and Christians in the preceding centuries. The Prophet Muhammad sent his son-in-law as governor, and two of Yemen's most famous mosquesthe one in Janadiyah (near Ta'izz) and the Great Mosque in San'a' (said to have incorporated some materials from earlier Jewish and Christian structures)are thought to be among the earliest examples of Islamic architecture. Despite the fact that Muhammad's first successor, the caliph Abu Bakr (served 632634), managed to unify the Arabian Peninsula, it was not long before Yemen once again demonstrated its fractious nature. Often when the caliph sent a representative to put down rebellions or other uprisings, the representative would establish his own dynasty (as was the case with Muhammad ibn Ziyad, who early in the 9th century founded the city of Zabid as his capital). For the history of Yemen, however, the most important event after the triumph of Islam was the introduction in the 9th century of the Zaydi sect from Iraqa group of Shi'ites who accepted Zayd ibn 'Ali, Muhammad's great-grandson, as the last legitimate successor to the Prophet. Much of Yemeni culture and civilization for the next 1,000 years was to bear the stamp of Zaydi Islam. Succeeding centuries present a confusing series of factional, dynastic, local, and imperial rulers contesting for control of Yemenamong them the Sulayhids, the Fatimids, the Ayyubids, and the Rasulids, some of whom were Isma'ilis, some of whom were Sunnites, and some of whom were Zaydis. Yemen next appeared on the world stage when (according to one account) Sheikh 'Ali ibn 'Umar of the Shadhiliyah order discovered the distinctive properties of coffee as a beverage, probably about the beginning of the 15th century. As a result, Yemen and the Red Sea became an arena of conflict between the Egyptians, the Ottomans, and later, various European powers seeking control over both the long-standing trade in Indian condiments and spices and the emerging market for Coffea arabica. This conflict occupied most of the 16th and 17th centuries; by the beginning of the 18th century, with the route to Europe around Africa having become the standard one (owing to the endeavours of such European powers as the Portuguese), the world once again lost interest in Yemen. In the meantime, the coffee plant had been smuggled out of Yemen and transplanted into a great variety of new locales, from Asia to the New World. The effect of the redirection of trade was dramatic: cities such as Aden and Mocha, which had burgeoned with populations in excess of 10,000, shrank to villages barely supporting 500. The economy Despite the advances of the past two decadesmost notably the commercial exploitation of oil and natural gasYemen is one of the world's least developed countries. The majority of Yemenis are subsistence agriculturalists. It is estimated that about 12 to 15 percent of the area of former North Yemen is arable, while the comparable figure for the former South Yemen is less than 1 percent. During the first half of the century, the northern imams established virtual self-sufficiency in food production for their region. A far different condition prevails in Yemen today. One important causative factor is the high cost of domestic labour, brought about by the exodus of much of the adult male labour force. The remittances of these emigrants fueled inflation, driving the prices of domestic food products above those of imported equivalents, such as U.S. grains and Australian meats. Resources Oil and natural gas, discovered near Shabwah in the former South Yemen in 1983 and near Ma'rib in the north the following year, now generate a major portion of the national income. Exploration and development by American, Korean, Japanese, and other foreign companies continues. A pipeline carries northern Yemen's oil to the Red Sea coast, and a similar line serving the southern region by way of Little Aden was under construction in the early 1990s. Salt is extracted from underground mines near Salif in the Tihamah and from surface deposits near Aden in the south; the market for salt, however, has been tenuous. There has never been a full scientific survey of Yemen to determine precisely what other mineral resources might be commercially exploitable. In the past, coal and iron deposits supported a small-scale steel industry (primarily for the manufacture of swords and daggers). There are deposits of copper, as well as some evidence of sulfur, lead, zinc, nickel, silver, gold, and perhaps other minerals. The land Yemen may be divided into five major regions: a coastal plain (known as the Tihamah in northern Yemen), the western highlands, the central mountains (the Yemen Highlands), the eastern highlands, and finally, the eastern and northeastern desert regions. The coastal plain ranges in width from 5 miles (8 kilometres) to as much as 40 miles (64 kilometres). Low mountains rising from 1,000 to 3,500 feet (300 to 1,070 metres) lie between the low hills of the plain and the great central massif, which has many peaks in excess of 10,000 feet; the highest is Mount An-Nabi Shu'ayb (more than 12,000 feet). Toward the east-northeast the mountains subside rather rapidly into the eastern highlands (2,5003,500 feet), which drop off to the sandy hills of the Rub' al-Khali. The regular rainfall that occurs in some areas drains, in the northern section, westward toward the Red Sea through five major watercourses (wadis) and, in the southern sector, southward into the Gulf of Aden through three major watercourses. The largest of the latter is the Wadi Hadramawt (Hadhramaut Valley), which has been renowned since antiquity for its frankincense trees and which has been the locus of a number of sophisticated city-states. Together with their tributaries and lesser neighbours, these intermittently flowing channels slice the highlands and central massif into a large number of plateaus and ridges. In many places, there is evidence of volcanic activity from as recently as a few hundred years ago; the existence of hot springs and fumaroles attest to continued subterranean activity. Moreover, the country sits astride one of the most active fault lines in the Red Sea (Great Rift Basin) region and has experienced several severe earthquakes in modern times. The most recent one shook the Dhamar area in December 1982, killing roughly 3,000 people and largely destroying several villages and hundreds of smaller settlements. The monsoon rainfall that causes the western slopes of the massif to be so well-dissected makes the area also the most densely populated. Fertile soils are another regional asset. In varying concentrations, Yemenis inhabit nearly all the country's geographic zonesfrom sea level to 10,000 feet and higher. In fact, the intricate variety of subregions and microclimates produces an agricultural base of astonishing diversity. In the coastal plain, citrus fruits, tobacco, corn (maize), sesame, cotton, and similar heat-tolerant crops predominate; the middle highlands support various grains (wheat, millet, sorghum) and a variety of fruits and vegetables, while the famous Yemeni coffee trees (Coffea arabica) and other specialty crops thrive in the cool upper highlands. In some areas, elaborate agricultural terraces cover the mountains from base to peak. The high productivity of this system is largely attributable to the soil that has been collected and composted over a period of centuries. In the modern period, neglect and civil conflict have taken their toll on the earthworks, which are also vulnerable to flooding. Climate Most of Yemen lies in the border zone between two main weather patterns: the regular northerly winds (from the Mediterranean basin) and the southwest monsoon winds. These create a fairly well-defined seasonal rhythm; the northerly winds predominate during the winter, while in the summer, the southwest monsoon brings the primary rains. Cut off from this pattern by the central mountains, the southern fringe areas on the Gulf of Aden experience a markedly tropical climate. In Al-Hudaydah and Aden, temperatures often exceed 100 F (38 C) with high humidity, whereas in San'a' (at around 8,000 feet on the western face) the daytime temperature averages just under 70 F (21 C), and humidity is low. The higher northern elevations of the central massif experience frequent frosts and occasional snowfalls during the winter months. In the northern Tihamah, as well as in the coastal belt on the Gulf of Aden, the average annual rainfall is less than about 5 inches (133 millimetres); many years record no measurable precipitation. Rainfall increases with distance from the sea: the lower highlands receive about 15 to 20 inches (38 to 51 centimetres) per year; the southern uplands around Ta'izz average more than 30 inches annually. Different annual cycles characterize the northern and southern sections: whereas the north usually has two main rainy seasons (MarchMay and JulySeptember), the south often receives no rainfall except sparse amounts in the summer months. Lengthy droughts are not unknown; there have been periods as long as five years when the precipitation was one-tenth the normal amount; the most recent serious drought occurred during the civil war of 196270 and had an important impact on the outcome of that conflict. The people The people of Yemen are overwhelmingly Arabic-speaking Muslims of Mediterranean stock. Yemenis of northern origin are thought to have descended from Mesopotamians who entered the region in the 1st millennium BC. The southern group represents the South Arabian stock, and the Arabic of the rural areas of former South Yemen is still heavily influenced by the ancient South Arabian languages. The two groups maintain disparate genealogies and historical traditions concerning their roles and origins: The northern Yemenis trace their ancestry to Isma'il (Ishmael) through his descendant 'Adnan, whereas their southern countrymen claim descent from Qahtan (the biblical Joktan). Ethnic minorities include the Mahra, a people of possibly Australian origin who occupy the eastern border areas of former South Yemen (as well as the island of Socotra) and who speak a variant of the ancient Himyaritic language. In the (northern) Tihamah, in-migrations from Ethiopia and Somalia have occurred since World War II. There is a clear African admixture in a distinct social group known as the Akhdam, who perform menial tasks; some anthropologists consider this group the closest thing to a caste in Yemen. In the far north, there are still small remnants of Jewish communities, while in the area of Aden and the eastern regions of the former South Yemen there are distinct Indonesian as well as Indian elements in the population (attributable to economic and political ties extending back over two millennia). Societally, the broadest distinctions among population groups are based not on ethnicity but on religious affiliation. The Sunnite (or Sunni) sect of Islam, represented by the Shafi'i (Shafi'ite) school, predominates. The Shi'ite minority comprises the Zaydi school, which has long been dominant in the mountainous highlands of the north, and the Isma'ilis, now a relatively small group found in the Haraz region of North Yemen and in the mountainous area west of San'a' (Jabal Manakhah). Tribal affiliation is another deep-seated component of social identity. Some confederations of tribes have histories spanning more than two millennia. Such complexes served as the basis for political and social organization in former South Yemen until the postindependence government set out to eradicate what it considered to be reactionary cultural institutions. Although these efforts toward detribalization were at least in part effective, the events of the 1980s in both North and South Yemen indicated that such identifications were still socially and economically as well as politically relevant. In many respects, the most important contemporary demographic trend has been the emigration of large numbers of males between the ages of 15 and 45 for employment in other countries. Although the number of such emigrants has varied since the late 1970s, when it reached its peak, there are still perhaps more than one million Yemeni nationals employed abroadin countries of the Persian Gulf region, in Great Britain (in the industrial Midlands and Wales), and in the United States (in industrial areas of the Northeast and Midwest, and in the agricultural areas of California). The remittances of these emigrants have played an important role in the balance of payments, in radically increasing the purchasing power of most Yemenis, and in funding many local development projects. The drop in the price of oil in the early 1980s resulted in the return of many Yemenis to their homeland and a concomitant drop in remittance income for the country. Another reversal of the emigration pattern occurred during and after the Persian Gulf War of early 1991, when the Saudi Arabian government expelled hundreds of thousands of Yemenis in retribution for the votes that Yemen initially cast in the United Nations in support of Iraqi policy. In terms of the generally accepted statistical indicators, the population of Yemen continues to display characteristics typical of developing areas: high birth rate, high infant mortality rate, and generally poor standards of hygiene, sanitation, and public health service. Major programs funded by foreign governments and the United Nations attempt to address both structural and programmatic deficiencies, especially in the north, where the economy remained essentially preindustrial until after the 1962 revolution.