Yemen

Anja DjokicMr. Sweeney

Humanities 8c

Where Is Yemen?

Yemen is located in the Asia in the Middle East on the far south of the Arabian Peninsula.

It is surrounded by The Indian Ocean (Arabian sea and the Gulf of Aden) and the Red Sea.

Yemen

It borders Saudi Arabia and Oman on the land and Eritrea, Djibouti and Somalia over the seas.

Geographic Features•Islands Hanish Islands, Kamaran and Perim in the Red sea, and Socotra in the Arabian sea belong to Yemen.

•There are four major geographic divisions in Yemen: coastal plains in the west, the western highlands, the eastern highlands, and the Rub al Khali desert in the east.

•The coastline of Yemen is 1,906km long.

• There are sand and dust storms in the summer.

•lowest point: Arabian Sea 0 m

•highest point: Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb 3,760 m

Climate in Yemen

• Climate is desert hot and dry, but very cold in the night. It is hot and humid on the west coastal line. There are seasonal monsoons that effect the climate in the mountains on the west.

Environment of YemenWildlife in Yemen is very rich, but there are some endangered spices. There are 13 birds, such as northern bald ibis, and 5 mammal spices endangered. Some of them are the South Arabian leopard, Green sea turtle and Hawksbill Queen of Saba’s gazelle and the Sa‘udi Gazelle exist only kept in captivity. Plants in Yemen can be divided in three geographical categories: the coastal plain (with dry-climate plants (dates, bananas, cotton, euphorbia, species etc.)), the middle highlands (with melons, nuts, grapes, grains, euphorbia, eucalyptus, sycamore, figs etc.) and the mountainous interior (with coffee, woody shrubs and trees). Most of the fauna and flora is however in the sea. When it comes to fish the most common ones are tuna, shark, sardines, lobster, and squid.There is a Water and Environment Center because there are a lot of crisis with water in Yemen. Today only six percent of Yemen is forested.

History of YemenIslam in Yemen Zaydi

Ottomans

The British

Kingdom of Yemen

Southern Yemen

Modern Yemen Civil War

628-630 A.D.

the 9th century 1538. 1839. 1918. 1967.

22nd May 1990 1994.

When the Persian Governor of Yemen Badhan converted to Islam so did many sheikhs and their tribes.

A sect from Iran called Zaydi was introduced to Yemen. These people worshiped Zayd ibn’Ali as the direct heir of The Prophet Muhammad.

Turks Occupied Yemen and Yemen stayed under Turks for almost four centuries (380 years).

British took over Aden and the Ottoman Empire.

Imam Yahya made the Kingdom of Yemen after defeating the Turks. Later his grandson was overthrown by revolutionists who made the Yemen Arab republic.

In this year the People’s Democratic  Republic of Yemen was made by Aden gaining independence from the British.

On this day the Southern (People’s Democratic republic) and Northern (Yemen's Arab Republic) Yemen united into the Republic of Yemen.

Differences in power and other thing caused the civil war. North won and made new plans for the government such as pledges to protect political democracy.

Customs And Traditions

Jambiyah is a traditional weapon (a blade) that both males and females perform dances with. Yemenis dance in weddings, and other similar gatherings but males and females dance separately.

Yemenis are the most famous for craftsmanship, even thou today there aren't many artists doing this.The biggest tradition in Yemen that comes from ancient times is telling poems and proverbs. These proverbs and poems are carried orally throughout the centuries. These proverbs and poems mostly talk about timeless and priceless things such as love, death, happiness, but they also talk about biographies, history and historical events and traditions.

-Jambiyah

Queen of Saba

The story of the Queen of Saba (or Sheba in Hebrew) is very famous in Christianity, Islam, Judaism and Ethiopian culture. The legend is that she was the queen of the Kingdom of Sheba, located somewhere between Ethiopia and Yemen and that she lived sometime in 10th century BC.

The Queen of Saba had many names and there are lots of different stories about her and pictures of her. Here is the Ethiopian version:King Solomon gave Queen of Saba spicy food to eat so that she would spend the night in the castle. King Solomon made a promise he will not take the Queen by force if she promises not to steal anything. In the middle of the night she woke up and drank a cup of water. King Solomon said that she broke her promise since water is very precious in the desert. They spend the night together and Queen of Saba later gave birth to Menelik l, first Ethiopian Emperor.

This story is a part of Yemen’s tradition. Some even write it in the articles about Yemen’s history. The main thing is that The Kingdom of Sheba was near the Yemen we know today and Yemenis find that important.

Government of Yemen

Full name: The Republic Of Yemen.The type of government in Yemen is Parliamentary republic. Capital is: Sana’a, and time zone is GMT+3.Independence day: May 22th The President is Ali Abdallah Salih, since the independence day. He was the president of the Northern Yemen.In Yemen the president is elected by the direct popular vote and he stays on the position for 7 years. All the ministers and the vice president are appointed by the president. The Legal system is based on Islamic and Turkish law, English common law, and local tribal customary law.

The Justice System

The North has two justice systems, the religious one with the Shari’ah (Islamic law) which depends which sect you are in Zaydi or Shafi’l, and the tribal law called ‘urf used mostly by tribes for fixing their own problems. In the South it is the Marxist government even though there is a history of British common law. In the rural areas they still respect the Shari’ah and the tribal law. Yemen Socialistic Party is the only legal political organization in Southern Yemen, while in Northern Yemen there are more.

The Flag Very similar to flags of Syria, Iraq and Egypt.

Black is the symbol of the dark past.

Red is the symbol of blood spilled in martyr and fights for unity.

White represents the bright future.

This flag represents the flags of Northern and Southern Yemen.

Economy of Yemen

Currency in Yemen is Yemeni Riyal (YER). 1 YER = 100 fils.1 Euro is 281.32 YER and 1 Dollar is 198.63 YERCash is more accepted than cards. American Express and Diners Club are sure to be accepted. There are very few ATMs. There are two major banks in Yemen:

-The Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development (founded in 1962.)

-The Central Bank of Yemen (founded in 1971.)

10 YER from 1973. 20 YER

Tourism in Yemen

On the picture on the left is Sana’a the capital of Yemen. They say it is the oldest city, probably founded by Sham - son of Noah. In 1984 it was declared "World Heritage of Mankind“. The biggest tourist attraction are the souk, old city and the National Museum. These are the best hotels in Sana’a: Sheraton, Taj sheba, Hilton, Arabia Felix, Golden Daar and Shaharan.

People in Yemen are very welcoming. Yemen has a lot of natural beauties, but its not yet as poplar as Dubai for example. Here are the two top places to visit:

On the picture on the right is Aden, the capital of the Southern Yemen. It is an ancient city on the sea. The legends say, that Cain and Abel founded Aden. It has beautiful ancient cisterns, the palace of the sultan, the Aideroos-mosque, the Gold Mohur coast and you can go on a boat cruise.

Education in Yemen

Literacy rate is low even thou it is constantly raising. There is also a difference between the rates for males and females. There were a lot of traditional Islamic schools in Northern Yemen until 1962. when they developed the modern scholar system. Egyptians are mostly their teacher since they had problems finding qualified Yemeni teachers. After the World War 2 the system in the Southern Yemen was Communistic and secular. The scholar system was very developed and they tried to give access to all levels in three-stage system. Two major universities are University of San'a (founded in 1970.), variety of specialized colleges, and The University of Aden (founded in 1975.) which offers similar education.