Dhamar Governorate - History

History

Modern scientific studies have confirmed the existence of human activity at Dhamar since the Neolithic period, starting around 6000 BC and continuing during the following periods through the Bronze Age. The site of the Hammat al-Qa' – 10 km to the east of Ma’bar city – is perhaps the most prominent and significant Bronze Age location in the Arabian peninsula.

The historic period of the South Arabian civilization in Yemen began between the 12th and 10th century BC. Dhamar contributed actively in the march of civilization in Yemen, with ancient monuments dating back to 1000 B.C. at places such as al-Sha’b al-Aswad and Masna’at Marya.

During the 2nd century BC, Raydanites established themselves at Zafar, about 50 km south of Dhamar, and they rallied the Himyarite tribes in their fight with Sabaean forces. Dhamar became the strategic place for the Raydanites. By the 2nd century AD Naqil Yislah – 50 km to the north of Dhamar city – was the dividing line between the Sabaeans and the Raydanites under the leadership of the king Yasir Yahsadaq.

After a long struggle the Raydanites succeeded, under the leadership of the king Yasir Yahnam and his son Shamar Yahrash, in ending the struggle for their favor besting their adversaries and extending their influence and power reached the Sabaean capital Ma’rib and the districts attached to it. This victory, 270 AD, led to stability in Yemen in general, and in Dhamar in particular. Soon afterward, in about 293 AD, military forces sent by the Raydanite king Shamar Yahrash conquered Hadramawt. Yemen was now united, and in this new era Dhamar witnessed great prosperity manifested in reconstruction of cities and cultic centers, in construction of palaces, temples and fortification walls, and in creation of water facilities such as dams, tunnels, diversion barriers, etc. The bronze statues of Dhamar Ali Yahbar and his son Tha’ran Yahna’am discovered at Nakhlat Al-Hamra’ are physical illustrations of high cultural attainments of Yemen under these Himyarite kings. This cultural florescence came to an end when invading Abyssinians conquered Yemen and destroyed Himyarite cities, particularly in Dhamar governorate.

With the advent of Islam, tribes of Dhamar were the first to embrace Islam, and groups of its people traveled north to assure the survival of its new community and to carry it to new lands.

During the period of local states independent of the Abbasid caliphs, the Dhamar region was a center of interest to the competing powers. The governorate and city of Dhamar saw period of florescence, especially during the time of Imam Sharaf al-Din, who erected, between 1541 and 1543, the Madrasah al-Shamsiyyah in Dhamar city; this school was for many centuries a center for diffusion of knowledge and culture.

During the 16th century the Ottomans occupied Yemen, and Dhamar became one of the centers of Yemeni opposition to them. This resistance was eventually crowned by expulsion of the Ottomans from Yemen, at the hands of the Qasimi family, who took as their capital the town of Duran, northwest of Dhamar city.

Dhamar endured, as did the other Yemeni governorates, severe hardships during the second Ottoman occupation in the 19th century, and under the Hamid al-Din imams during the 20th century. The latter government was forcefully overthown by the blessed Yemeni revolution, which broke out on 26 September 1962.

Since the Revolution, Dhamar governorate has witnessed a great scientific and cultural renaissance that subsequently was strengthened by the achievement of Yemeni unification, and the triumph of constitutional legitimacy and unity against the forces of succession.