Languages of Yemen - History

History

Yemen has long existed at the crossroads of cultures. It linked some of the oldest centres of civilization in the Near East by virtue of its location in South Arabia.

Between the 12th century BC and the 6th century AD, it was home of the Minaean, Sabaean (biblical Sheba), Hadhramaut, Qataban, and Himyarite kingdoms, which controlled the lucrative spice and Incense trade The Sabaens built the 1894 feet Marib Dam in the 8th century BC

The Sabaeans led by the priest-king Karib'il Watar I (Karib - El and translated as the closest to the god El ) launched a campaign in the 7th century BC to unify most of Southern Arabia and established a Confederacy with the Hadramites and Qatabanis All of the ancient South Arabian kingdoms were city states consist of various sub-tribes The lack of water in the Arabian peninsula prevented the Sabaeans from establishing a centralized government, instead they established various colonies to control the trade routes throughout the Arabian peninsula bordering the fertile crescent and such colonies were scattered in northern Ethiopia by late second century BC, tribal unrest broke out and the Himyarites formed a tribal confederation that succeeded in abolishing the four dynasties transferring the "Confederacy" into a centralized rule with Zafar as their capital instead of Marib Tribal unrest rose again in the beginning of the 6th century, the last Himyarite King Joseph Dhu Nuwas was Jewish and led a military campaign against the rebellious christian tribes which provoked the Byzantine Emperor Justinian I to send a flee and provide aid to the Kingdom of Aksum and the local Christian tribes to fight the Jewish king Joseph Dhu Nuwas was killed in Battle in 525 Ad after massacring more than 22,000 christian Western coasts of Yemen briefly became a puppet state from 525 until 570 AD when Himyarite nobility partly Regained their throne, all of those nobles were Jews The rest of the country lost a central government and entered a phase of Feudalism until the rise of Islam

By the 7th century, Yemeni tribes converted to Islam and played a major rule during the Muslim conquest of their surroundings especially in North Africa and Spain The Ottomans annexed Sana'a and Tihama from 1547 until they were expelled in 1630 They came back again 1872 and were faced with a stiff resistance from the Zaydi Tribes and were forced to sign a peace treaty and recognize Yahya Hamid ed-Din as the Imam of Yemen

The modern history of Yemen began in 1918 when Yemen gained full independence from the Ottoman Empire. Between 1918 and 1962, Yemen was a monarchy ruled by the Hamidaddin family. There was a brief revolution in 1947–48, in which Imam Yahya Muhammad Hamid ed-Din was killed. A rival sayyid family, the Alwazirs, seized power for several weeks. Backed by the al-Saud family of Saudi Arabia for rhe "constitutional" nature of the coup, the Hamidaddins restored their rule until 1962–1970 during the North Yemen Civil War when a republican Egyptian backed government overthrew the Imamate. The U.S recognized the republic in November 14 1962 Saudi Arabia, Britian, and Jordan provided financial and military aid to the royalist during the 6 years civil war, The republicans were eventually victorious in February 1968 The revolution in the north coincided with Aden Emergency which hastened the end of British rule On 30 November 1967 and People's Republic of Yemen was proclaimed in 22 May 1990, The two Yemens formed the republic of Yemen.

The 2011 Yemeni revolution followed the initial stages of the Tunisian revolution and occurred simultaneously with the 2011–2012 Egyptian revolution and other mass protests in the Arab world in early 2011. The uprising was initially against unemployment, economic conditions and corruption, as well as against the government's proposals to modify the constitution of Yemen. The protestors' demands then escalated to calls for President Ali Abdullah Saleh to resign. After an election, power was transferred to the vice president, Abd Rabbuh Mansur Al-Hadi, for a two-year term starting in February 2012. Al-Hadi will oversee the drafting of a new constitution, followed by parliamentary and presidential elections in 2014.