The Protectorate of South Arabia consisted of various states located at the southern end of the

Arabian Peninsula The Arabian Peninsula, (; ar, شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة, , "Arabian Peninsula" or , , "Island of the Arabs") or Arabia, is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate ...

under treaties of protection with

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

. The area of the former protectorate became part of

South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

after the

Radfan uprising The Aden Emergency, also known as the Radfan Uprising (), was an armed rebellion by NLF and FLOSY during the Cold War against the Federation of South Arabia, a protectorate of the United Kingdom, which now forms part of Yemen. Partly inspire ...

and is now part of the

Republic of Yemen Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the north and Oman to the northeast and sha ...

History

Background

The background of the Protectorate of South Arabia is part of an effort of the British Empire to protect the East India Route, the sea route between the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

and

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

, in and through the southern coasts of Arabia. Already before the opening of the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...

, industrial

with its rapidly expanding economy, needed improved communication with

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. The coastal plains of the peninsula had been devastated earlier in the 19th century by

Wahhabi Wahhabism ( ar, ٱلْوَهَّابِيَةُ, translit=al-Wahhābiyyah) is a Sunni Islamic revivalist and fundamentalist movement associated with the reformist doctrines of the 18th-century Arabian Islamic scholar, theologian, preacher, an ...

puritan Muslims from Central Arabia followed by an Egyptian invasion. From the first commercial treaty with the

Sultanate of Lahej Lahej ( ar, لحج '), the Sultanate of Lahej ( ar, سلطنة لحج '), or, sometimes, the Abdali Sultanate ( ar, سلطنة العبدلي '')'', was a Sheikdom based in Lahij in Southern Arabia. The Sultanate became self-ruling in 1728 and ga ...

in 1802, various efforts were made to avoid looting of East India ships, leading to the annexing of

Aden Aden ( ar, عدن ' Yemeni: ) is a city, and since 2015, the temporary capital of Yemen, near the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some east of the strait Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000 people. ...

by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

in 1839. The

Aden Protectorate The Aden Protectorate ( ar, محمية عدن ') was a British protectorate in South Arabia which evolved in the hinterland of the port of Aden and in the Hadhramaut following the conquest of Aden by the Bombay Presidency of British India ...

was established in 1869, the same year of the opening of the Suez Canal which heralded a new era of trade and communication.

20th century

The Protectorate of South Arabia was designated on 18 January 1963 as consisting of those areas of the Aden Protectorate that did not join the

Federation of South Arabia The Federation of South Arabia ( ar, اتحاد الجنوب العربي ') was a federal state under British protection in what would become South Yemen. Its capital was Aden. It was formed on 4 April 1962 from the 15 protected states of ...

, and it broadly, but not exactly, corresponded to the division of the Aden Protectorate which was called the Eastern Aden Protectorate. The protectorate included the Hadhrami states of

Kathiri Kathiri ( ar, ٱلْكَثِيْرِي, al-Kathīrī), officially the Kathiri State of Seiyun ( ar, ٱلسَّلْطَنَة ٱلْكَثِيْرِيَّة - سَيْؤُوْن, al-Salṭanah al-Kathīrīyah - Sayʾūn), was a sultanate in the ...

, Mahra, and

Qu'aiti Qu'aiti, ar, ٱلْقُعَيْطِي '), officially the Qu'aiti State of Shihr and Mukalla ( ar, ٱلدَّوْلَة ٱلْقُعَيْطِيَّة ٱلْحَضْرَمِيَّة, Ad-Dawlah Al-Quʿayṭiyyah Al-Ḥaḍramiyyah or the Qu'aiti ...

except the three Wahidi Sultanates in the Eastern Aden Protectorate, with

Upper Yafa Upper Yafa or Upper Yafa'i ( ar, يافع العليا ''),'' officially State of Upper Yafa ( ar, دولة يافع العليا '')'', was a military alliance in the British Aden Protectorate and the Protectorate of South Arabia. It was rul ...

in the Western Aden Protectorate. The Protectorate of South Arabia was dissolved on 30 November 1967 and its constituent states quickly collapsed, leading to the abolition of their monarchies. The territory was absorbed into the newly independent

People's Republic of South Yemen South Yemen ( ar, اليمن الجنوبي, al-Yaman al-Janubiyy), officially the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (, ), also referred to as Democratic Yemen (, ) or Yemen (Aden) (, ), was a communist state that existed from 1967 to 19 ...

, which became part of the Republic of Yemen in 1990.

States

Former states of the British

were united in the 1960s to form the

, which became independent on 30 November 1967. South Yemen later

merged Mergers and acquisitions (M&A) are business transactions in which the ownership of companies, other business organizations, or their operating units are transferred to or consolidated with another company or business organization. As an aspect ...

with

North Yemen North Yemen may refer to: * Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (1918–1962) * Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a ...

to form the modern state of Yemen in 1990.

References

External links