This is a survey of the

postage stamps A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal systems. The term is att ...

of Yemen.

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 Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...

is located on 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 ...

Southwest Asia Western Asia, West Asia, or Southwest Asia, is the westernmost subregion of the larger geographical region of Asia, as defined by some academics, UN bodies and other institutions. It is almost entirely a part of the Middle East, and includes Anat ...

. It has an estimated population of more than 23 million people and is bordered by

Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia, officially the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), is a country in Western Asia. It covers the bulk of the Arabian Peninsula, and has a land area of about , making it the fifth-largest country in Asia, the second-largest in the A ...

to the north, the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; T ...

to the west, the

Arabian Sea The Arabian Sea ( ar, اَلْبَحرْ ٱلْعَرَبِيُّ, Al-Bahr al-ˁArabī) is a region of the northern Indian Ocean bounded on the north by Pakistan, Iran and the Gulf of Oman, on the west by the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel ...

and

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...

to the south, and

Oman Oman ( ; ar, عُمَان ' ), officially the Sultanate of Oman ( ar, سلْطنةُ عُمان ), is an Arabian country located in southwestern Asia. It is situated on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula, and spans the mouth of t ...

to the east. Yemen is just under in land area. Its territory includes over 200 islands and its capital is

Sana'a Sanaa ( ar, صَنْعَاء, ' , Yemeni Arabic: ; Old South Arabian: 𐩮𐩬𐩲𐩥 ''Ṣnʿw''), also spelled Sana'a or Sana, is the capital and largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governo ...

North Yemen

Early posts

The first posts in Yemen were part of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

postal system. After the Ottomans withdrew from Yemen there was no formal postal service, as far as is known, until the first issue of Yemeni stamps in 1926.

Post-Ottoman cancellation marks of Yemen

The Ottoman withdrawal left the Yemen without a formal postal system, or at least there is no surviving evidence of one, until the first issue of stamps in 1926. C&W and A&P mostly concern themselves with the Ottoman era and the German cancellers. Some intaglio cancels are described elsewhere though the makeshift provisional types are unexplored.

Hand-carried mail 1918-1926

Mail, un-franked and carried privately during this period is rare: and usually attributable to Imam Yahya who maintained a royal courier post to carry his own correspondence in confidentiality (sic).or members of his immediate family. They were addressed to various, usually British, Government representatives.

First stamps

issued its first stamps in 1926. Rossiter, Stuart & John Flower. ''The Stamp Atlas''. London: Macdonald, 1986, p.225. International mail required additional stamps to be added from a country that was a member of the

Universal Postal Union The Universal Postal Union (UPU, french: link=no, Union postale universelle), established by the Treaty of Bern of 1874, is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) that coordinates postal policies among member nations, in addition to t ...

as Yemen did not join the UPU until 1 January 1930. International mail was often routed via

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. ...

on the Yemeni coast which was under British control at the time. Stamps of

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 ...

, as used in Aden, were added and mail cancelled ADEN CAMP. After joining the UPU, Yemen issued a new series of definitive stamps in accordance with UPU regulations."Post Ottoman Cancellation Marks of Yemen" by Robert Waugh in ''Opal'', Journal of the

Oriental Philatelic Association of London The Oriental Philatelic Association of London, or OPAL, is a philatelic society whose members specialise in the philately of the area covered by the former Ottoman Empire and the states around the Eastern Mediterranean from Libya to the former Yug ...

, pp.15-29, No.224, May 2010.

Early intaglio seals 1926-1930

Locally produced intaglio seals were used to cancel domestic mail franked by the first issue of Yemen in 1926. All of the First Issue Stamps of Yemen are cancelled with intaglio seals. Neither Ottoman nor German bilingual postmarks are found as principal cancel of the first issue. The intaglio cancels on the first issue vary in diameter from 20 to 31mm; the smaller, less elaborate ones tend to have been used earlier and vice versa. None are found with later 35mm intaglio cancels. McDonald states 99%+ of the many hundreds he encountered were cancelled by either Sanaa or Hodeida postmarks whereas there were potentially 30 post offices where a canceller could have been used as this is the total on the list submitted to the UPU in Yemen's application to join in 1930. Yemenovpts1962

Printed matter

Mail to foreign destinations required additional postage as Yemen was not yet a member of the UPU. With printed matter i.e. the Umm al Qura newspaper and the government gazette Al Iman to foreign destinations including Cairo, Damascus and Beirut the additional franking was usually the one Anna adhesives, though also found without additional franking. Syrians worked in Yemen in Government service.

Letters to Italy and its colony Eritrea

Mail to Italy was generated as a treaty of trade and commerce was secured and with it Italian personnel including doctors arrived in Yemen.

Civil war

During the

civil war A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

from 1962 to 1970, stamps were issued by both the

Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen ( ar, المملكة المتوكلية اليمنية '), also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or simply as Yemen, or, retrospectively, as North Yemen, was a state that existed between 1918 and 1962 in the nor ...

and the

Yemen Arab Republic The Yemen Arab Republic (YAR; ar, الجمهورية العربية اليمنية '), also known simply as North Yemen or Yemen (Sanaʽa), was a country from 1962 to 1990 in the northwestern part of what is now Yemen.The United States extend ...

. By 1968, the republicans had essentially won the war. The royalists issues continued until 1970.

South Yemen

Colonial Aden

The British Crown

Colony of Aden Aden Colony ( ar, مستعمرة عدن, ), also the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ). Pr ...

issued stamps from 1937 to 1965.

Federation of South Arabia

Aden Colony Aden Colony ( ar, مستعمرة عدن, ), also the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen. It consisted of the port of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of ). Pr ...

joined with

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 ...

to form 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 issued stamps from 1963 to 1966.

People's Democratic Republic

South Yemen became independent as the

People's Republic of Southern 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 ...

on 30 November 1967, and was renamed the

People's Democratic Republic of 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 ...

in 1970.

Unification

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 ...

and

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 ...

unified on 22 May 1990 to form the present-day Yemen. Today, Yemen has a range of modern postal services run by the General Corporation for Post and Postal Saving."Yemeni post services: a review of achievements" Yemen Times 1 January 2009
/ref>

References

External links

Yemen Stamps and Postal Stationery
{{PostalhistoryAsia Philately of Yemen