Yemen
Anja Djokic
Mr. 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 Yemen
Wildlife 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 Yemen Islam 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
overthrow
n by
revolutioni
sts who
made the
Yemen
Arab
republic.
In this year
the
People’s
Democratic
Republic
of Yemen
was made
by Aden
gaining
independen
ce 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.
In the southern Yemen, Yemen Socialistic Party (YSR) is the
only legal political party while in Northern Yemen there are
lots.
The most important things in Yemen happened after 1980s.
That was when both Yemens decided to change and make
their people more active in politics, social life etc. More
radical changes were discussed in the 1992 and 1993.
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.
Money in Yemen
Currency in Yemen is Yemeni Riyal (YER). 1 YER = 100 fils.
1 Euro is 281.32 YER and 1 Dollar is 198.63 YER
Cash 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
Economy of Yemen
Yemen is one of the worlds poorest countries even though they developed a lot on the past twenty years.
About 16% of Yemen has fertile land and agriculture is very developed there.
Until the 1980s Yemen’s industry wasn’t very developed. Today they export cement, plastics, paints, textiles, furniture, and tobacco products.
They also make traditional handcrafts such as jewellery, leather, carpets, glass, swords and such. Today they make these things n commercial purposes and for tourism.
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.
Three things you must know
. 1990Politics is very interesting in Yemen because until -PoliticsYemen was divided into Southern and Northern Yemen. Now wherever you read about Yemen, Northern and Southern Yemen are separated, and they have completely different political views and parties, though they are trying to work together.
Yemen is a very poor countries and it -(& Economics) Socialis surrounded by very rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and UAE, who have lots of oil, and Oman and Egypt who have very developed tourism. This means that it is very hard for Yemen to stick out and show its beauties.
Yemen has very beautiful landscapes. They have a bit -Physicalof highlands, desert and sea. It will probably be crowded with tourists in a few decades when they fix all the problems they have since united Yemen is a relatively new country.
Bibliography
http://www.britannica.com/nations/Yemen (most of the
information is from the links on this page that lead to other
things about Yemen)
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-
factbook/geos/ym.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yemen
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_of_Sheba
http://www.yemenweb.com/History.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Yemen