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| What does Yemen look like? What happened actually |
What does Yemen look like? What happened actually
How can a country that in the past became one of the centers of ancient civilizations and one of the richest countries, actually faced a humanitarian catastrophe? Since the turbulent wave of Arab springs in 2011, yemen is one of the countries that has not fully recovered from the protracted conflict.
Until now, the country still suffers from many economic, political and social related problems, which at any time can provoke conflicts to heat up again. However, is the conflict in yemen only recently in the modern era? If you look at its history, it turns out that conflicts in this country have occurred several times, most of which are caused by the struggle for influence and power.
To prevent something similar from happening in our country, it is good if we learn about the country of yemen so that we can take wisdom and lessons from this country. The Republic of Yemen or yemeni state is a country that is still included in the west asian region.
Yemen is in the middle east region and is located at the southern end of the Arab peninsula. The country borders saudi arabia to the north and with the country of oman to the northeast, besides, through the gulf of aden and the red sea, yemen also shares sea borders with african countries, such as eritrea, djibouti, and somalia.
Yemen's landmass covers an area of 555,000 square kilometers, and with that area, it is the second largest sovereign state in the Arabian peninsula after saudi arabia.
If we try to compare the area of the country of Yemen with the area in Indonesia, the area of this country is still slightly larger than the land area of the island of Kalimantan, especially those included in the territory of Indonesia, which is about 544,150 square kilometers.
In 2021, it is estimated that the total population of the country will reach 30,491,000 people, which is dominated by arab ethnic groups, followed by afro-arab groups, south asians and europeans.
The majority of yemen's population is adherents of the islamic religion with a percentage of adherents reaching 99%. Islam in yemen is divided into two main groups, namely Shia at 47% and Sunni at around 53%. Arabic is the official language spoken in the country of yemen, the arabic language spoken here is a modern standard arabic that has some differences with yemeni arabic, although yemeni arabic itself is still used mainly in the regions.
While English is considered the most important foreign language, it is widely taught and spoken in this country, especially in most of the southern region which is a former British colony. The city of sana'a is the largest city in the country of yemen, and according to the yemeni constitution, the city of sana'a is the official capital of the country.
But after the city of sana'a was ruled by groups from the houti movement during the September 21 revolution the capital and the country's seat of government were temporarily moved to the city of aden, which is the former capital of southern Yemen.
As we all know, yemen is one of the countries affected by the arab springs wave. The country is in a state of uncertain political crisis especially after the takeover by the group from the houti movement.
The political crisis in yemen itself has actually been going on since 2011, it initially began with street protests against poverty, unemployment and corruption in the country, as well as president Ali Abdullah's plan to amend yemen's constitution and remove presidential term limits.
Nevertheless, the conflict in the country persists even though the pious president has stepped down from office and is replaced by president abdrabbuh mansur al-hadi. Prior to the protracted conflict and coup, yemeni politics nominally took place within the framework of a semi-presidential representative democratic republic, where the president of yemen acted as head of state, while the prime minister of yemen, appointed by the president, was the head of government.
Yemen's 1991 constitution, stipulates that the president is elected by a vote of at least two candidates supported by at least 15 lawmakers. While the term of office of the president is seven years, and the parliamentary term of the elected office is six years.
Being in a situation of conflict, making yemen one of the countries in the least developed group of countries refers to the many severe structural barriers to sustainable development.
In 2019, the UN reported that Yemen is the country with the people most in need of humanitarian assistance. In 2020, the country ranked at the top of the index of fragile countries, the second worst in the global hunger index and had the lowest human development index of all non-african countries.
History of Yemen It is mentioned that the great settlement of antiquity in the northern mountains of yemen dates back to about 5000 years BC. This is as expressed by daniel mclaughlin in the book, yemen: the bradt travel guide.
Based on historical records, the territory of yemen has long been a cultural crossing on the arabian peninsula. Its strategic location makes the country known as an important trade route in the bay area.
Between the 8th century BC and the 6th century AD, the country of Yemen was dominated by six main countries that scrambled for influence. The six countries are the kingdoms of saba, ma'in, qataban, hadramaut, awsan, and himyar. The saba kingdom emerged as the most prominent ruler for centuries in the southern region of arabia.
The kingdom concentrated its power on ma'rib, which is located not far from the capital of the present-day republic of Yemen, namely the city of sana'a. According to a thriving tradition in arabic, the city was founded first by sam, the eldest son of the prophet noah AS.
Bibel teachings among Christians believe the kingdom of saba to be a country that in the past was once led by the queen of sheba or what in islam is known as queen bilqis, In 25 BC, the military expedition of the romans tried to conquer saba. However, the attempt failed. After the roman military expedition, political conditions in yemen were in turmoil.
The country eventually became the object of the struggle for the influence of two major tribes, namely the hamdans and the himyars. Around the end of the first century AD, the himyar tribe took over the city of sana'a from the hands of the hamdans. Subsequently, they also conquered hadramaut, najran, and tihama in 275 AD. Around 570, the sasanid dynasty of the persians managed to take over the city of aden.
Under the rule of the persian empire, most areas in yemen gained wide autonomy, except for aden and sana'a. The era also marked the collapse of ancient arab civilization in southern arabia especially since most of the country was under some independent clan until the arrival of islam in 630 AD.
Islam began to spread rapidly in yemen around the 7th century AD, starting when the prophet muhammad SAW sent letters through his envoys to various tribal leaders in the region.
One of them was ali bin abi tholib who was sent to the city of sana'a. Islam could spread easily and quickly in the yemeni region, presumably because during the century there was an economic downturn and divisions among the tribes and the absence of a strong central authority in the region.
but after the entry of islam, the social and political situation of yemen can be said to be quite stable, where the yemeni people played an important role in the expansion of islam in egypt, iraq, persia, levant, anatolia, north africa, sicily, and andalusia.
This condition persisted at least until the reign of khulafaur rashidin. However, after the end of rashidin's caliphate, yemen was again fragmented. Early in the 9th century, around 818 AD, muhammad ibn abdullah ibn ziyad founded the ziyadid dynasty in the tihama region, the territory of this dynasty stretched from haly or now saudi arabia to aden. They nominally recognized the abbasid caliphate but ruled independently for its territory from their capital in zabid.
Meanwhile a himyarite clan called yufirids established their dominion over the highland region from saada to taiz. Towards the end of the 9th century, parts of yemen were influenced by the zayd sect, which is one of the branches of the shia sect originating in Iraq.
In the following period, yemen became a divided territory for a series of factional rulers, local dynasties, and empires that competed with each other and fought zayd for control of yemen.
Early in the 16th century, the mamluk empire from egypt managed to take power in the city of sana'a, part of the territory of yemen then under mamluk rule. However, the mamluk rule in yemen did not last long, especially after egypt was successfully conquered by the ottomans. Otomastis territory of yemen then turned to be controlled by the ottoman empire.
The Ottomans themselves ruled yemen for almost a century, after later his rule was met with resistance from the local tribes of yemen, the ottoman army was expelled from this region in 1634.
The process of separating yemen and the people of yemen into two states began with the seizure of the city of aden by the British in 1839 and the re-occupation of northern yemen by the ottomans in 1849.
Throughout the second half of the 19th century, both the Ottomans and the British expanded their control over the lands of yemen. At the beginning of the 20th century, the two powers pulled the border between their territories, which were later called northern and southern Yemen, respectively. In northern Yemen, the ottoman government met with significant opposition during the early 1900s.
Under the leadership of imam zaydi, yemen carried out many uprisings. After years of rebellion, in 1911 the ottoman government finally granted autonomy to the imam over most of northern Yemen.
The ottoman defeat in world war I forced this empire to leave yemen in 1918. Subsequently the kingdom of yemen was established in the territory of northern yemen, before it was later transformed into an arab republic of yemen in 1962.
Meanwhile, the history of southern yemen after the British occupation of aden in 1839 is very different. After the opening of the suez canal in 1869, aden became a very important port along the sea route to india.
In order to protect the aden from the takeover of the ottomans the British signed a treaty with tribal leaders in the interior, promising military protection and subsidies in exchange for their loyalty.
Gradually the british authority expanded to other land areas east of the aden. In 1937 the area was designated as a protectorate of aden. And in 1958 six small states within the protectorate formed a british-sponsored federation.
The federation was later expanded to include the aden and the remaining states in the region, and was renamed the federation of southern arabia in 1965. In 1967, the British withdrew from the region, and south Yemen became independent as a people's republic of southern yemen.
In 1970 the country was renamed the democratic republic of the people of yemen and close ties were established with the soviet union.
Previously, relations between the two yemeni countries were not well-established. In its history, these two countries have experienced several conflicts.
But during the 1980s the two countries increasingly cooperated on economic and administrative issues. In December 1989 the leaders of each country met and prepared an agreement for unification.
And on May 22, 1990, northern and southern yemen officially merged into the republic of yemen.
That's a bit of a historical summary of the founding of the modern yemeni state. here are 21 facts about yemeni state Yemen historically covering a much larger territory than modern yemeni territory today, stretching from the 'asir north in southwestern saudi arabia to dhofar in southern oman.