YEMEN, in a wide sense, includes the whole s. and s.w. of Arabia; but, more strictly, is the name of only the south-western corner of the peninsula, bounded on the n. by Hedjaz and Nedjed; and on the e. by Hadramaut and the desert. It was known to the ancients as Arabia Felix (Felix being a mistranslation on the part of Ptolemy of Yemen, which does not mean " happy," but the land to the " right" of Mecca), and they obtained from it much frankincense, myrrh, and other costly balsamic substances, in which it abounds more than any other part of the world; they obtained also from its ports the products of India, and other eastern regions, with which its inhabitants maintained a constant trade. The history of Yemen reaches back to the highest antiquity. The Joktanides, descendants of Joktan or Kahtan, are its first possessors of whom we have any record; and from them it seems to have passed, about 2400 B.O., into the hands of the Himyarites, or Homerites. The Himyarite states and cities of Saba, Thaphar, and Athana or Aden, attained at an early period a high degree of prosperity, carrying on a great commerce both by sea and land, and they extended their dominion over a large part of Asia and the n.w. of Africa. See SAILEANS and ADEN. The persecution of the Christians by the last Himyarite princes led to the overthrow of the Himyarite power by the Abyssinians, 529 A.D. From this date till 601 Yemen was ruled by Abyssinian gov ernors; then for a short time by the Persians, under Khosru (Chosroes) II. The fol lowers of Mohammed did not succeed in subduing Yemen till they had for a considera ble time been masters of the rest of Arabia. Under all the califs, and even under Saladin, Himyarite princes retained a partial independence, which they reacquired when the Turks, who conquered the country in the 16th c., were expelled in the century fol lowing. For more than two centuries afterward, the country remained under the dominion of a number of Himyarite princes or sheiks, the most powerful of them being for a time the Imam of Sanaa (q.v.). In 1871-73 it was reconquered by Turkey.
The people of Yemen differ considerably in physical characteristics, dress, and man ners from the inhabitants of the other parts of Arabia, and their language gives evidence of a different origin. See SAB2EANS.
Our geographical knowledge of Yemen has been much increased by recent explora tions, and charts of its coasts have been laid down by officers in the service of the East India company. Throughout the whole length of the country, at a distance of from 10 to 30 in. from the coast, a chain of mountains extends, between which and the sea is a tract of low ground, the Tehama, generally sandy and desolate, but in sonic places very fertile, and clothed with tropical vegetation.• Inland from the mountain chain is a fer tile table-land, at a general elevation of about 4,000 ft., yielding the productions of warm temperate rather than of tropical regions. Some of the mountains rise to a height of about 8,000 feet. The slopes even of the more lofty mountains are covered with lux uriant forests, and the mountain valleys are of unsurpassed fertility. The principal exports are coffee, dates, senna, gums and gum-resins, wax, ivory, and goat-skin morocco. Some grain is also exported. There are no rivers; but good habors are formed in some places by natural openings in the coral reefs which line the coast. The principal ports are Mocha (q.v.), famous for the coffee which it exports; Aboo Arish, or Gasim; Hodeida; Shehr; and Aden (q.v.), which is now in the hands of the British. Sanaa, the capital, or nominal capital, is situated on the table-land. Damar, Taas, Loheia, Beit-el Fakih, and Zebeed are among the other principal towns.