Yemen under British rule

Last modified: 2002-01-26 by ivan sache
Keywords: british colonies | aden | union jack | badge | dhow | federation of south arabia | protectorate of south arabia |
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• Before 1959: Colony and Protectorate of Aden
• 1959: Federation of South Arabia and Protectorate of South Arabia
• 1967: Expulsion of the British and independence of South Yemen

See also:

• Yemen
• South Yemen
• United Kingdom: Former colonies and overseas territories

Before 1959: Colony and Protectorate of Aden

The British interests in South Arabia consisted of :

• the Colony of Aden
• the Protectorat of Aden, divided into:
  • the Western Protectorate, consisting of many small Emirates and Sultanates
  • the Eastern Protectorate
    • Qu'aiti State of Shihr and Mukalla
    • Kathiri State of Sai'un
    • Mahri State of Qishn and Socotra

Some of these states trace their origin to several centuries back, as Lahej (of which history and government is quite well known), Quati, Kathiri, Mahra. Other are tribal chiefs liberated in the last third of the 18th century (for example Akrabi, independent of Lahej in 1770) or that reached certain power thanks their alliance with the British. All the states remained under British protectorate in the first half of the 19th century, when was created the Protectorate of Aden, separate from the colony of Aden (which is formed basically by the city of that name and some islands).
The native states of the Protectorate were retained by the British administration. Perhaps it's more true to say that the British didn't want to waste any resources in keeping them under direct control, and so ruled indirectly through Residents and Political Agents. If any of this sounds like the British practice of indirect rule in the Indian Princely States, Aden was actually first a dependency and later a Chief Commissioner's Province of British India up until 1937.

1959: Federation of South Arabia and Protectorate of South Arabia

On 11 February 1959 was created the Federation of South Arabian Emirates.
On 4 April 1962 the Federation was enlarged and renamed Federation of South Arabia.
There remained a Protectorate of South Arabia.
The colony of Aden entered the Federation (as State) on 18 January 1963.

1967 : Expulsion of the British and independence of South Yemen

Independence was scheduled for 1968, but the NLF and FLOSY, urban guerrilla movements based in Aden, objected to the city's being placed under the rule of absolute monarchs, forced an early British withdrawal in November 1967, and established the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (commonly known as South Yemen).
Vincent Morley, 3 February 1997

The victory of the revolutionaries in 1967 supposedly led to the abolition of the separate states. Probably the sovereigns fled to the United Kingdom or to other Arabic countries.

As far as I know none of their flags survived the expulsion of the British by the National Liberation Front in 1967.

Roy Stilling, 5 December 1997