commonly Yemen or Northern Yemen, former country of southwest Asia, now the N part of the Republic of Yemen, in the SW corner of the Arabian Peninsula. The republic was bounded on the N by Saudi Arabia, on the E by the People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY), and on the W by the Red Sea. The interior boundary was mostly undemarcated. The area of the Yemen Arab Republic was about 195,000 sq km (about 75,300 sq mi). For information on the land and resources, population, economy, government, and current history of present-day Yemen, see YEMEN, REPUBLIC OF,

Government.

Until 1990 the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) was an Islamic Arab sovereign republic, governed under a provisional constitution published in 1974. Executive power was vested in a president who was elected by the legislature to a 5-year term.

History.

In ancient times northern Yemen was considered part of the classical Arabia Felix (Happy Arabia). Before the Christian era Minaeans, Sabaeans (see SHEBA,), and Himyarites successively held sway in the region, their economies bolstered by cultivation of frankincense and myrrh and trade in semitropical spices. The Minaeans, who founded a kingdom in the 1st millenium bc, with the capital at Karna (present-day Sadah), were the chief traders of incense through al-Hijaz before they were eclipsed by the Nabataeans in the 1st century bc. The Sabaeans, who had founded a kingdom in the region by 950 bc, were centered at Marib, where they erected a large, elliptical temple. They were primarily irrigation farmers and built a great dam across the Wadi Dhana, by which they could water an area of some 65 sq km (some 25 sq mi). The Sabaeans have left numerous carved inscriptions, an innovation they seem to have introduced to the region. Shortly before the Christian era they were absorbed by the Himyarites, who traded at Muza on the Red Sea coast and were culturally less developed. The area was subsequently conquered by Romans in the 1st century bc.

New religions.

Christianity and Judaism were introduced to the region in the 4th century ad. During the 330s the region was overrun by Ethiopians from the kingdom of Aksum, who held it until about 378. Christian Ethiopians returned about 525 after a Himyarite ruler of the Judaic faith began to persecute Christians in his realm. Half a century later the Ethiopian occupation gave way to Sassanid rule, and the country became a Persian satrapy. The collapse of the great dam at Marib facilitated the infiltration of Bedouins from the Najd, who introduced Islam into the region around 630.

The region subsequently became part of the Arab caliphate. From the 9th century on, however, the authority of the caliphs was practically defunct as indigenous governors founded succeeding dynasties that exercised real control. The longest lasting of these was that of Yahya ibn al-Hussein (d. 911), supposedly a descendant of Caliph Ali. Yahya founded the Shiite Zaidi dynasty about 893, and it was from this house that the last imam (ruler) in the 20th century was descended.

In 1517 the country was annexed to the Ottoman Empire, although real power was still wielded by the Zaidi imams, particularly after the mid 17th century. In the late 19th century, however, the Ottomans reasserted their authority. After years of rebellion, the imam was finally granted autonomy by Turkey in 1911. Northern Yemen became independent in 1918. Great Britain recognized its independence in 1925, and in 1934 signed a treaty guaranteeing its sovereignty.

The last of the imams.

Northern Yemen was a founder of the Arab League in 1945, and it joined the UN in 1947. The following year the ruling imam, Yahya ibn Muhammad (1867–1948), was slain in a palace revolt. He was succeeded by his son Ahmad (1896–1962), whose claim to Aden resulted in repeated clashes with the British. The imam’s rule at home, however, was becoming shaky. He suppressed a revolt in 1950, and in 1961 an attempt on his life left him practically incapacitated; he died the following year. His son, Muhammad al-Badr (1926–    ), had ruled only a week when he was overthrown by the army, which proclaimed a republic under the leadership of Col. Abdullah al-Sallal (1917–94). The deposed imam, who fled to Saudi Arabia, retained the loyalty of some Yemeni tribesmen and received pledges of support from Saudi Arabia and Jordan in his efforts to regain his throne. Fighting between republican troops and royalist forces continued through 1964 and also involved hostilities between Egypt, which aided the republicans, and Saudi Arabia, which gave its support to the royalists.

By late 1964 signs of disagreement within the republican government were evident, and cabinet shifts became frequent. In 1965 Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser met with King Faisal of Saudi Arabia to consider a settlement of the Yemeni civil war. The conference resulted in an agreement whereby both countries pledged to end their involvement and to arrange for a plebiscite to permit the people of the YAR to choose their form of government. Subsequent peace conferences, however, were fruitless, and the fighting flared up again in 1966.

Peace established.

The Arab defeat by Israel in the Six-Day War of 1967 brought basic changes in the YAR. At a later meeting of Arab foreign ministers, the Egyptian government proposed withdrawal of troops from the YAR, and a definitive Saudi-Egyptian agreement of disengagement was soon reached. By the end of 1967, despite President al-Sallal’s opposition, Egyptian troops had withdrawn from the country. Subsequently, al-Sallal was overthrown and replaced as president by Abdul Rahman al-Iryani (1917–98).

Claiming that the government had become ineffective because of a prolonged clash between President al-Iryani and the consultative assembly, military officers led by Col. Ibrahim al-Hamidi (1943–77) staged a bloodless coup in June 1974. The constitution was suspended, and executive power was vested in the Command Council, dominated by the military.

Colonel al-Hamidi, who assumed the presidency in 1975, was assassinated in October 1977. He was succeeded by Army Chief of Staff Ahmed Hussein al-Ghashmi (1939?–78). He in turn was killed in June 1978, by a bomb hidden in the briefcase of a visiting diplomat from the PDRY. Lt. Col. Ali Abdullah Saleh (1942–    ) was then chosen president. Relations with the PDRY remained tense and erupted in a brief war in early 1979. By March 29, 1979, however, the two countries had agreed on a plan for unification. Although no timetable was set, by the end of 1981 a constitution for the merged state had been drafted. Political instability in the PDRY, however, sidetracked efforts to implement the accord. Saleh was reelected in 1983 and 1988, and he became president of the united Republic of Yemen when the merger with the PDRY was proclaimed in May 1990.

For further information on this topic, see the Bibliography, sections 1048. South Yemen–1049. North Yemen.