- Kamaran
Kamaran Island ( _ar. كمران [Unicode|Kamarān] ) is the largest
Yemen -controlledisland in theRed Sea . The 108-km² (42-sq. mile) island is 18km (11 miles) long and 7 km (4.5 miles) wide and is strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea. [The source for the area figure is [http://islands.unep.ch/IDY.htm#1090 UN System-wide Earthwatch Web Site - Island Directory] . Various other sources give significantly different figures including 181, 130, and 57 km². [http://www.al-bab.com/bys/images/groom02g.jpgThis photo] from the period of British rule gives a figure of 207 km² (80 sq. miles).] It is a "shelf island" located in the shallow waters of theArabian peninsula 'scontinental shelf withcoral reef s surrounding three sides of the island.History
Kamaran had been inhabited for centuries when the Portuguese established an outpost there in the 16th century. The island was occupied by the
Ottoman Empire in the 19th century and used as aquarantine station for pilgrims conducting thehajj to the Ottoman-controlled Muslim holy city ofMecca .In June 1915, during
World War I , the British seized the island with troops fromAden and started appointingCommissioner s to administer it, but did not declare formal possession. In 1923, theTreaty of Lausanne , which divided up the defeated Ottoman Empire, declared an end to its sovereignty over the island and that its future was to be "settled by the parties concerned" without specifying those parties. Britain continued to occupy the island despite the objections of Yemen and administered it from the Colony of Aden. In 1949, Britain formally declared the governor of Aden to be the governor of Kamaran but the island did not become a part of the colony.On 30 November 1967, Kamaran became a part of the
People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen) upon its independence from Britain, but was seized by the adjacentYemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1972 and became a part of a unified Yemen in 1990.British Commissioners
*June 1915 - 191. D.G.L. Shaw -Commander
*191. - 1930's ....
*1930's - c.1945 David Thompson
*c.1945 - 1952 ....
*1952 - 1954? R.G.W.E. Alban (b. 1899 - d. ....)
*1954? - 30 November 1967 ....Postal history
Kamaran Island had an Ottoman
post office until 1915 and had a sub-post office of Aden beginning in 1924. From 1967, it was a postal territory ofSouth Yemen , from 1972 ofNorth Yemen , and from 1990 of the reunified Republic of Yemen.Notes
ources and External links
* [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Yemen.html#South-Yemen| WorldStatesmen- Yemen]
* [http://www.kamaran.net/index.htm Kamaran Island page]
* [http://www.kamaran.net/photogallery/photogallery.htm Kamaran Island Photo Gallery]
* [http://www.al-bab.com/bys/articles/groom02.htm Nigel Groom. "The island of two moons: Kamaran 1954".] at [http://www.al-bab.com/bys/ The British-Yemeni Society] webpage
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
