Sultanate of Lahej

Sultanate of Lahej سلطنة لحج
1728–1967
Flag
Map of the Federation of South Arabia, with Lahej at bottom left
Capital	Lahij
Government	Sultanate
Historical era	Aden Protectorate
- Established	1728
- Disestablished	1967

Lahej (Arabic: لحج Laḥij), the Sultanate of Lahej (Arabic: سلطنة لحج Salṭanat Laḥij), or, sometimes, the Abdali Sultanate (Arabic: سلطنة العب دلي Salṭanat al-ʿAbdalī), was a Zaydi state in Yemen. Its capital was Lahij.

History

Guest house of the sultans in 1898, based on a photograph by Henry Ogg Forbes

Lahej was sultanate of the Abdali dynasty under the suzerainty of the Zaidi imams of Yemen. In 1728 the Abdali threw off the Zaidi rule and became independent.^[1]

After losing the port of Aden, due to a Royal Navy attack in 1839, British influence was increasingly felt in Lahej. The sultanate was one of the original "Nine Cantons" that signed protection agreements with Great Britain in the late 19th century and later became part of the Aden Protectorate. From 1919 the Sultanate included the area of Subeihi. Lahej typically enjoyed good relations with the British despite the accidental killing of Sultan Fadhl ibn Ali al Abdali by British troops in 1918 who mistook him for an enemy Ottoman Turk soldier. However, in 1958, Britain was worried that the sultan at the time, Ali bin Abd al Karim al Abdali, an Arab nationalist, would refuse to join the British-sponsored Federation of Arab Emirates of the South and had him deposed. Lahej ended up joining the Federation and later the Federation of South Arabia in 1963. However, Lahej was abolished in 1967 upon the founding of the People's Republic of South Yemen and is now part of the Republic of Yemen.

Coordinates: 13°06′00″N 45°28′00″E / 13.1°N 45.4667°E / 13.1; 45.4667

Sources

1. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica, 1984 Edition, Vol. I, p. 11