Aden

This article is about the port city in Yemen. For other uses, see Aden (disambiguation).

Aden عدن
Port of Aden (around 1910). Ships lying off Steamer Point at the entrance to the modern inner harbour.
Aden Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033
Country	Yemen
Governorate	'Adan
Population (2005)
- Total	about 800 000
Time zone	GMT (UTC+3)

Aden (/ˈɑːdɛn/ ah-den, Arabic: عدن ʻAdan‎) is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BCE. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula.

The old town of Aden, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano (1999)

Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centers: Crater, the original port city; Ma'alla, the modern port; Tawahi, known as "Steamer Point" in colonial days; and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Khormaksar, located on the isthmus that connects Aden proper with the mainland, includes the city's diplomatic missions, the main offices of Aden University, and Aden International Airport (the former British Air Force base RAF Khormaksar), Yemen's second biggest airport. On the mainland are the sub-centres of Sheikh Othman, a former oasis area; Al-Mansura, a town planned by the British; and Madinat ash-Sha'b (formerly Madinat al-Itihad), the site designated as the capital of the South Arabian Federation and now home to a large power/desalinization facility and additional faculties of Aden University.

Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbor that comprises the modern port. The volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbor and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port. Both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1977.

Aden was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen until that country's unification with the Yemen Arab Republic. On that occasion, the city was declared a free trade zone. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden.

History

See also: History of Yemen

Antiquity

File:Map of Aksum and South Arabia ca. 230 CE.jpg

Aden, among South Arabian kingdoms, in the 3rd century CE

A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself. Some also believe that Cain and Abel are buried somewhere in the city.^[1]

The port's convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at various times throughout history. Known as Arabian Eudaemon in the 1st century BCE, it was a transshipping point for the Red Sea trade, but fell on hard times when new shipping practices by-passed it and made the daring direct crossing to India in the 1st century CE, according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The same work describes Aden as "a village by the shore," which would well describe the town of Crater while it was still little-developed. There is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the isthmus (a tombolo) was not then so developed as it is today.

Medieval

Although the pre-Islamic civilization Himyar was capable of building large structures, there seems to have been little fortification at this stage. Fortifications at Mareb and other places in Yemen and the Hadhramaut make it clear that both the Himyar and the Sabean cultures were well capable of it. Thus, watch towers, since destroyed, are possible. However, the Arab historians Ibn al Mojawir and Abu Makhramah attribute the first fortification of Aden to Beni Zuree'a. Abu Makhramah has also included a detailed biography of Muhammad Azim Sultan Qamarbandi Naqsh in his work, Tarikh ul-Yemen. The aim seems to have been twofold: to keep hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods, thereby preventing smuggling. In its original form, some of this work was relatively feeble. However, after 1175 CE, rebuilding in a more solid form began, and ever since it became a popular city attracting sailors and merchants from Egypt, Sindh, East Africa and even China.

Aden, with Portuguese fleet. in Braun & Hogenberg.1590

In 1421, China's Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor ordered principal envoy grand eunuch Li Xing and grand eunuch Zhou Man of Zheng He's fleet to convey an imperial edict with hats and robes to bestow on the king of Aden. The envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden. This event was recorded in the book Ying-yai Sheng-lan by Ma Huan who accompanied the imperial envoy.^[2]

1951 stamp depicting Steamer Point with the outside of the volcanic rim of Crater in the background

1937 stamp of Aden: Half-anna dhow

British rule

Main article: Colony of Aden

Before British rule, Aden was occupied by the Portuguese between 1513–1538 and 1547-1548. It was ruled by the Ottoman Empire between 1538–1547 and 1548-1645. After Ottoman rule, it was ruled by the Sultanate of Lahej, under suzerainty of the Zaidi imams of Yemen.

Aden was at this time a small village with a population of 600 Arabs, Somalis, Jews and Indians — housed for the most part in huts of reed matting erected among ruins recalling a vanished era of wealth and prosperity. Haines stated that it could become a major trading centre and the latter part of the British period proved him correct with Aden growing to become one of the busiest ports in the world. In 1838, Sultan Muhsin bin Fadl of the nearby state of Lahej ceded 194 km² (75 sq. miles) including Aden to the British. On 19 January 1839, the British East India Company landed Royal Marines at Aden to occupy the territory and stop attacks by pirates against British shipping to India. The port lies about equidistant from the Suez Canal, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Zanzibar, which were all important British possessions. Aden had been an entrepôt and a way-station for seamen in the ancient world. There, supplies, particularly water, were replenished. So, in the mid-19th century, it became necessary to replenish coal and boiler water. Thus Aden acquired a coaling station at Steamer Point. Aden was to remain under British control until 1967.

Until 1937, Aden was ruled as part of British India and was known as the Aden Settlement. Its original territory was enlarged in 1857 by the 13 km² island of Perim, in 1868 by the 73 km² Khuriya Muriya Islands, and in 1915 by the 108 km² island of Kamaran.

In 1937, the Settlement was detached from India and became the Colony of Aden, a British Crown colony. The change in government was a step towards the change in monetary units seen in the stamps illustrating this article. When the Indian Empire went its independent way, Indian rupees (divided into annas) were replaced in Aden by East African shillings. The hinterland of Aden and Hadhramaut were also loosely tied to Britain as the Aden Protectorate which was overseen from Aden.

Aden is known for its boat-oriented stamps. Mukalla is on the Hadhramaut coast, about 500 km east of Aden, in what was then the Aden Protectorate.

Aden's location also made it a useful entrepôt for mail passing between places around the Indian Ocean and Europe. Thus, a ship passing from Suez to Bombay could leave mail for Mombasa at Aden for collection. See History of postage in Aden.

After the loss of the Suez Canal in 1956, Aden became the main base in the region for the British.

Aden sent a team of two to the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia.

Little Aden 1955 to 1967

Little Aden is still dominated by the oil refinery built for British Petroleum. Little Aden was well known to seafarers for its tanker port with a very welcoming seaman's mission near to the BP Aden tugs' jetties, complete with swimming pool and air conditioned bar. The accommodation areas for the refinery personnel were known by the original Arabic names of Bureika and Ghadir.

A street scene at the old town of Aden. 1999

Bureika was wooden housing bunkhouses built to accommodate the thousands of skilled men and labourers imported to build the refinery, later converted to family housing, plus imported prefabricated houses "the Riley-Newsums" that are also to be found in parts of Australia (Woomera). Bureika also had a protected bathing area and Beach Club.

Ghadir housing was stone built, largely from the local granite quarry; much of this housing still stands today, now occupied by wealthier locals from Big Aden. Little Aden also has a local township and numerous picturesque fishing villages, including the Lobster Pots of Ghadir. The army had extensive camps in Bureika and through Silent Valley in Falaise Camp, these successfully protected the refinery staff and facilities throughout the troubles, with only a very few exceptions. Schooling was provided for children from kindergarten age through to primary school, after that, children were bussed to The Isthmus School in Khormaksar, though this had to be stopped during the Aden Emergency.

Federation of South Arabia and the Aden Emergency

Main articles: Federation of South Arabia and Aden Emergency

In order to stabilize Aden and the surrounding Aden Protectorate from the designs of the Egyptian backed republicans of North Yemen, the British attempted to gradually unite the disparate states of the region in preparation for eventual independence. On 18 January 1963, the Colony of Aden was incorporated into the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South against the wishes of the communists of North Yemen who claimed the city and south Yemen as part of their territory. The city's populace as the State of Aden and the Federation was renamed the Federation of South Arabia (FSA).

An insurgency against British rule known as the Aden Emergency began with a grenade attack by the communist's National Liberation Front (NLF), against the British High Commissioner on 10 December 1963, killing one person and injuring fifty, and a "state of emergency" was declared.

In 1964, Britain announced its intention to grant independence to the FSA in 1968, but that the British military would remain in Aden. The security situation deteriorated as NLF and FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen) vied for the upper hand.

In January 1967, there were mass riots between the NLF and their rival FLOSY supporters in the old Arab quarter of Aden town. This conflict continued until mid February, despite the intervention of British troops. During the period there were as many attacks on the British troops by both sides as against each other culminating in the destruction of an Aden Airlines DC3 plane in the air with no survivors.

On 30 November 1967 the British finally pulled out, leaving Aden and the rest of the FSA under NLF control. The Royal Marines, who had been the first British troops to occupy Aden in 1839, were the last to leave—with the exception of a Royal Engineer detachment.

Independence

See also: South Yemen

Aden in 1960

Aden became the capital of the new People's Republic of South Yemen which was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970. With the unification of northern and southern Yemen in 1990, Aden was no longer a national capital but remained the capital of Aden Governorate which covered an area similar to that of the Aden Colony.

On 29 December 1992, Al Qaeda conducted its first known terrorist attack in Aden, bombing the Gold Mohur Hotel (/ˌɡoʊld ˈmɔər/), where U.S. servicemen were known to have been staying en route to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. A Yemeni and an Austrian tourist died in the attack.^[3]

Aden was briefly the centre of the secessionist Democratic Republic of Yemen from 21 May 1994 but was reunited by Republic of Yemen troops on 7 July 1994.

Members of al Qaeda attempted to bomb the US guided-missile destroyer The Sullivans at the port of Aden as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots. The boat that had the explosives in it sank, forcing the planned attack to be aborted.

The bombing attack on destroyer USS Cole took place in Aden on 12 October 2000.

In 2007 growing dissatisfaction with unification led to the formation of the secessionist South Yemen Movement. According to the New York Times, the Movement's mainly underground leadership includes socialists, Islamists and individuals desiring a return to the perceived benefits of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.^[4]

Main sights

Aden has a number of historical and natural sites of interest to visitors. These include:

• The Cisterns of Tawila – an ancient, water-cachement system located in the sub-center of Crater.
• Sira Fort
• The Aden Minaret
• The Palace of the Sultanate of Lahej/National Museum
• The Aden Military Museum
• The Rimbaud House
• The fortifications of Jebal Hadid and Jebal Shamsan
• The beaches of Aden and Little Aden
• Al-Aidaroos Mosque
• The Zoroastrian Temple
• The historical British churches

Economy

Aden's economy had benefitted by being a port, especially being a free port, and part of the British Empire, so there was frequent trade between Yemen and India. Also the port was the stop ships had to take when entering the Bab-el-Mandeb, this was how cities like Mecca had received goods by ships. Yemen Airlines, the national airline of South Yemen, had its head office in Aden. On 15 May 1996 Yemen Airlines merged with Yemenia.^[5][6]

Transportation

Aden's harbor in 1960

The city is served by the Aden International Airport, 9.5 kilometers away from the city.

• Scheduled flights (as in December 2006):
  • Djibouti Airlines: Djibouti
  • Royal Jordanian: Amman
  • Yemenia: Abu Dhabi, London, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah, Mukalla, Sanaa, Seiyun, Socotra, Rome, Mumbai, Riyan
  • Felix Airways: Sanaa, Al Mukalla

See also

• British military history
• History of postage in Aden
• History of the Jews in Aden
• Port of Aden

Footnotes

1. ^ Modern Middle East Nations and Their Strageic Place in the World: Yemen, 2004, by Hal Markovitz. ISBN 1-59084-521-8
2. ^ Ma Huan Ying-yai Sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores, 1433, translated by J.V.G. Mills, with foreword and preface, Hakluty Society, London 1970; reprinted by the White Lotus Press 1997. ISBN 974-8496-78-3
3. ^ "Timeline: Al Qaeda's Global Context: Al Qaeda's First Attack". Frontline: The Man Who Knew. pbs.org. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/knew/etc/cron.html. Retrieved 2007-11-30. 
4. ^ Worth, Robert F. (February 28, 2010). "In Yemen’s South, Protests Could Cause More Instability". New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/28/world/middleeast/28yemen.html. Retrieved 2010-02-08. 
5. ^ "North and South Yemen Airlines to Merge." Flight International. 10–16 April 1996. 10.
6. ^ "Yemenia background." Yemenia. Retrieved on 26 October 2009.

References

• Norris, H.T.; Penhey, F.W. (1955). "The Historical Development of Aden's defences". The Geographical Journal CXXI part I. 

External links

• Aden Free Zone
• Old Aden picture postcards
• Aden Airways
• Aden at WN

Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033