Imperial Yemen—Ottoman and British Empires

This chapter examines Yemen's relationship with the Ottoman and British empires. For centuries, invading armies and sporadic occupations prevented Yemen's tribes from coalescing under a single central and indigenous governing authority. The lack of a single uniting Yemeni identity did not mean that ancient Yemen did not thrive under foreign rule. Often considered the golden age of South Arabia, the Rasulid Dynasty extended its border to include the geographic boundaries of the modern Republic of Yemen, marking the only point in the country's history where Yemen was "united." This golden era came to an end when local Zaydi imams staged a successful rebellion and established temporary local dominance until the arrival of the Portuguese and the Ottoman Empire less than a century later. The chapter then looks at the arrival of the British Empire in Yemen. When Imam Yahya of the Hamid al-Din family declared North Yemen independent from the Ottoman Empire on October 30, 1918, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen became the first independent Arab state in the Middle East. Imam Yahya used his nationalist popularity and religious credentials to centralize the northern Yemeni state and consolidate authority around the imam.