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Yahya See john the baptist.

Yathrib See medina.

Yemen

Since the pre-Islamic era, Yemen (al-Yaman) has

been defined as the southwestern part of the Arabian

Peninsula; it has acquired a progressively narrower

geographical definition in modern times. Since

1992 historical boundaries have come substantially

within the Republic of Yemen, which resulted from

the unification of the People’s Democratic Republic

of South Yemen and the Yemen Arab Republic.

Yemen borders the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and

Red Sea, between oman and saUdi arabia, thus

occupying a strategic location on one of the world’s

most active shipping lanes. It is one of the poorest

countries in the arab world, with its economic for-

tunes mostly dependent upon oil reserves. Yemen

has a total area of 527,970 square kilometers, nearly

twice the size of the state of Nevada, and although

mostly desert, possesses a varied terrain and cli-

mate, which supports agriculture in the temperate

mountainous region. These conditions have proven

ideal for the cultivation of coffee, fruits, nuts, and

the mildly narcotic qat plant.

Unlike other inhabitants of the Arabian Penin-

sula who have historically been nomadic or semi-

nomadic, Yemenis have led a mostly sedentary

existence in small villages and towns scattered

throughout the highlands and coastal regions.

Yemen’s population of 23 million (2008) is pre-

dominantly Arab, with some Afro-Arab and South

Asian ethnic minorities. The national language is

Arabic, spoken in several regional dialects, and

Yemen is considered to be a homeland of the

South-Semitic branch of languages. Accounting

for approximately half the total population, the

north and northwest are chiefly zaydi shia by reli-

gious persuasion, with small minorities adhering

to ismaili shiism and Judaism; however, sUnnism

of the shaFii legal school has been making its

mark on the capital city of Sanaa since the 1970s.

The Shafii school is predominant in the south and

southeast, with a renowned center of scholarship

in the city of Tarim; sUFism has also been simulta-

neously prevalent in this region. In recent history,

Islamic reneWal and reForm movements have

exercised a considerable influence upon religious

attitudes throughout the country, especially under

the auspices of the Islah political party.

Traditionally, Yemeni towns were contained

within the territory of an individual tribe (qabila),

with the exception of Sanaa, the population of

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