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Aden

  (äd'n, ād'n) pronunciation
Aden
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A city of southern Yemen on the Gulf of Aden. It has been one of the chief ports of southern Arabia since ancient times and became a major trading and refueling station after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. Aden was the capital of Southern Yemen from 1967 until 1990. Population: 550,000.

 

 
 

Seaport city (pop., 2004 prelim.: 580,000), southern Yemen, on the Gulf of Aden. It was a principal terminus of the spice road of western Arabia for about 1,000 years before the 3rd century AD. It then became a trading centre under Yemeni, Ethiopian, and Arab control. The Ottoman Empire captured the city in 1538, and the British (who established a garrison there around 1800) governed it from India (1839 – 1937). It grew in importance as a coaling station and transshipment point after the opening of the Suez Canal. It was made a crown colony in 1937, incorporated in the Federation of South Arabia (1963 – 67), and served as the capital of South Yemen until that republic's merger with North Yemen in 1990.

For more information on Aden, visit Britannica.com.

 

A port in the Middle East, commanding the entrance to the Red Sea. In 1839 Aden was ceded to the British by the Turkish sultan. It became a free port in 1850 and was developed as a coaling station on the steamship route from Suez to Bombay. After the civil war (1965-7) the British withdrew from Aden and it became the capital of the People's Republic of South Yemen.

 
(ä'dən, ā'dən) , city (1994 pop. 398,399), SW Yemen, on the Gulf of Aden near the southern entrance to the Red Sea. It is the chief port of Yemen. Aden consists of two peninsulas, Aden and Little Aden, and an intervening stretch of the mainland. Each peninsula has a high volcanic headland (Aden rises to 1,742 ft/531 m, and Little Aden to 1,147 ft/350 m), which is linked to the mainland by a flat, sandy isthmus. The bay between the peninsulas is an excellent harbor. Aden peninsula contains most of the city's population and is divided into a number of districts that were once towns. Wells near Sheikh Othman, on the mainland, supply the city with water. Little Aden peninsula has the city's main industrial district and is the site of a large oil refinery; the manufacture of soap, cigarettes, and salt is also important.

Aden, a free port since 1850, has been the chief entrepôt and trading center of S Arabia since ancient times. It enjoyed commercial importance until the discovery (late 15th cent.) of an all-water route around Africa to India. With the opening of the Suez Canal (1869), Aden regained its importance and again became a major trading center and also an important refueling stop; the harbor was deepened to accommodate the largest vessels able to use the canal. Aden's economy, which depends heavily on canal traffic, suffered from the closing of the canal during and after the 1956 and 1967 Arab-Israeli wars.

History

Aden's strategic location and its importance as a commercial center long made it a coveted conquest. Muslim Arabs held the region from the 7th to the 16th cent. The Portuguese failed in an attempt to capture it in 1513, but it fell in 1538 to the Ottoman Turks. At the end of the 18th cent. Aden's importance as a strategic post grew as a result of British policy to contain French expansion in the region. After the British capture of Aden in 1839, its administrative attachment to India, and the construction of the Suez Canal, Britain purchased areas on the mainland from local rulers and entered into protectionist agreements with them. The Perim, Kamaran, and Kuria Muria islands had been made part of Aden in the 1850s. Aden was formally made into a crown colony in 1937, and the surrounding region became known as the Aden Protectorate in 1937.

Aden was granted a legislative council in 1944 and later received other rights of self-government. In 1963 Aden was joined to the Federation of the Emirates of the South, which then became the Federation of South Arabia (see South Arabia, Federation of). With the establishment (1967) of the independent country of Southern Yemen, Aden became the capital along with Madinat ash Shab. In 1970 Aden became the country's sole capital. In 1990 Southern Yemen and Yemen united to form one country, Yemen. Sana became capital of the new nations, and Aden was designated its economic capital. The city was severely damaged during the 1994 Yemeni civil war.

Bibliography

See G. King, Imperial Outpost, Aden (1964); J. Paget, Last Post: Aden, 1964–67 (1969); R. F. Nyrop, Yemens: Country Studies (1986).


 

Seaport city in the Republic of Yemen.

Located on the southeastern tip of the Arabian Peninsula, Aden is the second-largest city in the Republic of Yemen and one of the best natural ports on the Arabian Sea. From 1839 to 1967, Aden was a British colony; from 1967 to 1990, it was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.

— F. GREGORY GAUSE III

 
Geography: Aden
(ah-dn, ay-dn)

Capital and chief port of Yemen, located on the Gulf of Aden, near the southwest corner of the Arabian Peninsula and the southern entrance of the Red Sea.

  • Its strategic location and excellent harbor have made Aden an important trading center of southern Arabia since ancient times, as well as a coveted conquest.

 
Maps: Aden

 
Wikipedia: Aden
This article is about the port city of Aden in Yemen. For the band, see Aden. For other uses, see Aden (disambiguation).
Port of Aden (around 1910). Ships lying off Steamer Point at the entrance to the modern inner harbour.
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Port of Aden (around 1910). Ships lying off Steamer Point at the entrance to the modern inner harbour.
The old town of Aden, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano. 1999
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The old town of Aden, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano. 1999

Aden IPA: [ˈeɪdn̩] (Arabic: عدن [ˈʕɑdæn]) is a city in Yemen, 105 miles (170 kilometers) East of Bab-el-Mandeb.

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 BC. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula. Aden now has a population of about 800,000 people, and is located at 12.779444° N 45.03667° E.

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 RAF Khormaksar. On the mainland are the sub-centers of Sheikh Othman, a former oasis area; Al-Mansura, a town planned by the British; and Madinat ash-Sha'b, 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 ownerships 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 when it was declared a free trade zone. It gives its name to the Gulf of Aden.

History


Main article: History of Yemen

Antiquity

Aden, among South Arabian kingdoms, in the 3rd century AD.
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Aden, among South Arabian kingdoms, in the 3rd century AD.

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 BC, 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 AD, 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 but 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 of 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 it and the Sabean culture 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. The aim seems to have been twofold: to keep hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods--preventing smuggling. In its original form, some of this work was relatively feeble, but after 1175 AD, rebuilding in a more solid form began.

In 1421 Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor ordered principle envoy grand eunuch Li Xing and grand eunuch Zhou Man of Zheng He 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.[1]

1951 stamp depicting Steamer Point with the outside of the volcanic rim of Crater in the background
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1951 stamp depicting Steamer Point with the outside of the volcanic rim of Crater in the background
1937 stamp of Aden: Half-anna dhow
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1937 stamp of Aden: Half-anna dhow

British Rule


See also: Aden (colony)

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 (Mumbai), and Zanzibar, which were all important former 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-nineteenth 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 ways, 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.
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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.
Kathiri state of Seiyun, 1942. Seiyun is about 160 km inland from Mukalla.
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Kathiri state of Seiyun, 1942. Seiyun is about 160 km inland from Mukalla.

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
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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.

Ghaddir 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 Ghaddir. 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

See also: History of Yemen

In order to stabilize Aden and the surrounding Aden Protectorate from the designs 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 much of 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 National Liberation Front (NLF) against the British High Commissioner on December 10, 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.

In January 1967, there were mass riots by the NLF and the rival Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) supporters in the old Arab quarter of Aden town, which continued until mid February, despite the intervention of British troops. During the period there were many attacks on the troops, and an Aden Airlines DC3 plane was destroyed in the air with no survivors.

On November 30, 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

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 December 29, 1992, Al Qaeda conducted its first known terrorist attack in Aden, bombing the Gold Mohur Hotel [gəʊld mɔː], 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.[1]

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

Members of al Qaeda attempted to bomb USS 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 USS Cole bombing occurred in Aden on 12 October 2000.

Sites of Interest

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

Transportation

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

Footnotes

  1. ^ 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

References

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

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

External links


 
Translations: Translations for: Aden

Dansk (Danish)
n. - Aden

Deutsch (German)
n. - Aden

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮עדן‬


 
 

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Dictionary. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2007. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.  Read more
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Mideast & N. Africa Encyclopedia. Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.  Read more
Geography. The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Edited by E.D. Hirsch, Jr., Joseph F. Kett, and James Trefil. Copyright © 2002 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin. All rights reserved.  Read more
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