Perim

Yemeni island in the Red Sea.

This small, barren volcanic island with a well-protected harbor is located in the Bab al-Mandab Straits at the lower end of the Red Sea, between Yemen and the coast of Africa at Djibouti, and theoretically should have some strategic value. Seized by the British occupiers of Aden in 1857, Perim (also Barim) Island was used as a coaling station by the British until the 1930s. The island became a part of South Yemen upon independence in 1967; with the unification of the two Yemens in 1990, it became a part of the Republic of Yemen. Despite the presence of a tiny garrison of South Yemeni troops through the 1980s and even rumors of the presence of Israeli observers, Perim was accorded no real strategic or economic significance during the late twentieth century, in contrast to Socotra Island in the Arabian Sea. A poor fishing village exists side by side with the rusting, collapsing remains of its more glorious days as a coaling station.

Bibliography

Burrowes, Robert D. Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Press, 1995.

— ROBERT D. BURROWES

Bab-el-Mandeb area with description

Perim (Arabic: بريم‎ [Barīm]) is a volcanic island strategically located in the Strait of Mandeb at the southern entrance into the Red Sea, off the southwestern coast of Yemen, at 12°39′24″N 43°24′54″E / 12.6566667°N 43.415°E / 12.6566667; 43.415Coordinates: 12°39′24″N 43°24′54″E / 12.6566667°N 43.415°E / 12.6566667; 43.415. It has a surface area of 13 square kilometers and rises to an altitude of 65 meters. The island has a natural harbor on its southwestern coast, but there is only scarce vegetation. The absence of fresh water on the island has always been one of the major difficulties impeding permanent settlement.

Sometimes in the geological past, its eruptions have blocked the Bab el Mandeb and thus the Red Sea evaporated to an empty hot dry salt-floored sink.

The Portuguese came to the island in 1513 but did not stay in the face of Ottoman opposition. France occupied it in 1738. In 1799, the island was briefly occupied by the British East India Company in preparation for the invasion of Egypt. It was reoccupied by the British in 1857 and attached to the colony of Aden, whereafter a lighthouse was built on it. From 1869 onward, the island was used as a coaling station for ships using the Suez Canal. In 1916, Turkish forces attempted to seize the island but were pushed back. British occupation continued until 1967, when the island was handed over to the Democratic People's Republic of Yemen.

References

• The Times, London, 1799, 1857, 1858, 1963

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