ReimTime on 26 March 2015
Definitely an interesting country to read about!
- Judaism ruled in 275 AD, Christianity arrived in 4th Century, and Islam Kingdoms ruled from 9th century until 16th century, although administration was difficult. Apparently the mountainous terrain made it difficult for Yemen to keep the unity.
- Ottoman and British Empires split Yemen up into North and South in early 20th century. After WW1, a Zaydi Muslim Kingdom was created in North Yemen after the expulsion of the Ottomans. The Zaydis had been there since the 17th centiry, but only then had fully managed to expel the Ottomans. It ruled until 1962.
- Meanwhile South Yemen remained a British Protectorate until 1967.
- North and South united to form the Republic of Yemen in 1990; what we see today. Sounds like it has always been a bit of a powder keg, and still wuite fractured in terms of unity. Different religious/political/regional interests were kept in check to reach a balance. Sounds like the step down of Saleh due to the mass protests helped disrupt that balance, along with the presence of ISIL. USA wants in due to Al Qaeda, and Saudi Arabia still wants some influence.
- Sounds like Saleh was trying to establish a dictatorship, but ironically, his successor was named in a one man election. Hadi resigned this January after political impasse with the Houthi's, but came back one month later. Both the Houthi's and Hadi call themselves leaders of Yemen, each basing their operations in a different city.
Yemen seems to have quite a busy history. I recommend reading about it; it's quite interesting.
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