is a region in the southern Arabian Peninsula that was once a British dependency. It comprised what was the State of Aden and 20 tribal states that together constituted the Protectorate of South Arabia; 16 of these tribal states and Aden made up the Federation of South Arabia. On November 30, 1967, the entire region became the independent People's Republic of Southern Yemen.
History
The British presence in the region dates from 1839, when British forces occupied the town of Aden. Between 1886 and 1914 the British signed treaties of protection with the tribal states in the hinterland of Aden. The area under British protection was called the Aden Protectorate (renamed the Protectorate of South Arabia in 1963) and was divided for administrative purposes into the Western Aden Protectorate and the Eastern Aden Protectorate, or Hadhramaut.
In
1959 six states in the Western Aden Protectorate formed
the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South. On April 4,
1962, this federation was joined by nine other states and
was renamed the Federation of South Arabia. The State of
Aden joined the federation in 1963. By 1965, 16 tribal
states had joined the federation. In 1966 South Arabia
sent a team to the Commonwealth Games in Kingston,
Jamaica.
Meanwhile, nationalists, based mainly in Aden, conducted a campaign of terror against the British and the British-supported government of the federation. Fighting also occurred between the two leading nationalist groups, the National Liberation Front (NLF) and the Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY). In 1965 the British promised to withdraw from the federation by 1968. By autumn 1967 NLF had taken over all the states in the federation and those outside as well, forced the collapse of the federal government, and defeated FLOSY. To protect its interests, Britain decided to speed up its withdrawal from the region and to transfer sovereignty to the NLF, which on November 30, 1967, established Southern Yemen.
States of the Federation
Aden
Alawi
Aqrabi
Audhali
Beihan
Dathina
Dhala
Fadhli
Haushabi
Lahej
Lower Aulaqi
Lower Yafa
Maflahi
Shaib
Upper Aulaqi Sheikhdom
Upper Aulaqi Sultanate
Wahidi
Questions or comments about this page?
Collier's Encyclopedia (volume 21, page 291).
Crowell-Collier Educational Corporation, 1969.
The Robinson Library
History: General and Old
World.--Asia.--Arabian Peninsula. Saudi Arabia.--Regions, Provinces, Etc., A-Z.
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