Protectorate of South Arabia


The Protectorate of South Arabia consisted of various states located at the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula under treaties of protection with Britain.
The area of the former protectorate became part of South Yemen after the Radfan uprising and is now part of the Republic of Yemen.

History

Background

The background of the Protectorate of South Arabia is part of an effort of the British Empire to protect the East India Route, the sea route between the Mediterranean Sea and India, in and through the southern coasts of Arabia. Already before the opening of the Suez Canal, industrial Britain with its rapidly expanding economy, needed improved communication with British India.
The coastal plains of the peninsula had been devastated earlier in the 19th century by Wahhabi puritan Muslims from Central Arabia followed by an Egyptian invasion. From the first commercial treaty with the Sultanate of Lahej in 1802, various efforts were made to avoid looting of East India ships, leading to the annexing of Aden by the East India Company in 1839. The Aden Protectorate was established in 1869, the same year of the opening of the Suez Canal which heralded a new era of trade and communication.

20th century

The Protectorate of South Arabia was designated on 18 January 1963 as consisting of those areas of the Aden Protectorate that did not join the Federation of South Arabia, and it broadly, but not exactly, corresponded to the division of the Aden Protectorate which was called the Eastern Aden Protectorate.
The protectorate included the Hadhrami states of Kathiri, Mahra, and Qu'aiti except the three Wahidi Sultanates in the Eastern Aden Protectorate, with Upper Yafa in the Western Aden Protectorate. The Protectorate of South Arabia was dissolved on 30 November 1967 and its constituent states quickly collapsed, leading to the abolition of their monarchies. The territory was absorbed into the newly independent People's Republic of South Yemen, which became part of the Republic of Yemen in 1990.

States

Former states of the British Aden Protectorate were united in the 1960s to form the People's Republic of South Yemen, which became independent on 30 November 1967. South Yemen later merged with North Yemen to form the modern state of Yemen in 1990.
StateRulerDeposedHouseReignRef
AudhaliSalih ibn al-Husayn17 September 1967Al AudhaliLast reigning Sultan.
Lower AulaqiNasir ibn Aidrus29 November 1967Al AwlaqiLast reigning Sultan.
Upper AulaqiAwad ibn Salih29 November 1967Al AwlaqiLast reigning Sultan.
BeihanSaleh bin al-Husayn28 August 1967Al HabieliLast reigning Emir.
DhalaShafaul ibn Ali Shaif17 August 1967Al AmiriLast reigning Emir.
FadhliNasir bin Abdullah29 November 1967Al FadhliLast reigning Sultan.
HaushabiFaisal bin Surur29 November 1967Al HaushabiLast reigning Sultan.
KathiriHusayn ibn Ali2 October 1967Al KathiriLast reigning Sultan.
LahejFadhl VI bin Ali17 August 1967 Al AbdaliLast reigning Sultan.
MahraAbdullah ibn Ashur16 October 1967Al MahriLast reigning Sultan.
Qu'aitiGhalib II17 September 1967Al Qu'aitiLast reigning Sultan.
Wahidi BalhafAli ibn Muhammad17 August 1967Al WahidiLast governing Hakim.
Wahidi Bir AliAlawi ibn Salih29 November 1967Al WahidiLast reigning Sultan.
Wahidi HabanHusayn ibn Abdullah29 November 1967Al WahidiLast reigning Sultan.
Lower YafaMahmud ibn Aidrus28 August 1967Al AfifiLast reigning Sultan.
Upper YafaMuhammad ibn Salih29 November 1967HarharahLast reigning Sultan.