Qu'aiti, officially the Qu'aiti State in Hadhramaut or the Qu'aiti Sultanate of Shihr and Mukalla, was a sultanate in the Hadhramaut region of the southernArabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. Covering approximately 70,000 square miles, roughly the size of England and Wales, Qu'aiti was the third largest kingdom in Arabia after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Sultanate of Oman. Its capital was Mukalla, and it was divided into six provinces including Al-Mukalla, Ash-Shihr, Shibam, Du'an, the Western Province and Hajr. Apart from Al-Mukalla, Ash-Shihr and Shibam were the Sultanate's major cities. The Sultanate spanned the Indian Ocean coast up to the border of Mahra, encompassed Shabwa, the central valleys and oasis settlements of Hadhramaut, and controlled the southern Empty Quarter.
History
Sons of Umar bin Awadh al Qu'aiti, who became a jemadar in the forces of the Nizam of Hyderabad State, first took the town of Shibam from the rival Kathiris in 1858 to consolidate their rule over all of Hadhramaut. They later conquered Ash-Shihr in 1866 and Mukalla in 1881, largely replacing the Kathiris to control most of the Hadhramaut coast on the Gulf of Aden. They entered into treaty relations with the British in 1888, and created a unified sultanate in 1902 that would become a part of the Aden Protectorate. As Great Britain planned for the eventual independence of South Arabia in the 1960s, Qu'aitis declined to join the British-sponsored Federation of South Arabia but remained under British protection as part of the Protectorate of South Arabia. Despite promises of a UN referendum to assist in determining the future of the Qu'aiti State in South Arabia on 17 September 1967, communist forces overran the kingdom and, in November of that year, the Qu'aiti State was integrated forcibly without a referendum into communist South Yemen. South Yemen united with North Yemen in 1990, again without a referendum, to become the Republic of Yemen.
;His Highness Sultan Ghalib II bin Awadh bin Saleh Al-Qu'aiti: born 7 January 1948 in London. Ruled from 10 October 1966 – 17 September 1967; HH Sultan Ghalib holds a BA and MA from Magdalen College at the University of Oxford in Oriental Studies and an MA in Arabian Studies from the University of Cambridge, both with honours. The Sultan graduated from Millfield School. He has been a Saudi resident since 1968, currently residing in Jeddah. He has working knowledge of seven languages including Arabic, English, French, German, Persian, Turkish and Urdu/Hindi, which supports his research of various historical periods and geographic regions. Sultan Ghalib is the author of The Holy Cities, The Pilgrimage and The World of Islam and The Three Saudi States: The Emergence of Modern Saudi Arabia. Married Sultana Rashid born in London and who holds a BA from the University of Oxford, a MA from the University of Cambridge and has issue: ;HH Crown Prince Saleh Al-Qu'aiti: born in London, graduated from the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and Millfield School; married Princess Salwa Al-Huraiby of Yafa'a and has issue: ;HH Princess Fatima Al-Qu'aiti: born in London, holds a BA and a MA from the University of Oxford, graduated from Westonbirt School and attended Harvard University; married Prince Shad Al-SherifPasha, who holds a BA from the University of Oxford, Wheaton College, a MA from the University of Chicago, an MBA from London Business School, graduated from Westminster School and has issue: ;HH Princess Muzna Al-Qu'aiti: born in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, holds a MA from the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London and a BA from the American University in Cairo; married Hisham Hafez of Medina who holds a BA from the University of Richmond. Hisham is the son of media mogul Mohammed Ali Hafez, founder of Asharq Al-Awsat, Arab News and Sayidaty, the Middle East's leading weekly women's magazine and has issue:
HH Sultan Awadh I bin Omar Al-Qu'aiti – Ruled 1902–1909
HH Sultan Ghalib I bin Awadh Al-Qu'aiti – Ruled 1909–1922
HH Sultan Omar bin Awadh Al-Qu'aiti – Ruled 1922–1936
HH Sultan Sir Saleh bin Ghalib Al-Qu'aiti KCMG - Ruled 1936-1956
HH Sultan Awadh II bin Saleh Al-Qu'aiti – Ruled 1956–1966, married Salma, married Fatima, married Sahibzadi Nazirunissa Begum, granddaughter of the 6th Nizam Mahbub Ali Pasha, daughter of Nawab Nazir Nawaz Jung, son of Amir-e-Paigah Sultan-ul-Mulk and Sahibzadi Dawoodunisssa Begum and had issue:
HH Sultan Ghalib II bin Awadh Al-Qu'aiti - Ruled until 1967
