Journey through the people, cities and ideas that shaped Yemen, from early communities to contemporary Yemen.
Follow ancient South Arabian kingdoms, Islamic dynasties and imams, Ottoman and British rule, independence, unification and contemporary Yemen.
Explore 12 historical periods, the rulers and heads of government, and 83 chapters of territorial change.
Kings, sultans, imams, regional authorities, governors, heads of state and prime ministers of Yemen.
A Journey Through the Ages
Yemen connects ancient South Arabian kingdoms with Islamic dynasties, imams, Ottoman and British rule, independence and unification. Explore 537 events across twelve periods.
500,000 BCE – 1,201 BCE
Little is documented before the first South Arabian inscriptions: the pages used record settlement at Marib in the late second millennium BCE and Qataban's earliest occupation around the 20th century BCE. Written history begins with Sabaic inscriptions from the 11th or 10th century BCE.
1,200 BCE – 524
Saba, Ma'in, Qataban, Hadramawt and Awsan shared the incense lands until Karib'il Watar's conquests and then Himyar's rise; Shammar Yuhar'ish unified South Arabia around 275. Rome's expedition against Marib in 26/25 BCE failed, and Dhu Nuwas's persecution at Najran in 523 invited Aksumite intervention.
525 – 821
Kaleb of Aksum invaded Himyar in 525, Abraha later ruled as king, and a Persian force under Vahrez took Sanaa about 570 to 578. Badhan's submission around 628 to 630 brought Yemen into the Islamic state, followed by Umayyad and Abbasid governors and a short-lived Ibadi state in 745.
822 – 1173
The Ziyadids founded Zabid in 819 and the Yu'firids took Sanaa in 847, while Yahya al-Hadi began the Zaydi imamate in the north in 897. Ali al-Sulayhi ruled most of Yemen from 1063 and Queen Arwa governed until 1138, after which the Zurayids held Aden until the Ayyubid conquest.
1174 – 1453
Turan-Shah took Zabid and Aden for the Ayyubids in 1174, and the Rasulids replaced them in 1229, ruling from Zabid and Taizz with a peak under Yusuf I. Rasulid trade and diplomacy, including gifts from China, endured until the Tahirids took Aden in 1454.
1454 – 1635
The Tahirids governed from Zabid until a Mamluk fleet ended them in 1517, and the Ottomans stormed Aden in 1538. Imam al-Mutahhar's revolt, the Ottoman reconquest and the proclamation of Qasim the Great in 1597 led to the Ottoman expulsion completed by 1636.
1636 – 1848
Al-Mutawakkil Isma'il ruled Yemen from Asir to Zafar, but the imamate fragmented as Lahij became independent by 1740 and the coast was lost after 1803. British forces seized Aden on 19 January 1839, and the Ottomans returned to the Tihama in 1849.
1849 – 1917
Sanaa became capital of the Yemen Vilayet in 1872, while Britain consolidated Aden, Perim and a belt of protectorate treaties around it. Imam Yahya won recognition from the Ottomans in 1911 and an Anglo-Turkish treaty set the southern boundary in 1914.
1918 – 1961
Imam Yahya declared the Mutawakkilite Kingdom in 1918 and lost Najran, Asir and Jizan to Saudi Arabia in 1934. Aden became a Crown colony in 1937, and the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South was formed in 1959.
1962 – 1989
The Yemen Arab Republic was proclaimed on 26 September 1962, and civil war lasted until 1967 to 1970. South Yemen became independent on 30 November 1967, and the two states fought in 1972 and 1979 before merging in 1990.
1990 – 2010
Unification on 22 May 1990 created the Republic of Yemen, but the secessionist war of 1994 ended with Aden's fall on 7 July. The Oman border was settled in 1992, the Hanish Islands went to Yemen by arbitration, and the Treaty of Jeddah fixed the Saudi border in 2000.
2011 – present
Houthis took Sanaa in September 2014, a Saudi-led coalition intervened in 2015, and the Presidential Leadership Council replaced the Hadi government in April 2022. The Southern Transitional Council's December 2025 advance reversed in January 2026, and Houthi forces gained Mokha and Perim in September 2026 (to refresh).
From Saba and Himyar to the Rasulids, Zaydi imams, Ottomans, British Aden and the Republic, 500,000 years ago – 2026
From the first oasis communities and the kingdoms of Saba, Hadramawt, Qataban and Himyar through the Islamic dynasties, the Rasulids, the Zaydi imams, Ottoman and British rule, the two Yemens and unity in 1990 to the war since 2014. Watch the lands of Yemen change year by year, with the powers around them; dashed shapes mark approximate zones and 2014-26 control zones are schematic, low-confidence snapshots.
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South Arabian kingdoms connected highland agriculture, caravan routes and maritime trade.
Successive dynasties, imams and regional communities shaped cities, religious traditions and political authority.
Ottoman and British rule, independence, unification and subsequent conflict shaped contemporary Yemen.
Events and ruler profiles retain the references supplied with the dataset. Structural and display checks do not establish historical accuracy. The research report records unverified ruler links, single-source events, gaps and conflicting dates; recent events remain subject to revision.
The supplied map retains its credits, references and territorial caveats. Historical states, context layers and approximate zones distinguish regional authority from modern borders. Kashmir is shown through administered and proxy outlines, with disputes identified in the map; East Yemen is included in its historical context.
Population estimates describe differing territories and periods. Ranges for an ancient city or a whole civilisation are not treated as counts for modern Yemen. Images are pending; this microsite uses a gradient and a generic ruler placeholder.
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