ABSTRACT
Politically, modern Yemen is divided up among three different countries. The northernmost province, Assir, and the Najran Oasis were seized by the Saudis in the 1930s and remain under their control. Among the historical forces shaping Yemeni history, geography has played a particularly important role. Rugged terrain, marginal environment, and geographic isolation have played an important role in Yemen's historical development. Contradictions implicit to Yemen's ecology thus have tended to limit the developments and duration of complex states in Yemen. The British accomplished their aims through combinations of selective political and military support, direct coercion, and the time honored technique of buying off sheikhs and sultans in the area with cash stipends. The revolution in the North encouraged dissidents in the South to intensify their resistance to British colonialism. Opposition to the traditional leadership which had been subsidized by the British and which had become increasingly estranged from the peasantry was far more widespread.
