ABSTRACT
The country on the southeastern corner of the Arabian Peninsula occupies one of the most fabled lands in the Middle East. Some believe that Yemen was the home of the legendary Queen of Sheba, who traveled to Jerusalem to rendezvous with King Solomon in biblical times. The old Yemeni port of Mokka (or Mocca) has given its name to both a coffee bean and a coffee brand. Yemeni men wear curved daggers called jambayyas in their belts, and both men and women in Yemen chew qat, a narcotic plant capable of stimulating both passive and violent behavior. The Ottoman Empire tried to incorporate Yemen in the sixteenth century, but the Zaydi around Sanaa drove them out a century later. Yemeni opposition to Yahya coalesced into the Free Yemeni movement in 1944. Saudi Arabia finally recognized the Arab Republic of Yemen in July 1970, temporarily ending the long civil war.
