World coins chat: Yemen, South Arabia, and other Yemenite states

12 posts

» Quick access to the last post

And now for the sad sack of the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen. This is the article that I was least looking forward to writing, because Yemen is just complicated. That's why I've included lots of pictures.


The flag of Yemen


CIA World Factbook map of Yemen

Yemen stands out from other Arabian countries because, while the nation has some oil reserves, it doesn't have nearly enough to attain real prosperity. By Human Development Index, Yemen has more in common with its African neighbours than its Arabian ones - the country charts at 0.500, making it less developed than Nigeria but more developed than Madagascar. The country has also gained some notoriety recently because there is a civil war going on there as we speak. The Houthi rebels, motivated by a relatively obscure sect of Islam, have recently seized Sana'a, the capital. They are backed by Iran, Syria, and Hezbollah. Meanwhile, the previous government of Yemen (which has declared its new capital to be Aden) is supported by Saudi Arabia and most other countries in the region. Al-Qaeda and other big-name terrorist groups are also involved, just to mix it up a bit. Luckily, Wikipedia has one of those great civil war maps that updates in real time: this one's from today, August 6th, 2015:


(Yes! The black splotches are controlled by Al-Qaeda. Scary stuff.)

This introduces an important theme in Yemen's history: being divided. As you may notice, Numista has no less than five listings for various Yemenite entities - first we have modern, "united" Yemen (it's not so united anymore, though), then we have the Arab Republic of Yemen (a.k.a. "North Yemen"), the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (a.k.a. "South Yemen"), and the many "Yemenite States". "South Arabia" was what the British called their part of Yemen before leaving for good. It's clear that a good Yemen collection is an asset to OFEC collectors. In my experience, most people (including me!) had no idea that, just like Germany, Korea, and Vietnam, Yemen was divided right in half during most of the Cold War. Everybody cheered when the Berlin Wall fell, but nobody cared when the two Yemens reunited on May 22, 1990.

I suppose it's best to cover those five Yemen listings in order...

Yemenite States

Now, in a perfect world, Numista would have fewer of these "catch-all" pages, because they are pretty difficult to sort through. Let's just cover every one of these states in order... I'll post some maps because otherwise I can't keep track of all of these.

British Presence in Yemen: Aden

The British owned the useful port of Aden starting in 1839. First, they governed it as if it were a province of British India, but in 1937, it became the Colony of Aden. Stamp collectors are more likely to be familiar with this territory, as the British issued many stamps for Aden and the port served as a useful stopping point for international mail between Europe and Asia - coin collectors are less likely to know it, because this protectorate used the British Indian rupee and has very few distinct coins of its own. But, as sheer luck would have it, I have one of those coins:

As you can see, it's a British Indian 1/4 anna coin with a new design stamped into it. I submitted it to the MPCC, not even knowing what it was, and when it was posted one of the contest organizers had identified it for me... whoever that was, I am forever in your debt.

British Presence in Yemen: The Aden Protectorate

The port of Aden was a vital British holding. The poor and unruly Arabs who lived outside of the city limits, less so. That's why the British formed the Aden Protectorate, which did not actually include Aden proper. The Protectorate allowed the British to do what they loved best: playing backwards native tribes against one another. Many of the entities in the Aden Protectorate retained considerable autonomy, which included... yes... minting their own coins. You can find three of these entities in the Yemenite States catalog:

The Kathiri State


The Sultanate of Lahej


The Qu'aiti Sultanate


Where does Wikipedia get these flags? I wish I knew. Now, here are some useful maps to help you keep track of the petty sultanates in British-protected Yemen:


Yeah... really clear and simple.

Now for the final entry in the Yemenite states list, an entry that doesn't really belong there...

The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen


You may recall that the British only controlled some of Yemen. Who controlled the rest? Well, the Ottoman Empire did... but that Empire collapsed in 1918. What was left behind? The theocratic Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen. This Kingdom did not recognize the authority of the British Empire and consistently bothered them with border raids and other incursions. This is the other Yemenite state that I have a coin from:

1/80 riyal, 1948 - this coin was reportedly struck in 1955 in Lebanon and purposely backdated, but I haven't pursued this mystery any further.

If you collect coins with unusual shapes, the Kingdom of Yemen issued what are, to my knowledge, the world's only circulating pentagonal coins. Perhaps this knowledge will enable you to complete your "One From Every Polygon" collection?

OK! We're done with the Yemenite States. Take a deep breath.

South Arabia

You may recall that the city of Aden was ruled separately from the surrounding Aden Protectorate. In 1963, the British, now reconsidering the value of owning an oil-poor patch of desert, decided to amalgamate all their colonies in Yemen into the Federation of South Arabia. Aden proper became the 16th state admitted into the Federation. South Arabia issued only four coin types, of which I have three:



The Federation was torn apart by fighting. Nationalist groups started to step up their insurgencies against the British, and the British response was to just leave. On November 30, 1967, South Yemen gained its independence as the People's Republic of South Yemen. But what was going on in that other Yemen?

All you guys who loved it when the United Arab Republic was added to Numista will also love this: for three short years, 1958 to 1961, the Kingdom of Yemen was in a confederation with the U.A.R.! The result was called the "United Arab States". However, considering that none of the three components of the U.A.S. shared a border, and considering that the Kingdom of Yemen stayed independent and kept its seat at the U.N., the union rapidly fell apart. The U.A.S. remains the high water mark of modern Arab pan-nationalism.

The Kingdom of Yemen couldn't last, and in 1962, revolutionaries inspired by Egypt's successful monarch removal of 1953 removed the newly crowned King of Yemen, declaring the Yemen Arab Republic.

Yes - even after both Yemens overthrew both of their colonial/royal leaders, they stayed separate! Here's a map of the two:


(Notice the similarity between this map and the map of the civil war in 2015...)

You might also wonder: shouldn't these countries be called East Yemen and West Yemen? They got their name from the fact that Aden, the capital of South Yemen, is indeed almost directly south of Sana'a, the capital of North Yemen.

Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen)



Like so many other countries, North Yemen used an odd customary system of non-decimal currency, where 40 buqshah equaled 1 rial. In 1974, the rial was decimalized. If you have a coin from North Yemen in your collection, it's probably one of these decimal issues, which all look roughly the same and can be identified by the country's emblem:


People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (South Yemen)



South Yemen is definitely the harder of the two Yemens to add to your collection. Three years after gaining independence, the country became communist. But, you know, it wasn't all that communist... and besides, Marx said something about how the revolution could only happen in an industrialized society. Anyway, the first coins of "Democratic Yemen" copied the designs of coins from South Arabia, but later issues were more creative (such as an octagonal 100 fils coin).

In 1989, the power of the Soviet Union was waning, and South Yemen soon enacted "democratic" reforms (although the country is so poor and corrupt that the only real difference between communism and capitalism is that pretending to follow one of them gets you sweet USA foreign aid packages). In 1990, the two Yemens merged, and Yemen was (finally!) united. Four years later, the South tried to back out, and the two national armies (which had never actually been merged?!) gathered to fight a civil war. But this South failed to rise again, and the civil war was over by the end of 1994.

Republic of Yemen

Finally, we've arrived at modern Yemen, the country that I posted the map of way at the top of this thread. Embarrassingly, I don't actually have any coins from the modern Republic. Considering that the country has a proven record of erupting in violence every 20 years or less, it's understandable that not very many tourists bring back Yemenite coins from their Yemenite holidays. The glamour and fame attracted by other countries on the Arabian Peninsula have totally skipped Yemen.

But Yemen will have its revenge: the country has one of the world's higher fertility rates, and its weather is not quite as hot and miserable as it is in the oil-producing states further north. Right now, 24 million people live in Yemen, which is, actually, a huge number: that's almost as many as Saudi Arabia, and Saudi looks much larger on a map. (Neighbouring Oman, of similar size to Yemen, has only 3.2 million people!) The United Nations estimates that Yemen's population will just about double by 2050.

Currently, Yemen is beset by numerous insurgencies, multiple terrorist organizations, and an intolerant regional power right to its north - its future is certainly unpredictable. But its comparatively arable land and high population might actually prove to be valuable assets that could give it the edge over its neighbours if the world ever moves past its dependence on oil.

All of the Yemenite links in one place, for your convenience

Yemenite States
South Arabia
Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen)
P.D.R. of Yemen (South Yemen)
Yemen
North and South Yemen have a very distinct monetary history. The Aden Protectorate used the Indian Rupee until 1951, when the East African Shilling replaced the Rupee as India had become independent 4 years earlier. In 1965, South Arabia introduced its own Dinar (worth 1000 Fils) for 20 Shillings, thus equal to British Pound Sterling. In 1990 the Yemeni unification caused the Dinar to be replaced by the Rial at a rate of 26 Rial for each Dinar.

In North Yemen, the Rial was a large silver coin subdivided in 40 Buqsha = 80 Halala = 160 Zalat. In 1963, 3 Rials equalled 1 British Pound, or $0.945 per Rial. By 1990 the rate had dropped to 12 Rial per USD, and as of 2015 the exchange rate equals 215/$.

I actually own a 40mm diameter silver  Yemeni Rial (will not fit in normal sized flips) and 1/2 to 10 Buqsha coins from the 1963 series.
I have 5 Fils from South Arabia, which is in pretty rough shape, and 4 coins from the Yemen Arab Republic, including a nice BU silver Riyal from 1963 - the largest denomination YAR pre-decimal coin.
HoH
I have one coin from Yemen. A 1993 rial. A few months ago, Yemen was in the news after the Saudis bombed the country. Yemen has been a mess for a long time-perhaps because it is in a key geographic spot, being a go between for Africa and the Middle East and havng a major port on the Gulf of Aden.      
I have a few coins from this area, including the following:

Arabia Felix: Himyarites and Sabaeans (ca. 3rd Century BC) AR Unit (Munro-Hay 1.4i2)

Obv: Helmeted head of Athena right; Sabaean "N" (mark of value) on cheek.
Rev: Owl standing right, head facing; olive sprig and crescent behind, AΘE before, monogram below.

Just received this week 2 coins from the "united" Yemen (5 riyal 1993 & 10 riyal 1995 steel coins), and I noticed that the reverse is quite the same as the North Yemen coinage
Administrateur du catalogue, référent de nombreuses nations antiques et de la Lorraine.
Catalogue administrator, numerous Antique nations and Lorraine referee.
Quote: "Quant.Geek"


​What an unbelievable beautiful coin :8D

But I don't understand the influence of Greece so far in the South according to historical maps:
Referee of south atlantic islands
Hm your map shows the realms of the Diadochi of a person you might have already heard from. ;)
He was called Alexander the Great, on of the most successful conquerors of the antiquity ... there you have your vast expansions to the east and south.
Quote: "Frenchlover"
Quote: "Quant.Geek"
​​

​​What an unbelievable beautiful coin :8D

​But I don't understand the influence of Greece so far in the South according to historical maps:


​There are several cultures that imitated the Greek drachms including Arabia Felix. You can read about these imitation drachms at http://athenianowlcoins.reidgold.com/imitations.html...

Can anyone explain me why Mutawakkilite was merged as North Yemen in the catalog?

Please update the OPs' first mail, which doesn't really correspond to the current situation!

Globetrotter
Coin varieties in French:
https://monnaiesetvarietes.numista.com

I have all 4 South Arabian coin types in my collection.

 

I also have this coin as well;

 

 

The coins from the Aden Protectorate States have eluded me so far.

 

Aidan.

» Forum policy

Used time zone is UTC+1:00.
Current time is 23:46.