Timeline of Yemeni history

This is a timeline of Yemeni history. To read about the background to these events, see History of Yemen. See also the list of Kings of Yemen and list of Presidents of Yemen.

This timeline is incomplete; some important events may be missing. Please help add to it.

25th century BC

Year	Date	Event
2500 BC		Ancient Arab tribes move North and South. Qahtan and A'ad settle South Arabia. The Akkadians and Amalek settle the North.

23rd century BC

Year	Date	Event
2300 BC		According to some legends, the Arabs of the South unite under the leadership of Qahtan.

21st century BC

Year	Date	Event
2100 BC		to the East of Qahtan A'ad settles Oman.

20th century BC

Year	Date	Event
2000 BC		the Qahtanis began building simple earth dams and canals in the Marib area in the Sayhad desert, this area will be the nucleus of the forthcoming Sabean Dam of Marib.

19th century BC

Year	Date	Event
1900 BC		Ismail was found by the Qahtani tribe of Jurhum. They adopt him and of the lineage of Ismail (40 generations later Adnan will be the new lineage of the Adnani tribes that will branch out of Qahtan)

16th century BC

Year	Date	Event
1600 BC		the Qahtanis began to move to the Tihama coasts and the lowlands. A tradeline began to flourish along the red Sea Tihama coasts. During this period the Qahtanis began to settle East Africa in small trading colonies in neighboring East Africa.

12th century BC

Year	Date	Event
1200 BC		an order of High Priests who are referred to as the Mukkaribs of the "Sabeans" will rule South Arabia and some parts of East Africa.

11th century BC

Year	Date	Event
1100 BC		the reign of the legendary Queen Bilqis mentioned in the Bible/Quran.

9th century BC

Year	Date	Event
900 BC		the Qahtanis began using a Variant of the Phoenician script, this will lead to the recording of the South Arabian history, from this point on.

8th century BC

Year	Date	Event
800 BC		Ma'een kingdom builds its capital in Baraqish.
		the Sabeans build their capital on the edge of the mountains regions in Sirwah.
		the Qatabanians rise as Sabean vassals in the region known now (1990 AD) as central and east Yemen.
		Hadhramout / Hadhramawt rise as Sabean vassal kingdom in the region known now (1990 AD) as eastern Yemen.
		Awsan appears as independent nation in a region that will partly controlled by the Qatabanians.
719 BC		The temple of Marib is finished.
718 BC		War between Ma'een and the Sabeans.
716 BC		After securing their borders with Ma'een the Sabeans moved their capital to the more accessible Marib.
715 BC		The Sabeans control the trade line and started recording diplomatic relationships with Assyria.
		Sumhu`alay Yanuf and his son Yatha`amar Bayyin complete building the Marib Dam.

7th century BC

Year	Date	Event
700 BC		the Qatabanians build Timna and rebel against the authority of Saba
675 BC		Kariba-il Watar defeats the rebellion and brings all of South Arabia under the Sabean rule.

6th century BC

Year	Date	Event
600 BC		Saba reaches its height of power and extends its hegemony across the Red sea establishing the Dam't Kingdom, this will be the nucleus of the Semitic culture of East Africa. Although its not the first attempt of the Qahtanis to expand their rule to the African coast.

5th century BC

Year	Date	Event
500 BC		the Dam of Marib breaks, Saba suffers from drought and rebellions.
		the Ma'een kingdom allied with the Qatabanians and Hadramites rebel against Saba and gain their independence.
		Ma'een establishes itself as the Dominat kingdom in the North of Yemen extending its authority on the Northern red sea coasts and establishes military/trading colonies as far as Sinai.

4th century BC

Year	Date	Event
370 BC		Qahtani tribes attack the Persians out of Musqat in the Eastern tip of the Arabian peninsula. From that time on Qahtanis replaced the Ancient Arabs 'Ad in Oman.

2nd century BC

Year	Date	Event
110 BC		Himyar rises against Qataban.

1st century BC

Year	Date	Event
100 BC		Ma'een declines gradually mainly due to the Roman control of the new sea trade routes.
		Himyar starts expanding on the expense of the war-torn kingdom of Saba.
		the remains of the Qhatani Jurhum tribe of Hijaz and Nejd integrate their lineage under Nizar bin Ma'ad bin Adnan. From this point on they become the Adnanis.
		Himyar allied itself with most of the Qahatni tribes of the lowlands and central highlands, annexing most of Saba and Southern Qataban, but Hadhramout repels them.
25 BC		The Romans encouraged by the civil war in South Arabia attempt to invade the region, but fail to survive the Arabian desert.
		Sabean civil war, Himyar closes in on Saba and takes over most of the Sabean central highlands, red sea coasts territory. Saba breaks into two smaller states in the northern highlands and the desert region around the capital Marib.

1st century AD

Year	Date	Event
100		the kingdom of Aksum dominates East Africa and takesover the Sabean trading/military colonies.
		the Kahlan tribes remain as the only tribes still loyal to the Sabean state at Marib, Kahlan tribes cornered to the area between Sana'a and Marib in the North of Yemen.

2nd century

Year	Date	Event
200		Jews settle Yemen.
		Himyar captures most of Qataban.
		Himyar annexes the Sabean state of Marib.
		after the loss of Marib Saba Kahlans septs Azd , Hamdan , Lakhm , Tai headed north except for the Hashid and Bakil tribes of Hamdan of Gurat Saba and Kindah in the ramlah desert.

3rd century

Year	Date	Event
211		Hadhramout allies itself with Qataban and Aksum attacking Himyar from the West and the east.
217		while the Himyarites are fighting the Hadhramout/Qataban alliance in the east, the Aksumites capture the Himyarite capital Zafar, .
221		Hadhramout annexes Qataban and reaches its height of power.
222		the Aksumites attempt to capture Hadhramout from the coast.
225		during the reign of Sha`irum Awtar the Himyarites/Sabeans attack the Kingdom of Hadhramout from the East and capture their capital.
227		the Gurat Sabeans and Himyar ally themselves against the Aksumites and retake Zafar. The Aksumites lose all their territories in South Arabia except for Tihama.
229		Himyar recaptures Southern Tihama and controls the Major East African ports across from Muza'a. The Aksumites keep the Northern strip of Tihama.
		The Kahlani Imran bin Azd branch expel the Persians from Oman.
231		The Kahlani Jifna bin Azd branch settles Syria and Lakhm settles Mesopotamia.
280		Himyar annexes the last Sabean enclave to its Kingdom.
300		Himyar annexes Hadhramout expanding its borders to Dhofar Oman. to the East of their borders the Azd bin Imran (Azd Uman).

4th century

Year	Date	Event
320		Himyar annexes Suqatra.
325		From AL Ramlah in Yemen Shiekh of Kindah Malikum makes alliances with Adnani tribes of Nejd.
390		Abu-Kariba Asad-Toban King of Himyar converts to Judaism and spreads the religion in the region.

5th century

Year	Date	Event
425		Himyar appoints Akil al-Murar ibn Amr as the first Hujr of its Northern Kindite colonies.
480		Amr al-Mansur ibn Hudjr rises his status to the king (vassal to Himyar) and bring the Northern part of the Arabian peninsula under Himyarite control.
500		Christianity spreads in Najran/Tihama strip an area still allied to the Christian Aksum kingdom.
		two Jews from Yathrib travel to Himyar in hopes of converting the people of Himyar into Judaism.

6th century

Year	Date	Event
523		King Dhu Nawas converts to Judaism, he begins a campaign to convert the Himyarites into Judaism. Himyarites convert in big numbers except in Najran.
525		At this time Himyar included all the Arabian peninsula (via Kinda) and he was angered by the Najrani chief refusal to leave Christianity. Dhu Nawas took Najran and massacred 20,000 Najrani Christians.
		The Christian Aksumites defeat Dhu Nawas and annex Himyar, starting a period of persecution against the Yemenite Jews. Third of the population of Yemenite Jews is exiled to Aksum.
570		The Dam of Marib broke for the third and final time, triggering another migration of Yemeni tribes. The Qur'an itself refers to the collapse of the Marib Dam as a punishment on the Sabaeans for their ungratefulness to God.
		Under Khosrau I, Persian forces expel the Aksumites with the help of Dhu Yazin. Persians later assassinate Dhu Yazin and try to establish their rule over all Yemen. But they fail and a number of autonomous kingdoms are established.

7th century

Year	Date	Event
630		Islamic Caliphate expands into Yemen, which becomes one of its provinces.

9th century

Year	Date	Event
897		Yemen separates from the Abbasid caliphate and the Zaidi dynasty rules Yemen. First from Sada, then from Sana'a.

12th century

Year	Date	Event
1173		Yemen falls under the influence of the Egyptian Ayyubid.

13th century

Year	Date	Event
1229		The Rasuliden dynasty rules Yemen until 1453.

16th century

Year	Date	Event
1517		Ottomans absorb part of Yemen into their empire, mainly Aden and Lahij. Sana'a and the rest of Yemen continued to be ruled by the Zaidi dyasty.

17th century

Year	Date	Event
1635		The Ottomans are expelled from Yemen.

19th century

Year	Date	Event
1839		Aden comes under British rule and serves as a major refuelling port when the Suez Canal opens in 1869.
1872		Ottomans occupy the north of Yemen, but later face revolt.

20th century

Year	Date	Event
1918		Ottoman empire dissolves, North Yemen gains independence and is ruled by Imam Yahya.
1948		Yahya assassinated, but his son Ahmad beats off opponents of feudal rule and succeeds his father.
1962		Imam Ahmad dies, succeeded by his son but army officers seize power, set up the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), sparking civil war between royalists supported by Saudi Arabia and republicans backed by Egypt.
1963		Commenced the revolution against the British colonialism, South Yemen
1968		Total independence of Southern Yemen.
1990		Yemeni unification.
1994		Civil war in Yemen

21st century

Year	Date	Event
2004		Sa'dah insurgency
2011		2011 Yemeni uprising

References

• Original text from U.S. State Dept. Country Study
• (1): DAUM, W. (ed.): Yemen. 3000 years of art and civilisation in Arabia Felix., Innsbruck / Frankfurt am Main / Amsterdam [1988]. pp. 53–4.
• History of Yemen
• History of Qahtan
• Timeline of Art History of Arabia including Yemen (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).
• A Dam at Marib
• Das Fenster zum Jemen (German)
• Geschichte des Jemen (German)
• History of Yemen