Yemen

General Information about Yemen

Yemen, the only republic on the Arabic Peninsula, is located in the Middle East and includes the mainland country as well as some 200 islands. The largest Yemen island is Socotra which is south of Yemen, off the northeast coast of Somalia. Yemen is bordered by Saudi Arabia. Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea and has a population of over 22,230,000 people.

The official spoken in Yemen is Arabic. English is commonly spoken as a second language. Sunni and Shi'a Muslim are the main religions in Yemen but there are also some minority groups of Christians, Jews and Hindu's. Yemen's capital and largest city San'a is located in the west and is home to almost 2 million people.

According to the Yemenis, San'a was founded by Noah's son Shem and is one of the first human settlements. It has been proven that San'a has existed since the 2nd century AD at least, and until 1962, was behind it's ancient walls. There are 50 mosque still standing in Yemen and San'a has the most important of them all, the Al-Jamaa al-Kabir (or Great Mosque). This mosque was used as an Islamic school and place of learning for centuries and it's library contains the largest collection of manuscripts in Yemen. One of the oldest mosque's of Yemen is situated in the ancient village Shibam and was built in the 9th century AD. The village itself dates back to the 2nd century AD.

Climate

Find Out About The Climate Of Yemen

The climate of Yemen is particulary hot with desert like conditons and mild winters. The climate does vary from hot and humid along the coast to temperate in the western mountains to harsh desert like in the east. The summer months are usually hot and humid with temperatures rising as high as 54 degrees in the shaded areas alone. January and February are the coolest months to visit with average temperatures of 20 degrees. The western mountains experience monsoonal type conditions althought rainfall in Yemen is minimal.

Geography

Geographical Information On Yemen

Officially known as the Republic of Yemen, and is located on the Arabian Peninsula, Yemen has a total area of 527,970 square kilometres. Also included in Yemen is Perim, Socotra, the former Yemen Arab Republic and the former Peoples Demoncratic. Yemen has an extensive coastline of over 1,906 kilometres tht covers the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea. The terrain of Yemen is mostly narrow coastal plains with flat topped hills as well as rugged mountains. In the centre of Yemen the land is dissected by upland desert plains that slope into the desert interior of the Arabian Peninsula. Found in Sana'a Governorate is Yemen's highest point which rises to over 3,666 metres and is known as Jabal an Nabi Shu'ayb.

Economy

Learn About The Economy Of Yemen

Yemen struggles with its economy and is amongst some of the poorest countries in the Arab world. This is mainly as a result of declining oil resources. Yemen has introduced a program to help its economic reform and saw significant increases in 2007. Most of the population of Yemen are employed in the agricultural industry, service, construction, with less than one fourth of the population being involved in the commerce industry. Yemen unemployment rate was reported at 35 percent in 2003 with over 45 percent of the population living below the poverty line. The main exports of Yemen are crudeoil, coffee, dried and salted fish. The official currency of Yemen is Yemeni Rial.

Apartments in Yemen

Hotels in Yemen

Must Explore would like to wish you an enjoyable stay in Yemen.

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