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Green Arabia: Continuity and Change in North Yemen
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14609 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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5 / 1988 |
4,478 Words |
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Daniel Martin Varisco
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The greatest challenge facing any developing nation is how to balance the old and the new, maintaining continuity in the midst of change. In North Yemen the contrasts of old and new are inescapable. Here one foot is firmly planted in the past, as evidenced by traditional architecture and conservative dress, while the other foot steps toward the future.
There are two Yemens on the political map, both born of nationalistic fervor in the 1960s. North Yemen, officially known as the Yemen Arab Republic, emerged from isolation in 1962 when the centuries-old Zaydi imamate toppled. A long and protracted civil war enveloped the country as the son of the last imam sought to regain control. Class was pitted against class, tribe against tribe, and young against old as the new republic tried with foreign help to stand on its feet. By the end of the decade, Yemenis on both sides were tired of the fighting and foreign intervention. With national reconciliation, the international community, including North Yemen's neighbors on the peninsula, offered aid to help bring the ravaged economy into the twentieth century. Today, as the country has finally begun oil production of its own, it charts a fairly nonaligned course, welcoming aid and advisors from both East and West.
The other Yemen to the south was born in the vacuum created by Britain's hasty withdrawal in 1967 from its colony in the Aden protectorate. The British had seized the strategic southern port of Aden by force in 1839 for use as a coaling station to support the fleet on which the "sun never set." Try as it might, however, colonial rule could not effectively penetrate the hinterlands, where tribes and petty sultans vied for power. Once a major world port, Aden is now a mere shadow of its former economic importance. The current regime in the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen is isolated and volatile, the sole socialist voice amid an otherwise conservative tide in the peninsula. There is talk of eventual unification of north and south into a Yemeni homeland, but this is as yet little more than talk, given the stark contrast between their economic and political systems.
To understand Yemeni society, it is necessary to begin with the history and natural setting of southern Arabia. Yemen is environmentally diverse. Bordering the Red Sea to the west is a narrow coastal strip known as the Tihama, whose hot and humid climate supports only sparse vegetation, but irrigation along the major wadis (dry riverbeds) supported several towns in the medieval era. About fifty kilometers inland a series of foothills rises sharply into a major mountain range with the highest peaks on the peninsula. Running north to south in the center of North Yemen is a central highland plain in which the modern capital of San'a is located. To the east lies a hilly plateau that merges into the great "empty Quarter" of the Arabian Desert, traversed by the nomadic Bedouin.
Generations of Yemeni farmers have contributed to the greening of their rugged and mountainous homeland. Well-designed irrigation systems and extensive networks of dryland terraces have transformed Yemen's harsh mountain slopes into quiet agricultural fields. These irrigation methods are at the heart of an agricultural tradition which has gained South Arabia justifiable renown for almost three millennia.
Historically, two water sources were exploited in Yemen. In the flat coastal region, fields were constructed along major wadis
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