Aden

Aden, city of Yemen. It is situated along the north coast of the Gulf of Aden and lies on a peninsula enclosing the eastern side of Al-Tawāhī Harbor. The peninsula enclosing the western side of the harbor is called Little Aden.

Aden has its earliest recorded mention in the Hebrew Bible’s Book of Ezekiel, where it is named alongside Canneh as one of the places with which Tyre had trading connections. Canneh and Aden were the two principal termini of the spice road of western Arabia, which was in use for about a millennium until the 3rd century ce. Later Aden continued to function as a trading center under Yemeni, Ethiopian, or Arab control. The height of trade activity in Aden began with the advent of Ayyubid rule in the 12th century and lasted until the fall of the Tahirid dynasty in the 16th century. In the 16th century the Ottomans established themselves as rulers there, and Aden’s sea trade declined as global trade routes began to bypass Ottoman control.

British interest in Aden as a strategic base dates from Napoleon’s conquest of Egypt, a conquest that was regarded as a menace to Britain’s communications with India. About 1800 the British established a garrison at Aden, and in 1802 they signed a treaty with the harbor’s ruler, the sultan of Laḥij. When steam navigation was introduced some years later, it became necessary to have a coaling station on the Red Sea route to India. Aden, which the British had captured in 1839 from the sultan, was chosen as the most suitable location and later became so heavily used as a coal-bunkering facility that it was nicknamed the “Coalhole of the East.” Certain mainland areas were purchased by the British between 1868 and 1888, and in 1937 Aden became a British crown colony. In 1953 an oil refinery was built at Little Aden, on the western side of the bay.

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Aden became partially self-governing in 1962 and was incorporated in the Federation of South Arabia (comprising the former Aden Protectorate territories) in 1963. When the federation was promised independence from Britain by 1968, however, Aden became the focus of a struggle between two rival nationalist organizations, the Egyptian-supported Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen (FLOSY) and the Marxist-oriented National Liberation Front (NLF), for eventual control of the country. It was as a part of the NLF-ruled People’s Republic of Southern Yemen that Aden achieved its independence on November 30, 1967, and became the national capital in 1968 of what was known as South Yemen, or Yemen (Aden). In 1990 North Yemen and South Yemen merged into the single country of Yemen, and Sanaa became the national capital of unified Yemen; Aden remained the country’s main economic hub. When Houthi rebels captured Sanaa in 2015, the internationally recognized government moved its headquarters to Aden.

The contemporary city of Aden consists of three sections: Crater, the old commercial quarter; Al-Tawāhī, the business section; and Maʿallāʾ, the main harbor area. Its economy is based almost entirely on its functions as a commercial centre for nearby states and as a refueling stop for ships. The city has some small industries, including light manufacturing, evaporation of seawater to obtain marine salt, and boatbuilding. Aden was a free port, with no customs duties, until 1970, when duties were imposed. There is an international airport at Khawr Maksar, a former Royal Air Force (RAF) base just north of Aden. The University of Aden was opened in 1970. Pop. (2004) 588,938; (2025 est.) 1,100,000.