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South Yemen
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Map of Yemen before 1990 unification, showing South Yemen in purple from Aden east through Abyan, Shabwah, Hadhramaut, and Al-Mahra, including Socotra, beside the green Yemen Arab Republic of North Yemen. Women march in Aden carrying FLOSY banners with Arabic writing; one young woman holds a sign bearing the movement's name. National Liberation Front members march through Yemen carrying rifles and red, white, and black flags. Portrait of Abdul Fattah Ismail in a blue suit and dotted tie, seated with his hands clasped below his chin. Vice President Ali Salem al-Beidh, left, and President Ali Abdullah Saleh sit behind a cluster of microphones at a press conference.
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Map of Yemen before 1990 unification, showing South Yemen in purple from Aden east through Abyan, Shabwah, Hadhramaut, and Al-Mahra, including Socotra, beside the green Yemen Arab Republic of North Yemen.
Yemen before unification (1967–90)

South Yemen

former country, Yemen
Also known as: Aden Protectorate, Aden Settlement, Democratic Yemen, People’s Democratic Republic of Yemen, People’s Republic of Southern Yemen(Show More)
Written by
Robert Burrowes
Acting Director, Middle East Center, the Jackson School of International Studies, University of Washington, Seattle. Author of The Republic of Yemen: An Historical Dictionary.
Robert BurrowesAll
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Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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•History

South Yemen, former country (1967–90) along the southern coast of Arabia that emerged out of a British protectorate and was unified with the Yemen Arab Republic (North Yemen) in 1990. Within a few years of its independence, it became the only Marxist state in the Arab world—in defiance of an expansionist Nasserism (Pan-Arabism) that had sought to replace British influence. Although South Yemen was considered better armed and more organized than North Yemen, it depended...

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