The Yemen Arab Republic

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Kingdom of Yemen flag 1918-1923.



Kingdom of Yemen flag 1923-1927.



Kingdom of Yemen flag 1927-1963.

From Wikipedia:

The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or - retrospectively - as North Yemen, was a state that existed between 1918 and 1962 in the northern part of what is now Yemen. Its capital was Sana`a until 1948, then Ta'izz.

Religious leaders of the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam expelled forces of the Ottoman Empire from what is now northern Yemen by the middle of the 17th century but, within a century, the unity of Yemen was fractured due to the difficulty of governing Yemen's mountainous terrain. In 1849, the Ottoman Empire occupied the coastal Tihamah region to put pressure on the Zaiddiyah imam to sign a treaty recognizing Ottoman suzerainity and allowing for a small Ottoman force to be stationed in Sana`a. However, the Ottomans were slow to gain control over Yemen and never managed to eliminate all resistance from local Zaydis.

In 1913, shortly before World War I, the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede some power formally to highland Zaydis. On 30 October 1918, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Immam Yahya Muhammad of the al-Qasimi dynasty declared northern Yemen an independent sovereign state. In 1926, Imam Yahya proclaimed the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, becoming both a temporal king as well as a (Zaydi) spiritual leader, and won international recognition for his new state.

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Map of North Yemen.

From Wikipedia:

North Yemen is a term used to designate the Yemen Arab Republic (1962–1990), its predecessor, the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen (1918–1962), and their predecessors that exercised sovereignty over the territory that is now the north-western part of the state of Yemen in southern Arabia.

Neither state ever designated itself as "North Yemen", and the term only came into general use when the Federation of South Arabia gained independence as the People's Republic of South Yemen in 1967, making such a distinction necessary. Prior to 1967, the North was known in short form simply as "Yemen." In 1970, South Yemen changed its name to the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen, thus eliminating any directional reference in either of the Yemens' official names, but the existence of two Yemens preserved the North Yemen and South Yemen designations in popular parlance. Alternate forms were "Yemen (Sanaa)" for North Yemen and "Yemen (Aden)" for South Yemen after their respective capital cities.

The merger of the two Yemens in 1990 ended the term's association with an independent state, but "North Yemen" continues to be used to refer to the area of the former Yemen Arab Republic and its history and, anachronistically, to pre-1967 polities and events (e.g. the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen or the North Yemen Civil War).

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From Wikipedia:

Imam Yahya was assassinated in an unsuccessful coup d'état in 1948, but was eventually succeeded by a firm heir - Yahya's son, imam Ahmad bin Yahya, who regained power several months later. His reign was marked by growing development, openness and renewed friction with the United Kingdom over the British presence in the south that stood in the way of his aspirations for the creation of Greater Yemen.

Ahmad faced growing pressures, supported by the Arab nationalism objectives of the President of Egypt, Gamal Abdel Nasser, and in April 1956 he signed a mutual defense pact with Egypt. In 1958, Yemen joined the United Arab Republic (a federation of Egypt and Syria) in a confederation known as the United Arab States, but this confederation was dissolved soon after Syria withdrew from the United Arab Republic and the United Arab States in September 1961, and relations between Egypt and Yemen subsequently deteriorated.

Imam Ahmad died in September 1962, and was succeeded by his son, the Crown Prince Muhammad al-Badr; however, Muhammad al-Badr's reign was brief. Egyptian-trained military officers inspired by Nasser and led by the commander of the royal guard, Abdullah as-Sallal, deposed him the same year of his coronation, took control of Sana'a, and created the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). This fighting sparked the North Yemen Civil War, and created a new front in the Arab Cold War, in which Egypt assisted the YAR with troops and supplies to combat forces loyal to the imamate, while the monarchies of Saudi Arabia and Jordan supported Badr's royalist forces opposing the newly formed republic.

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Yemen Arab Republic flag.

From Wikipedia:

On 27 September 1962, revolutionaries inspired by the Arab nationalist ideology of United Arab Republic (Egyptian) President Gamal Abdel Nasser deposed the newly crowned King Muhammad al-Badr, took control of Sana'a, and established the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR). This coup d'état marked the beginning of the North Yemen Civil War that pitted YAR troops assisted by the United Arab Republic (Egypt) while Saudi Arabia and Jordan supported Badr's royalist forces opposing the newly formed republic. Conflict continued periodically until 1967 when Egyptian troops were withdrawn. By 1968, following a final royalist siege of Sana'a, most of the opposing leaders reached a reconciliation; Saudi Arabia recognized the Republic in 1970.

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Yemen Arab Republic, 1 buqsha, AH 1382 / AD 1963.



Yemen Arab Republic, ¼ riyal, AH 1382 / AD 1963.

The first coins of the Yemen Arab Republic are sometimes crudely minted.

Their intriguing designs are not sophisticated.

They make no concessions to modernity or to Western models of coinage.

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Yemen Arab Republic, 1 rial, 1963.

The more modern-looking 1 rial of 1963 depicts coffee beans.

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North and South Yemen.

On 30 November 1967, The People's Republic of South Yemen came into being. Its creation is a complex subject, but later I will create a topic showing how this happened, and then I will provide a link to it from this topic. For now, here is a map of the two countries.

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20 rials, 1969.

The next issues of the Yemen Arab Republic were commemorative collector coins only.

Presumably these were meant to earn money from foreign collectors.

This one commemorates the moon landing by the USA.

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This 2 rials collector coin of 1969 features a fierce lion.

Notice that the coat of arms is very different on this coin.

Also, the heraldic bird is facing in the opposite direction.

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The next coins did not appear until 1974, and this time they were circulation coins. This coincided with decimalisation, when the rial was divided into 100 fils. The fils was a new name for a new denomination. The new coinage consisted of an aluminium 1 fils, brass 5 and 10 fils, and cupro-nickel 25 and 50 fils. A copper-nickel 1 rial followed in 1976.

The coins were all very similar, with the denomination and date on one side and the coat of arms on the other.  Above you see the 5 fils coin of 1974.

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FAO-themed versions of the 1, 5, 10, 25 and 50 fils were also issued in 1974.

The designs simply included the legend "Increase food production" in Arabic script above the coat of arms.

Above you see the FAO-themed version of the 50 fils.

A FAO-themed version of the 1 rial coin was issued in 1978.

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In 1981 the Republic issued a collector coin, with a face value of 25 rials/

It commemorated the Year of the Disabled. The coin was produced by the Royal Mint (UK).

It featured the blind Yemeni writer and poet, Abdullah Al-Baradouni (1929–1999).

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Yemen PDR, 2 dinars, 1981.

Interestingly, the neighbouring Yemen People's Democratic Republic also featured the same man on a commemorative coin that was devoted to the same theme, and the coin was also produced by the Royal Mint. 

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The Yemen Arab Republic issued a few other collector coins, the last being in 1987. The country issued its final circulation coins in 1985. It united with the Yemen People's Democratic Republic in 1990, to form the Republic of Yemen.

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See also:

The Yemen People's Democratic Republic.

The Republic of Yemen.