The History of Yemen
The history of Yemen is especially important because Yemen is one of the oldest centers of civilization
in the Near East. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a feature recognized by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, who described Yemen as Eudaimon Arabia (better known in its Latin translation, Arabia Felix) meaning "fortunate Arabia" or Happy Arabia. Between the 12th century BCE and the 6th century CE, it was dominated by six successive civilizations which rivaled each other, or were allied with each other and controlled the lucrative spice trade: M'ain, Qataban, Hadhramaut, Awsan, Saba and Himyarite. Islam arrived in 630 CE, and Yemen became part of the Muslim realm.

The Yemeni desert regions (Rub' al Khali and Sayhad) were the core settlements of the Nomadic Semites that would migrate to the North, settling Akkad, later penetrating Mesopotamia, eventually conquering Sumer by 2300 BCE, and assimilating the Amorites of Syria.

Some scholars believe that Yemen remains the only region in the world that is exclusively Semitic, meaning that Yemen historically did not have any non-Semitic speaking people. Yemeni Semites derived their Musnad script by the 12th - 8th centuries BCE, which explains why most historians will date all the ancient Yemeni kingdoms to the 12th - 8th centuries BCE.
 

3000 BCE to the 8th century BCE
Mesopotamia became Semitic by 2300 BCE; previously it was Sumerian. Syrian Amorites were under Sumerian influence before being assimilated by the Semites circa 2300 BCE. Coastal North Africa became Semitic by 800 BCE via the Phoenicians. Prior to that, it was Berber. The Horn of Africa's first Semitic nation, D'mt, was a Yemeni settlement.

According to Arab tradition, the Semites of South Arabia integrated into Qahtan lineage 40 generations before
the Qahtani Yemeni tribe of Jurhum adopted Ismail and 80 generations before Adnan was born, in the 23rd century BCE. After the fall of the Northern Semitic cultures, Qahtan revived the Semitic influence in the North through the famous Kahlan (Azd and Lakhm) and other Yemeni tribes migration into the North during the 3rd century AD after the first destruction of the Marib Dam.

The Qahtani Semites remained dominant in Yemen from 2300 BCE to 800 BCE, but little is known about this
era because the Semites of the South were separated by the vast Arabian desert from Mesopotamian Semites and they lacked any type of script to record their history. However, it is known that they actively traded along
the Red Sea coasts. This led to contact with the Phoenicians and from them, the Southern Semites adopted
their writing script in 800 BCE and began recording their history.

The Tihama Semitic culture lasted from 1500-1200 BCE. During the late 2nd millennium BCE, a cultural Semitic complex arose in the Tihama region of Yemen and spread to northern Ethiopia and Eritrea (specifically the Tigray Region, central Eritrea, and coastal areas like Adulis). The Semites of Yemen began settling the Ethiopian highlands. These settlements would reach their climax by the 8th century BCE, eventually giving rise to
the Dam't and Aksum kingdoms.

Kingdoms
During the rule of the Sabaeans, 8th century BC to 275 CE, trade and agriculture flourished generating much wealth and prosperity. The Sabaean kingdom is located in what is now the Aseer region in southwestern Yemen, and its capital, Ma'rib, is located near what is now Yemen's modern capital, Sana'a. According to tradition,
the eldest son of Noah, Shem, founded the city of Ma'rib.

During Sabaean rule, Yemen was called "Arabia Felix" by the Romans who were impressed by its wealth and prosperity. The success of the Kingdom was based on the cultivation and trade of spices and aromatics including frankincense and myrrh. These were exported to the Mediterranean, India, and Abyssinia where they were greatly prized by many cultures, using camels on routes through Arabia, and to India by sea.

During the 8th and 7th century BCE, there was a close contact of cultures between the Kingdom of D'mt in northern Ethiopia and Eritrea and Saba'. Though the civilization was indigenous and the royal inscriptions were written in a sort of proto-Ethiosemitic, there were also some Sabaean immigrants in the kingdom as evidenced
by a few of the Dʿmt inscriptions.

Agriculture in Yemen thrived during this time due to an advanced irrigation system which consisted of large water tunnels in mountains, and dams. The most impressive dam, known as the dam of Ma'rib was built ca. 700 BCE, provided irrigation for about 25,000 acres (100 km2) of land and stood for over a millennium, finally collapsing
in AD 570 after centuries of neglect.

The Sabaean kingdom, with its capital at Ma'rib where the remains of a large temple can still be seen, thrived for almost 14 centuries. Some have argued that this kingdom was the Sheba described in the Old Testament.

The first known inscriptions of the Kingdom of Hadramaut are from the 8th century BCE. It was first referenced
by an outside civilization in an Old Sabaic inscription of Karab'il Watar from the early 7th century BCE, in which the King of Hadramaut, Yada`'il, is mentioned as being one of his allies. When the Minaeans took control of the caravan routes in the 4th century BCE, however, Hadramaut became one of its confederates, probably because
of commercial interests. It later became independent and was invaded by the growing kingdom of Himyar toward the end of the first century BCE, but it was able to repel the attack. Hadramaut annexed Qataban in the second half of the 2nd century AD, reaching its greatest size. During this period, Hadramaut was continuously at war
with Himyar and Saba', and the Sabaean king Sha`irum Awtar was even able to take its capital, Shabwa, in 225. During this period the Kingdom of Aksum began to interfere in South Arabian affairs. King GDRT of Aksum acted by dispatching troops under his son, BYGT, sending them from the western coast to occupy Zafar, the Himyarite capital, as well as from the southern coast against Hadramaut as Sabaean allies. The kingdom of Hadramaut was eventually conquered by the Himyarite king Shammar Yuhar`ish around 300 CE, unifying all of the South Arabian kingdoms.

The ancient Kingdom of Awsan with a capital at Hagar Yahirr in the wadi Markha to the south of the wadi Bayhan is now marked by a tell or artificial mound, which is locally named Hagar Asfal. Once it was one of the most important small kingdoms of South Arabia. The city, which has its origin in 800 BCE, seems to have been destroyed in the 7th century BCE by the king and mukarrib of Saba Karib'il Watar, according to a Sabaean text that reports the victory in terms that attest to its significance for the Sabaeans.
Bronze lion with a rider made by the Qatabanians circa 75-50 BCE.

Qataban, which lasted from the 4th century BCE to 200 CE, was one of the ancient Yemeni kingdoms which thrived in the Baihan valley. Like the other Southern Arabian kingdoms it gained great wealth from the trade of frankincense and myrrh incense which were burned at altars. The capital of Qataban was named Timna and was located on the trade route which passed through the other kingdoms of Hadramaut, Saba and Ma'in. The chief deity of the Qatabanians was Amm, or "Uncle" and the people called themselves the "children of Amm".

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