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Aden عدن
The old town of Aden, situated in the crater of an extinct volcano (1999)
[[file:Template:Location map South Yemen|250px|Aden is located in Template:Location map South Yemen]]<div style="position: absolute; z-index: 2; top: Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["%; left: Expression error: Unrecognised punctuation character "["%; height: 0; width: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"> [[File:Template:Location map South Yemen|6x6px|Aden|link=|alt=]] Aden Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033
Country	South Yemen
Governorate	'Adan
Population (2005)
• Total	about 1,000,000 60% national South Arabian(Adeni),40% foreigners mainly from Yemen,Somalia and Africa
Time zone	GMT (UTC+3)

Aden (/ˈɑːdɛn/ AH-den; Arabic: عدن ʻAdan‎) is a seaport city in South Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea (the Gulf of Aden), some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately a million people. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of a dormant volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a low isthmus. This harbour, Front Bay, was first used by the ancient Kingdom of Awsan between the 5th and 7th centuries BCE. The modern harbour is on the other side of the peninsula.

Aden consists of a number of distinct sub-centers: Crater, the original port city; Ma'alla, the modern port; Tawahi, known as "Steamer Point" in the colonial period; and the resorts of Gold Mohur. Khormaksar, located on the isthmus that connects Aden proper with the mainland, includes the city's diplomatic missions, the main offices of Aden University, and Aden International Airport (the former British Royal Air Force station RAF Khormaksar), Yemen's second biggest airport. On the mainland are the sub-centres of Sheikh Othman, a former oasis area; Al-Mansura, a town planned by the British; and Madinat ash-Sha'b (formerly Madinat al-Itihad), the site designated as the capital of the South Arabian Federation and now home to a large power/desalinization facility and additional faculties of Aden University.

Aden encloses the eastern side of a vast, natural harbor that comprises the modern port. The volcanic peninsula of Little Aden forms a near-mirror image, enclosing the harbor and port on the western side. Little Aden became the site of the oil refinery and tanker port. Both were established and operated by British Petroleum until they were turned over to Yemeni government ownership and control in 1977.

Aden was the capital of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen until that country's unification with the Yemen Arab Republic. On that occasion, the city was declared a free trade zone. Aden gives its name to the Gulf of Aden.

Climate[link]

The city of Aden has a desert climate (Köppen BWa) and is very hot throughout the year. None of its monthly average high temperatures falls below 30 °C (86 °F). Rainfall is rare.

History[link]

Antiquity[link]

A local legend in Yemen states that Aden may be as old as human history itself. Some also believe that Cain and Abel are buried somewhere in the city.^[2]

The port's convenient position on the sea route between India and Europe has made Aden desirable to rulers who sought to possess it at various times throughout history. Known as Arabian Eudaemon in the 1st century BCE, it was a transshipping point for the Red Sea trade, but fell on hard times when new shipping practices by-passed it and made the daring direct crossing to India in the 1st century CE, according to the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea. The same work describes Aden as "a village by the shore," which would well describe the town of Crater while it was still little-developed. There is no mention of fortification at this stage, Aden was more an island than a peninsula as the isthmus (a tombolo) was not then so developed as it is today.

Medieval[link]

Aden, with Portuguese fleet. in Braun & Hogenberg.1590

1951 stamp depicting Steamer Point with the outside of the volcanic rim of Crater in the background

1937 stamp of Aden: Half-anna dhow

Although the pre-Islamic Himyar civilization was capable of building large structures, there seems to have been little fortification at this stage. Fortifications at Mareb and other places in Yemen and the Hadhramaut make it clear that both the Himyar and the Sabean cultures were well capable of it. Thus, watch towers, since destroyed, are possible. However, the Arab historians Ibn al Mojawir and Abu Makhramah attribute the first fortification of Aden to Beni Zuree'a. Abu Makhramah has also included a detailed biography of Muhammad Azim Sultan Qamarbandi Naqsh in his work, Tarikh ul-Yemen. The aim seems to have been twofold: to keep hostile forces out and to maintain revenue by controlling the movement of goods, thereby preventing smuggling. In its original form, some of this work was relatively feeble. However, after 1175 CE, rebuilding in a more solid form began, and ever since it became a popular city attracting sailors and merchants from Egypt, Sindh, East Africa and even China.

In 1421, China's Ming dynasty Yongle Emperor ordered principal envoy grand eunuch Li Xing and grand eunuch Zhou Man of Zheng He's fleet to convey an imperial edict with hats and robes to bestow on the king of Aden. The envoys boarded three treasure ships and set sail from Sumatra to the port of Aden. This event was recorded in the book Ying-yai Sheng-lan by Ma Huan who accompanied the imperial envoy.^[3]

British rule[link]

Port of Aden (around 1910). Ships lying off Steamer Point at the entrance to the modern inner harbour.^[4]

Before British rule, Aden was occupied by the Portuguese between 1513–1538 and 1547–1548. It was ruled by the Ottoman Empire between 1538–1547 and 1548–1645.

In 1609 The Ascension was the first English ship to visit Aden, before sailing on to Mocha during the Fourth voyage of the East India Company.^[5]

After Ottoman rule, Aden was ruled by the Sultanate of Lahej, under suzerainty of the Zaidi imams of Yemen.

Aden was at this time a small village with a population of 600 Arabs, Somalis, Jews and Indians—housed for the most part in huts of reed matting erected among ruins recalling a vanished era of wealth and prosperity. Haines stated that it could become a major trading centre and the latter part of the British period proved him correct with Aden growing to become one of the busiest ports in the world. In 1838, Sultan Muhsin bin Fadl of the nearby state of Lahej ceded 194 km² (75 sq. miles) including Aden to the British. On 19 January 1839, the British East India Company landed Royal Marines at Aden to occupy the territory and stop attacks by pirates against British shipping to India. The port lies about equidistant from the Suez Canal, Bombay (now Mumbai), and Zanzibar, which were all important British possessions. Aden had been an entrepôt and a way-station for seamen in the ancient world. There, supplies, particularly water, were replenished. So, in the mid-19th century, it became necessary to replenish coal and boiler water. Thus Aden acquired a coaling station at Steamer Point. Aden was to remain under British control until 1967.

Until 1937, Aden was ruled as part of British India and was known as the Aden Settlement. Its original territory was enlarged in 1857 by the 13 km² island of Perim, in 1868 by the 73 km² Khuriya Muriya Islands, and in 1915 by the 108 km² island of Kamaran.

In 1937, the Settlement was detached from India and became the Colony of Aden, a British Crown colony. The change in government was a step towards the change in monetary units seen in the stamps illustrating this article. When the Indian Empire went its independent way, Indian rupees (divided into annas) were replaced in Aden by East African shillings. The hinterland of Aden and Hadhramaut were also loosely tied to Britain as the Aden Protectorate which was overseen from Aden.

Aden is known for its boat-oriented stamps. Mukalla is on the Hadhramaut coast, about 500 km east of Aden, in what was then the Aden Protectorate.

Aden's location also made it a useful entrepôt for mail passing between places around the Indian Ocean and Europe. Thus, a ship passing from Suez to Bombay could leave mail for Mombasa at Aden for collection. See History of postage in Aden.

After the loss of the Suez Canal in 1956, Aden became the main base in the region for the British.

Aden sent a team of two to the 1962 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Perth, Western Australia.

Little Aden 1955 to 1967[link]

Little Aden is still dominated by the oil refinery built for British Petroleum. Little Aden was well known to seafarers for its tanker port with a very welcoming seaman's mission near to the BP Aden tugs' jetties, complete with swimming pool and air conditioned bar. The accommodation areas for the refinery personnel were known by the original Arabic names of Bureika and Ghadir.

A street scene at the old town of Aden. 1999

Bureika was wooden housing bunkhouses built to accommodate the thousands of skilled men and labourers imported to build the refinery, later converted to family housing, plus imported prefabricated houses "the Riley-Newsums" that are also to be found in parts of Australia (Woomera). Bureika also had a protected bathing area and Beach Club.

Ghadir housing was stone built, largely from the local granite quarry; much of this housing still stands today, now occupied by wealthier locals from Aden. Little Aden also has a local township and numerous picturesque fishing villages, including the Lobster Pots of Ghadir. The army had extensive camps in Bureika and through Silent Valley in Falaise Camp, these successfully protected the refinery staff and facilities throughout the troubles, with only a very few exceptions. Schooling was provided for children from kindergarten age through to primary school, after that, children were bussed to The Isthmus School in Khormaksar, though this had to be stopped during the Aden Emergency.

Federation of South Arabia and the Aden Emergency[link]

In order to stabilize Aden and the surrounding Aden Protectorate from the designs of the Egyptian backed republicans of North Yemen, the British attempted to gradually unite the disparate states of the region in preparation for eventual independence. On 18 January 1963, the Colony of Aden was incorporated into the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South against the wishes of the communists of North Yemen who claimed the city and south Yemen as part of their territory. The city's populace as the State of Aden and the Federation was renamed the Federation of South Arabia (FSA).

An insurgency against British rule known as the Aden Emergency began with a grenade attack by the communist's National Liberation Front (NLF), against the British High Commissioner on 10 December 1963, killing one person and injuring fifty, and a "state of emergency" was declared.

In 1964, Britain announced its intention to grant independence to the FSA in 1968, but that the British military would remain in Aden. The security situation deteriorated as NLF and FLOSY (Front for the Liberation of Occupied South Yemen) vied for the upper hand.

In January 1967, there were mass riots between the NLF and their rival FLOSY supporters in the old Arab quarter of Aden town. This conflict continued until mid February, despite the intervention of British troops. During the period there were as many attacks on the British troops by both sides as against each other culminating in the destruction of an Aden Airlines DC3 plane in the air with no survivors.

On 30 November 1967 the British finally pulled out, leaving Aden and the rest of the FSA under NLF control. The Royal Marines, who had been the first British troops to occupy Aden in 1839, were the last to leave—with the exception of a Royal Engineer detachment.

Independence[link]

Aden in 1960

Aden became the capital of the new People's Republic of South Yemen which was renamed the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen in 1970. With the unification of northern and southern Yemen in 1990, Aden was no longer a national capital but remained the capital of Aden Governorate which covered an area similar to that of the Aden Colony.

On 29 December 1992, Al Qaeda conducted its first known terrorist attack in Aden, bombing the Gold Mohur Hotel (/ˌɡoʊld ˈmɔər/), where U.S. servicemen were known to have been staying en route to Somalia for Operation Restore Hope. A Yemeni and an Austrian tourist died in the attack.^[6]

Aden was briefly the centre of the secessionist Democratic Republic of Yemen from 21 May 1994 but was reunited by Republic of Yemen troops on 7 July 1994.

Members of al Qaeda attempted to bomb the US guided-missile destroyer The Sullivans at the port of Aden as part of the 2000 millennium attack plots. The boat that had the explosives in it sank, forcing the planned attack to be aborted.

The bombing attack on destroyer USS Cole took place in Aden on 12 October 2000.

In 2007 growing dissatisfaction with unification led to the formation of the secessionist South Yemen Movement. According to the New York Times, the Movement's mainly underground leadership includes socialists, Islamists and individuals desiring a return to the perceived benefits of the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen.^[7]

Main sights[link]

Aden has a number of historical and natural sites of interest to visitors. These include:

• The historical British churches
• The Zoroastrian Temple
• The Cisterns of Tawila—an ancient, water-cachement system located in the sub-centre of Crater.
• Sira Fort
• The Aden Minaret
• The Palace of the Sultanate of Lahej/National Museum
• The Aden Military Museum
• The Rimbaud House
• The fortifications of Jebal Hadid and Jebal Shamsan
• The beaches of Aden and Little Aden
• Al-Aidaroos Mosque

Economy[link]

Aden's economy had benefitted by being a port, especially being a free port, and part of the British Empire, so there was frequent trade between Yemen and India. Also the port was the stop ships had to take when entering the Bab-el-Mandeb, this was how cities like Mecca had received goods by ships. Yemen Airlines, the national airline of South Yemen, had its head office in Aden. On 15 May 1996 Yemen Airlines merged with Yemenia.^[8][9]

Transportation[link]

Aden's harbor in 1960

The city is served by the Aden International Airport, an ex RAF Station and is 6 miles (9.5 kilometres) away from the city.

• Scheduled flights (as in December 2006):
  • Djibouti Airlines: Djibouti
  • Royal Jordanian: Amman
  • Yemenia: Abu Dhabi, London, Cairo, Dubai, Jeddah, Mukalla, Sanaa, Seiyun, Socotra, Rome, Mumbai, Riyan
  • Felix Airways: Sanaa, Al Mukalla

See also[link]

• British military history
• History of postage in Aden
• History of the Jews in Aden
• Port of Aden

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

• Norris, H.T.; Penhey, F.W. (1955). "The Historical Development of Aden's defences". The Geographical Journal CXXI part I. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Aden

• Aden Free Zone
• Old Aden picture postcards
• Aden Airways
• Aden at WN

Coordinates: 12°48′N 45°02′E / 12.8°N 45.033°E / 12.8; 45.033

v t e 'Adan Governorate Capital: Aden Districts Al Buraiqeh District Al Mansura District Al Mualla District Ash Shaikh Outhman District Attawahi District Craiter District Dar Sad District Khur Maksar District

Aden Young (born 1972) is an Australian actor. In recent years he has also turned his hand to filmmaking, directing and writing short films The Rose of Ba Ziz (2007) and The Order (1998).

Life and career[link]

Young was born in Toronto, Canada. Young's first role was in Bruce Beresford's acclaimed film Black Robe (1991) and they recently teamed up for the third time with Mao's Last Dancer, based on the best-selling autobiography of Chinese ballet dancer Li Cunxin. Young portrays the Texan playboy who helps Li's defection to the West. Beresford states "He hasn’t changed that much, he is a very accomplished actor...We picked up just where we left off. We always got along well; he’s a very cooperative and thoughtful actor. Most of the actors who are well known and do lots of roles are incredibly good to work with.^[1] " Young appears as Charlotte Gainsbourg's husband on French/Australian/Italian co-production from director Julie Bertucelli, The Tree (2010) – the story of eight-year-old Simone who believes her dead father's spirit has taken up residence in a Moreton Bay fig tree on the family property.^[2] The film is adapted from the book Our Father Who Art In The Tree, by Australian author Judy Pascoe and made its premiere on the closing night of the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.

In Kriv Stender's period western Lucky Country, released 2009, Young "spent a lot of time...chained inside a little wood locker"^[3] as unlucky landholder Nat, who as the film begins has suffered the recent loss of his wife in childbirth and must attempt to protect his home and children and survive the arrival of three gold hungry strangers, while fighting the debilitating onset of tetanus.

Young played Cate Blanchett's tortured lover Ejlert Lovborg in Andrew Upton's adaptation of Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen. After a 2005 debut season at the Sydney Theatre Company, the production was invited to the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York. The process of restaging the production in New York was filmed for the acclaimed documentary In the Company of Actors (2007).

Metal Skin, Geoffrey Wright's 1994 examination of suburban hopelessness and revhead subculture, saw Young win an Australian Film Institute nomination for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for a 'powerful, brooding performance' as social misfit Psycho Joe whose 'edgy, simmering personality threatens to boil over into madness ... Young's depiction of this unsettling metamorphosis is central to the film's success.'^[4]

Directing was a 'natural progression' for Young. Acclaimed short film The Rose of Ba Ziz, "a beautifully simple fable narrated by Hugo Weaving" (Andrew Urban),^[5] is about a much-loved king who leaves his kingdom because he has an allergy and does not want the flowers that set it off to be destroyed. The film was made over five days on a shoestring budget of $700. "It's basically like a folk-fairytale parable," says St Kilda Film Festival director Paul Harris, "a series of stills that look like coloured postcards from the turn of the century... It has a very haunting quality to it. Conceptually, it's very unique and very endearing. I think it's got the ability to inspire filmmakers who are suffering from some kind of block about 'How do I go out and make films, how do I go out and compete with the big guys?' If you think just outside of the square you can really surprise and delight audiences.^[5]

Young describes his first film The Order as being "about a soldier who returns from the Vietnam War with the news that his best friend has died during the war and he chooses to inform the man's widow. By doing this onerous task he becomes haunted by an action that happened in his childhood and he believes that it might have started the course towards his friend's death."

"I'd definitely like to continue making films. Paul Cox constantly talks about getting this terrible disease called film making. It takes over your life and destroys every relationship and does all these terrible things to you...l. I think I've got that hideous disease. Film making is just a different commitment that I love – why just sit on the wings when you can really get in and sculpt something."

Young has assisted veteran independent Australian filmmaker, Dutch-born Paul Cox in various capacities since starring in Cox's film Exile in 1994.

A portrait of Young by artist James Powditch (entitled Once Upon A Time in the Inner West) was an Archibald Prize 2008 finalist.

Personal Life[link]

Aden has two sons, Chester Van (b. 2011) and Dutch Bon (b. 2007) by his longtime partner, actress/singer Loene Carmen.

Young adapted The Rose of Ba Ziz from the children's book written by his father Chip Young, a well known CBC broadcaster in Canada and a children's author. "I was about to have my first son and thought that it would be a wonderful love letter from his grandfather."

Young's family left Toronto for Australia in 1981 when Young was nine. The next decade was spent moving from town to town in New South Wales in search of the best medical care for Chip, who had contracted a mysterious lupus-like disease. "My mother is from Newcastle," says the actor, who still has a Canadian accent but can easily switch to an Australian drawl. "She had trained as a nurse there and maybe she thought that was where she would find the answer to my father's illness." Young attended Galston High and Australian Theatre For Young People as a teenager.^[6]

Filmography[link]

• East West 101 (TV series) (2007)
• Killer Elite (2011)
• The Tree (2010) ... Peter
• Beneath Hill 60 (2010) ... Major North
• Mao's Last Dancer (2009) ... Dilworth
• Lucky Country (2009) ... Nat Doole
• In the Company of Actors (2007) .... Himself/Ejlert Lovburg
• The Goat That Ate Time (2007) (voice) .... Narrator
• The Starter Wife (2007) (TV mini-series) .... Jorge Stewart
• Two Twisted- Soft Boiled Luck (2006) (TV episode) .... Patrick Dempsey
• The Bet (2006) .... Angus
• Human Touch (2004) .... George
• After the Deluge (2003) (TV mini-series) .... Young Cliff
• The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course (2002) .... Ron Buckwhiler
• Serenades (2001) .... Johann
• The War Bride (2001) .... Charlie
• Molokai: The Story of Father Damien (1999) .... Dr. Kalewis
• Cousin Bette (1998) .... Count Wenceslas Steinbach
• Under Heaven (1998) .... Buck
• Paradise Road (1997) .... Bill Seary
• Hotel de Love (1996) .... Rick Dunne
• River Street (1996) .... Ben
• Cosi (1996) .... Nick
• Audacious (1995) .... Stanley
• Metal Skin (1994) .... Joe
• Exile (1994) .... Peter Costello
• Shotgun Wedding (1993) .... Jimmy Becker
• Broken Highway (1993) .... Angel
• Love in Limbo (1993) .... Barry McJannet
• Sniper (1993) .... Doug Papich
• Over the Hill (1992) .... Nick
• Black Robe (1991) .... Daniel

Filmography as director[link]

• The Rose of Ba Ziz (2007) Writer/Director/Editor...

Featuring Roy Billing. Narrated by Hugo Weaving

• Loene Carmen: Nashville High music video (2007)

• The Order (1998) Writer/Director...

Filmography as editor[link]

• Waste Not (2011) documentary Dir: Ruth Hessey
• Kalaupapa Heaven (2009) documentary Dir: Paul Cox
• Salvation (2009) feature film Dir: Paul Cox
• "Mimic The Rain" (2009) Loene Carmen music video
• "Nashville High" (2007) Loene Carmen music video

Awards and nominations[link]

• Australian Film Institute Awards Nomination for Best Actor in a Lead Role for River Street (1996)
• Australian Film Institute Awards Nomination for Best Actor in a Lead Role for Metal Skin (1995)
• Australian Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor for Metal Skin (1995)

References[link]

Sources[link]

• http://www.moviehole.net/201024729-purcell-dirani-young-de-niro-join-killer-elite
• "Lights Brighter Behind Camera" The Australian by Sandy George, Film writer | August 14, 2007
• www.thearchibaldprize.com.au/__data/page/11351/archibald08_Sect3.pdf
• "Making A Short Film – Aden Young" by Dov Kornits, Film Writer 05/16/99

External links[link]

• Aden Young at the Internet Movie Database
• Aden Young Biography – Yahoo.com
• Aden Young article, SMH 2009
• Lucky Country review
• Triple J Interview 2009

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. It includes attribution to IMDb, which may not be a reliable source for biographical information. Please help by adding additional, reliable sources for verification. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (July 2007)

Abigail Leigh Spencer (born August 4, 1981) is an American actress. Her first major acting role was playing Rebecca "Becca" Tyree on All My Children. She later starred in Lifetime Television's original series Angela's Eyes, which was cancelled on December 1, 2006. She is also known for her role as the blogging enthusiast in Twix advertisements, and for portraying Miss Farrell, a love interest to Don Draper on AMC's Mad Men.

Spencer was born and raised in Gulf Breeze, Florida and is the middle of three children. She has two brothers, Yancy Spencer IV (born c. 1973) and Sterling Spencer (born c. 1986).

Television roles[link]

• All My Children (1970) - Rebecca "Becca" Tyree (1999–2001)
• Angela's Eyes (2006) - Angela Henson
• Mad Men (2007) - Suzanne Farrell (2009)
• Rex Is Not Your Lawyer (2010) - unknown name
• HawthoRNe (2010) - Erin Jameson

Guest appearances[link]

• The 27th Annual Daytime Emmy Awards (2000) - herself
• CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (2005) - Becky Lester
• Killer Instinct (2006) - Violet Summers
• Gilmore Girls (2006) - Megan
• Ghost Whisperer (2007) - Cindy Brown
• The Wedding Bells (2007) - Tricia
• How I Met Your Mother (2007) - Blah Blah
• Bones (2008) - Phillipa Fitz
• My Boys (2007) - Lyssa
• Moonlight (2008) - Simone Walker
• Private Practice (2009)
• The Glades (2010)
• Castle (2010) - Sarah Reid
• Suits (2011) - Dana Scott
• How to Be a Gentleman (2011) - Neighbour

Filmography[link]

• Campfire Stories (2001) - Melissa
• Graduation Night (2003) - female lead
• Truth and Dare (2003) - Skye
• Fathers and Sons (2005) - Clarissa
• A Coat of Snow (2005) - Sandy
• Hooked (2006) - Wendy
• Introducing Lennie Rose (2006) - Lennie Rose
• Jekyll (2007) - Talia Carew
• In My Sleep (2007) - Gwen
• The Captain (2007) - Claire Tanner
• Ivory (2008) - Alicia
• Cowboys & Aliens (2011) - Alice
• This Means War (2012) - Katie

External links[link]

• Abigail Spencer at the Internet Movie Database
• Abigail Spencer on Myspace
• Abigail Spencer at TV.com