- published: 31 Jul 2015
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The Colony of Aden or Aden Colony (Arabic: مستعمرة عدن Mustaʿmarat ʿAdan) was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963, and consisted of the port city of Aden and its immediate surroundings (an area of 192 km2 (74 sq mi).
Prior to 1937, Aden had been governed as part of British India (originally as the Aden Settlement under the Bombay Presidency, and then as a "Chief Commissioner's province"). Under the Government of India Act 1935 the territory was detached from British India, and was established as a separate colony of the United Kingdom; this separation took effect on 1 April 1937.
On 18 January 1963, the colony was reconstituted as the State of Aden (Arabic: ولاية عدن Wilāyat ʿAdan), within the new Federation of South Arabia. The federation in turn became the People's Republic of South Yemen on 30 November 1967, marking the end of British rule.
The hinterland of the Colony of Aden was separately governed as the Aden Protectorate.
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. British influence then began to extend inland, both west and east, with the establishment of Aden protectorate. The Western Aden Protectorate was a nearby territory of 75 sq miles that was ceded to Britain by Sultan Muhsin bin Fadl, while the Eastern Aden Protectorate composed of the Arab sheikdoms of Hadhramaut and the island of Socotra. Aden then became an important transit port for trade between British India and the Red Sea, and when the Suez Canal was opened in 1869, it came an important coaling station.
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.