Wahidi ( ') was a

sultan Sultan (; ', ) is a position with several historical meanings. Originally, it was an Arabic abstract noun meaning "strength", "authority", "rulership", derived from the verbal noun ', meaning "authority" or "power". Later, it came to be use ...

ate in

South Arabia South Arabia (), or Greater Yemen, is a historical region that consists of the southern region of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia, mainly centered in what is now the Republic of Yemen, yet it has also historically included Najran, Jazan, ...

, now part of

Yemen Yemen, officially the Republic of Yemen, is a country in West Asia. Located in South Arabia, southern Arabia, it borders Saudi Arabia to Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, the north, Oman to Oman–Yemen border, the northeast, the south-eastern part ...

. It lay along the

Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden (; ) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channel, the Socotra Archipelago, Puntland in Somalia and Somaliland to the south. ...

and bordered Bayḥān to the north, the Upper and Lower ʿAwlaqī sultanates to the west and the Quʿayṭī sultanate in the east. Its main cities were Mayfaʿa, the administrative centre; ʿAzzān, the seat of the ruling dynasty; Ḥabbān, the commercial centre; Qanā; Biʾr ʿAlī; and

al-Ḥawṭa Al-Hawtah is a village in east-central Yemen. It is located in the Hadhramaut Governorate. External linksTowns and villages in the Hadhramaut Governorate
Populated places in Hadhramaut Governorate Villages in Yemen {{Hadhramaut-geo-stu ...

. Wahidi was supposedly founded by a certain ʿAbd al-Wāḥid. He is usually dated to the early 19th century, but Bal-Faqīh al-Shiḥrī puts him about two centuries earlier. His tomb was said to lie in the mosque of Ḥabbān. The sultanate split in the 1880s, with the Wahidi rulers of Biʾr ʿAlī and Balḥāf becoming independent of the ruler of ʿAzzān and Ḥabbān. By 1888–1890, when the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

signed treaties of protection with the rulers of the area, incorporating it into the

Aden Protectorate The Aden Protectorate ( ') was a British protectorate in southern Arabia. The protectorate evolved in the hinterland of the port of Aden and in the Hadhramaut after the conquest of Aden by the Bombay Presidency of British India in January ...

, there were four states, their rulers known to the British by different titles: the ruler of Biʾr ʿAlī was a sultan, that of Balḥāf a tribal chief and those of Ḥawra and ʿIrqa ''

shaykh Sheikh ( , , , , ''shuyūkh'' ) is an honorific title in the Arabic language, literally meaning "elder (administrative title), elder". It commonly designates a tribal chief or a Muslim ulama, scholar. Though this title generally refers to me ...

''s.

References

{{reflist Former countries in West Asia Aden Protectorate

See also

References