Taiz () is a

governorate A governorate or governate is an administrative division headed by a governor. As English-speaking nations tend to call regions administered by governors either states or provinces, the term ''governorate'' is typically used to calque divisions ...

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 ...

. The governorate's capital Taiz, the third-largest city in Yemen, is among the most important commercial centres in the country, owing to its proximity to farmland, the

Red Sea The Red Sea is a sea inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. Its connection to the ocean is in the south, through the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait and the Gulf of Aden. To its north lie the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and th ...

port of Mokha and Taiz International Airport.

Geography

For such a small area, Taiz Governorate has an extraordinarily diverse geography. The western half of the governorate is part of the Tihamah coastal plain and has an exceedingly hot, humid and arid

climate Climate is the long-term weather pattern in a region, typically averaged over 30 years. More rigorously, it is the mean and variability of meteorological variables over a time spanning from months to millions of years. Some of the meteoro ...

. The eastern half, however, is very mountainous, with the major peak being 3,070-metre-high Jabal Sabir, near Taiz city. These mountains trap the moisture created by an upper-level wind reversal between April and October, so that in the eastern half of the governorate annual rainfall increases from 200 millimetres (8 inches) in the foothills to more than 1,000 millimetres (40 inches) near Jebel Saber. Temperatures in the highlands remain high during the daytime, but at the highest elevations they can fall to -5 °C (23 °F) overnight.

Mountain ranges

The governorate has many mountains ranging in height from 1,000 to 3,200 metres. The most important mountains are Jabal Sabir, Jabal Habashi, Jabal Samaʿa, Jabal Qadas, Jabal As-Silw, the mountains of al-Wazi'iyah and the Mountains of Shar'ab and Maqbanah.

Streams

There are many

stream A stream is a continuous body of water, body of surface water Current (stream), flowing within the stream bed, bed and bank (geography), banks of a channel (geography), channel. Depending on its location or certain characteristics, a strea ...

s in Taiz governorate; known as ''wadi'' (), they are divided into perennial and temporary streams:

Perennial streams

*Wadi Rasian, it is located in Mawza, Shara'b Ar Rawnah, al-Makha and Maqbanah. *Wadi Warzan, it is located in Khadir and al-Mawasit. *Wadi al-Dhabab, it is located in al-Mawasit and Hayfan. *Wadi Ar-Ram, it is located in al-Mafalis region, Hayfan. *Wadi al-Dhabab, it is located in Sabir al-Mawadim. *Wadi al-Ashroh also known as Wadi al-Barakani, is located in al-Mawasit. *Wadi al-Janah, is located in al-Wazi'iyah. *Wadi al-Lahya, is located in Mawza.

Temporary streams

Streams that only run in the wet season are:

Adjacent governorates

* Al Hudaydah Governorate (north) * Ibb Governorate (north) * Dhale Governorate (northeast) * Lahij Governorate (southeast)

Districts

Taiz Governorate is divided into the following 23 districts. These districts are further divided into sub-districts, and then further subdivided into villages: * Al Mukha District * Al Ma'afer District * Al Mawasit District * Al Misrakh District * Al Mudhaffar District * Al Qahirah District * Al Wazi'iyah District * As Silw District * Ash Shamayatayn District * At Ta'iziyah District * Dhubab District * Dimnat Khadir District * Hayfan District * Jabal Habashy District * Maqbanah District * Mashra'a Wa Hadnan District * Mawiyah District * Mawza District * Sabir Al Mawadim District * Salh District * Sama District * Shara'b Ar Rawnah District * Shara'b As Salam District

Economy

In the Tihamah region, irrigated crops include

cotton Cotton (), first recorded in ancient India, is a soft, fluffy staple fiber that grows in a boll, or protective case, around the seeds of the cotton plants of the genus '' Gossypium'' in the mallow family Malvaceae. The fiber is almost pure ...

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

and sesame.

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree '' Mangifera indica''. It originated from the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South and Southeast As ...

es, papayas and

banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus '' Musa''. In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing the ...

s are the major crops of the western escarpment, and further up

coffee Coffee is a beverage brewed from roasted, ground coffee beans. Darkly colored, bitter, and slightly acidic, coffee has a stimulating effect on humans, primarily due to its caffeine content, but decaffeinated coffee is also commercially a ...

and khat are grown. Although

wine Wine is an alcoholic drink made from Fermentation in winemaking, fermented fruit. Yeast in winemaking, Yeast consumes the sugar in the fruit and converts it to ethanol and carbon dioxide, releasing heat in the process. Wine is most often made f ...

is prohibited in Islam,

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus ''Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began approximately 8,0 ...

s are grown to produce

raisin A raisin is a Dried fruit, dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, New Zealand, Australia and South Afri ...

Wildlife

The most common wild animals in the governorate are hyaenas, rock hyrax,

rabbit Rabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae (which also includes the hares), which is in the order Lagomorpha (which also includes pikas). They are familiar throughout the world as a small herbivore, a prey animal, a domesticated ...

s, hedgehog, monkeys. The most common wild birds are vultures, falcons,

partridge A partridge is a medium-sized Galliformes, galliform bird in any of several genera, with a wide Indigenous (ecology), native distribution throughout parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. Several species have been introduced to the Americas. They ar ...

s, owls, pigeons, hoopoes,

bulbul The bulbuls are members of a family, Pycnonotidae, of medium-sized passerine songbirds, which also includes greenbuls, brownbuls, leafloves, and bristlebills. The family is distributed across most of Africa and into the Middle East, tropic ...

Regions

290px, A map thats shows regions in Taiz * Shamir: () also called "Shamir Maqbanah". It is a mountainous region part of Maqbanah district. * Al-Hugariyyah: () It is the largest region in Taiz governorate. It is sometimes mistakenly called al-Hujariah district. The region is part of As-Silw, al-Ma'afer, Hayfan, Sama', al-Mawasit, Jabal Habashy, Dimnat Khadir, and al-Wazi'iyah districts.

Islands

* Perim * Jazirat Ziadi

Notable people

Mohsen Ayed, journalist and author

References

External links

Official site of the taiz governate
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taiz Governorate Governorates of Yemen