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confused 500BC Qataban flourished in the 5th-1st centuries BC in what is now southern Yemen. Qataban had a democratic form of government and gained rule over a large area, but its influence and dominions shrank with the emergence of the Himyarites late in the 2nd century BC. Qataban was conquered by Saba‘ in the early centuries AD.
c950BC The Queen of Sheba lived about this time. Local legends name her Makeda and claim that she was from Ethiopia. Archeologists have found inscriptions from the ancient Sabean kingdom but no mention of Makeda or Bilqis, the local name for Sheba in Yemen. The Koran claims she ruled from Yemen.
732 Oct 10, At Tours, France, Charles Martel killed Yemenite general Abd el-Rahman and halted the Muslim invasion of Europe. Islam's westward spread was stopped by the Franks at the Battle of Tours (also known as the Battle of Poitiers).
c1000 In the Hadramawt region a dam burst about this time near the village of Senna, Yemen, and the people of the valley fled. In 1997 researchers using DNA studies found that the Lemba, a Bantu speaking people of southern Africa carry markers distinctive of the Cohanim, Jewish priests believed to be descended from Aaron. Lemba oral tradition held that they came to Africa from Senna. Dr. Tudor Parfitt authored "Journey to the Vanished City," a description of his work on the Lemba.
c1500-1600 A Muslim pilgrim stole coffee beans from Yemen and raised them in India. Yemen was the first great coffee exporter and in order to protect its trade had decreed that no living plant could leave the country.
1931 Muhammad bin Laden, a baggage carrier, left Yemen for Jidda. He and his brothers later founded a prosperous construction company. He later fathered 51 children that included Osama bin Laden, the 17th in 1957.
1948 Nov 16, Operation Magic Carpet began with the 1st plane from Yemen carrying Jews to Israel.
1950 Sep 24, In "Operation Magic Carpet" all Jews from Yemen moved to Israel.
1952 In Yemen American explorer Wendell Phillips began excavating Marib’s Moon Temple of Sheba. He was forced away after 4 months when locals suspected that he was after gold.
1955 Apr 16, Abdullah Seif el-Islam, brother of Yemenite king Ahmed, was beheaded.
1958 Mar 2, Yemen announced it will join the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria).
1962 Yemen formed a republic.
1966-1967 Yemen was engaged in civil war.
1967 Nov 28, Yemen gained independence from Britain.
1978 Jun 24, There was a coup in Yemen. Pres. Ahmad Hussein al-Ghashmi was murdered and replaced by Lt.-Col. Ali Abdullah Saleh. Saleh was elected president of North Yemen and began his 2-decade hold on the office. His power was strong in the cities but in the countryside Sheik Abdulla al-Ahmar held power.
1978 Ali Abdullah Saleh was elected president of North Yemen and began his 2-decade hold on the office. His power was strong in the cities but in the countryside Sheik Abdulla al-Ahmar held power.
1978 Jun 26, There was a coup in Southern Yemen (formerly Aden). Pres. Salem Rubaye Ali was ousted, tried and shot. He was succeeded by Ali Nasir Muhammad.
1978 Jul 2, The Arab League imposed a boycott on South Yemen.
1978 Dec 27, In South Yemen the Supreme Council elected a new president. He reversed moves toward reconciliation with North Yemen and acquiesced to a continued Soviet military buildup.
1990 May 22, After years of conflict, pro-Western North Yemen and pro-Soviet South Yemen merged to form the Republic of Yemen. The North was conservative and the South was socialist.
1992 In Yemen 2 hotel bombs directed at US servicemen killed 2 Australians. The bombing was later linked to Osama bin Laden, the scion of a wealthy Saudi family. He was stripped of his Saudi citizenship in 1994.
1993 Nov 26, A U.S. diplomat was kidnapped by Yemeni tribesmen. Government officials negotiate for his release in the first known kidnapping of a diplomat in faction-ridden Yemen.
1993 In Yemen the first elections after unification were held.
1994 May 21, South Yemen seceded from Yemen.
1994 In Yemen the new Parliament elected Ali Abdullah Saleh as president.
1994 In Yemen a civil war broke out in Mukalla. Northern forces put down communist secessionists in the South. The constitution was amended and the ban on discrimination was replaced with the phrase "All citizens are equal in general rights and duties."
1995 Dec 17 Eritrea used its warships to try to seize a disputed island in the mouth of the Red Sea from Yemen. Yemen sent warplanes to counter the attack.
1996 Yemeni troops put down antigovernment protests in Mukalla, also the site of a 1994 civil war. Court charges that police raped a group of women appeared to trigger the protests.
1996 Jun, Heavy floods hit Yemen and more than 65 people were believed dead and hundreds made homeless.
1996 Oct 19, In Yemen Serge Lefevre, first secretary of the French Embassy, was kidnapped.
1996 Oct 27, In Yemen Serge Lefevre, first secretary of the French Embassy, was kidnapped a 2nd time after being released by members of the same tribe.
1997 Apr 27, Parliamentary elections were held in Yemen. Some 11 people were killed in violence linked to the vote. Participation was estimated at 80%.
1997 May 26, In Yemen it was announced that 21 children died after being injected with insulin rather than inoculations against fatal diseases.
1997 Aug 14, In Yemen ten Italian tourists were reported kidnapped in 2 separate incidents.
1997 In Yemen it was reported in 1999 that honor killings, the killing of girls and women by their relatives to cleanse "soiled honor," claimed the lives of over 400 women this year.
1998 May, In Yemen Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani came into power.
1998 Jun 19, In Yemen a 40% price increase for gasoline, kerosene and cooking gas led to protests for the next 4 days.
1998 Jun 22, In Yemen police fired on protestors. At least one person was killed in Taiz and 3 were killed in Sanaa. Protestors called for the resignation of Prime Minister Abdul Karim al-Iryani.
1998 Jun 23, In Yemen police killed 6 people blocking fuel trucks. The government ordered increased fuel prices to pay off an $80 million IMF loan.
1998 Jul 20, Saudi Arabia attacked a Yemeni island in the Red Sea and killed 3 guards. 3 islands and parts of the Empty Quarter, a vast desert with potential for oil, were under contention.
1998 Jul 22, Yemeni naval forces landed on Duwaima Island and took control.
1998 Jul 27, In Hodeida, Yemen, 3 nuns were killed by Abdullah al-Nashri (25), an unstable, mental patient treated by the Missionaries of Charity.
1998 Dec 28, In Yemen Islamic militants kidnapped 16 Western tourists. The demanded the release of Saleh Haidara al-Atwi and another top militant arrested 2 weeks ago. The militants were led by Abu Hassan.
1998 Dec 29, In Yemen security forces attacked the kidnappers of 16 and 4 hostages were killed. The freed tourists said that government forces initiated the battle that left 3 Britons and an Australian dead.
1998 An Egyptian militant, believed to be Ahmed Nasrallah, reported to Yemen’s Political Security Organization on al Qaeda terrorists around the Marib region. The security service tipped off the terrorists.
1999 Jan 17, In Yemen 2 British and 4 Dutch citizens were kidnapped.
1999 Feb 2, In Yemen kidnappers freed 4 Dutch and 2 British nationals.
1999 May 5, A Yemeni court sentenced 3 Islamic militants to death for their role in the abduction and killing of Western tourists in Dec.
1999 Aug 9, In Yemen 8 Britons and 2 Algerians were convicted and sentenced to 7 years in prison for plotting terrorist acts.
1999 Oct 17, In Yemen Abu Hassan, "a nom de guerre" for the head of the Islamic Army of Aden and Abyan, was executed.
1999 Oct 28, In Yemen 3 Americans, Marta R. Colburn and her parents were freed after being held for 2 days by tribesmen, who demanded the release of 25 suspects held for an attack on an oil pipeline.
1999 Nov 27, Military sources reported that 2 Yemeni soldiers had been killed over the last few days in border clashes with Saudi Arabia.
1999 Saudi police arrested Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal and jailed him for 14 months for maintaining contact with Osama bin Laden. He was then deported to Yemen.
2000 Feb 10, In Yemen tribesmen released Kenneth White (54), an American oil executive, who was kidnapped a month ago.
2000 Jun 12, Saudi Arabia and Yemen signed an agreement to end decades of border disputes.
2000 Jun, In Yemen at the Univ. of Sanaa Medical School Muhammad Adam Omar Ishaak, a morgue attendant, was arrested for the rape, murder and dismemberment of at least 2 women training to be doctors. The case also revealed bribes for grades and the smuggling of body parts.
2000 Oct 12, A US Navy destroyer, the USS Cole, refueling in Yemen suffered an enormous explosion in what appeared to be a terrorist attack. Initial reports had at least 6 sailors killed with 11 missing. The death toll was revised to 17. The 8,600-ton Cole was returned to the US aboard the Norwegian ship Blue Marlin. In 2001 a video tape by "Al-Sahab Productions" circulated among Muslim militants with footage of the bombed vessel. The Cole returned to active duty in 2003 following $250 million in repairs.
2000 Nov 22, Yemen identified the bombers of the US Cole as 2 Saudi Arabian citizens with Yemeni family roots. One was named Abdul Mohsen al-Taifi and both had suspected to Osama bin Laden.
2000 in Yemen a government report held that 90% of Yemeni men use qat regularly along with an almost equal number of women. Cat, Catha edulis, had a 600-year history of use as a mild stimulant.
2000 In Yemen Rift Valley fever began affecting thousands of cattle, sheep and goats in the autumn and within weeks 1,800 animals had died and 7,800 fetuses had aborted.
2001 Jan 2, The population of Yemen was about 18 million. Most of these lived in the mountains and remote plains.
2001 Feb, 106 Russian-made T-54 tanks were delivered to Yemen by Czech/Slovak arms traders. Diversion to Sudan was suspected.
2001 May 19, In Yemen an explosion in the weapons market of al-Suwaida killed at least 14 people and injured 15.
2001 Jun 18, In Yemen 15 suspected terrorists were arrested. US FBI investigators had pulled out on June 17 under a security threat.
2001 Oct 16, US Customs at JFK found $140,763 in the luggage of Basam Nahshal who was bound for Yemen. A 2nd man Ali Alfatimi claimed the money was his and was being smuggled to Yemen as part of his travel business.
2001 Oct 20, Some 30,000 people gathered in Amran, Yemen, to protest US air strikes in Afghanistan.
2001 Oct 22, It was reported that Yemen had partially shut down its port of Aden after the breakup of a big anti-US protest. Militants were commandeering boats to ferry fighters out of the country and to Afghanistan.
2001 Oct 27, Jamil Qasim Saeed Mohammed (27), a Yemeni microbiology student, was turned over to US authorities in Pakistan. He was said to be an active al Qaeda member and was suspected of involvement in the Oct 12, 2000 bombing of the Cole in Aden.
2001 Dec 18, Yemeni troops assaulted tribal forces in the Marib region after local leaders refused to turn over suspected members of al Qaeda. At least 12 people were killed and 22 wounded.
2002 Feb 13, In Yemen Sameer Mohammed ahmed al-Hada (25), an al Qaeda fugitive, died as troops closed in and a hand grenade exploded in his hand. Family members were also linked to al-Qaeda.
2002 Mar 1, Pres. Bush approved plans to send some 100 US troops to Yemen to help train the nation’s military to fight terrorists.
2002 Mar 14, VP Cheney traveled to Yemen to press for joint efforts against remnants of al Qaeda.
2002 Aug 11, Yemen reported that 6 suspected Muslim militants were arrested for planning a bombing attack in the capital San'a. Two more were arrested in connection with a previous blast.
2002 Sep 6, A Yemeni man died when a bomb he was carrying exploded in a crowded market in San’a, injuring two bystanders.
2002 Sep 20, In Yemen 2 suspected members of al-Qaida were killed in a gun battle and three others were arrested after security forces raided several homes looking for members of the terrorist network.
2002 Oct 6, A fire broke out on the Limburg, a French oil tanker off the coast of Yemen, setting barrels of oil ablaze and sparking an explosion killing one Bulgarian crew member. The explosion was soon determined to be the result of a terrorist attack.
2002 Nov 3, In northwest Yemen 6 al-Qaida suspects were killed when the car they were travelling in was struck by a missile from a US Predator drone. Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a suspected al-Qaida leader, was among the dead along with Kamal Derwish, a member of the Lackawanna, NY, sleeper cell.
2002 Dec 9, US and Spanish forces seized an unflagged ship from North Korea that was carrying Scud missiles to Yemen.
2002 Dec 11, Yemen said Scud missiles found hidden aboard a North Korean ship seized by Spain and the United States were destined for its army and demanded them back. Pres. Bush ordered them released. Bush later created a coalition of members to block arms shipments "of proliferation concern."
2002 Dec 20, Yemeni security forces battled suspected al-Qaida members holed up in a building in a gunfight that left 2 policemen dead.
2002 Dec 28, In Yemen a gunman shot and killed Jarallah Omar, a senior politician, after Omar spoke as a guest at an Islamic party's congress at San’a.
2002 Dec 30, In Yemen a suspected Muslim extremist, hiding his gun cradled like a baby, slipped into the Jibla Baptist Hospital and opened fire, killing three American missionaries: Dr. Martha Myers (57), William Koehn (60), and Kathleen Gariety (53). A 4th was seriously wounding. Abed Abdul Razak Kamel was sentenced to death in May for killing the missionaries.
2003 Mar 18, In Yemen a man shot 4 Hunt Oil company workers. He killed 3 and shot himself dead.
2003 Mar 21, In Yemen police clashed with anti-war demonstrators trying to storm the US Embassy, leaving a policeman and protester dead.
2003 Apr 11, In Yemen 10 suspects in the bombing of the US destroyer Cole escaped from prison.
2003 Apr 27, In Yemen parliamentary elections for 301 seats were marred by gunfights that wounded at least 15 people.
2003 Apr 29, Pakistani police arrested six men linked to al-Qaida, including a Yemeni man, Tawfiq Attash Khallad, wanted in connection with the Sept. 11 attacks and the bombing of the USS Cole.
2003 Jun 6, In Yemen an explosion close to a military base killed 3 people. The blast was caused by a missile that blew up in the Beir Ahmed district of the southern port city of Aden.
2003 Jun 25, Yemeni troops killed at least 6 Islamic militants during an attack on a mountain hideout following failed negotiations.
2003 Oct 1, US officials identified Abu Hazim al-Sha'ir (29), a Yemeni ex-bodyguard of Osama bin Laden, as al Qaeda's new terror chief.
2003 Nov 25, In Yemen security forces arrested Saudi-born Mohammed Hamdi al-Ahdal (32), the alleged mastermind of the attacks on the USS Cole, at a hide-out west of the capital, San'a.
2004 Mar 3, In Yemen security forces arrested Abdul Raouf Naseeb, a leading al-Qaida member, along with other militants in the southern mountains.
2004 Mar 16, Yemen authorities said 9 suspects in the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole had been arrested, including 8 who escaped from jail in 2003.
2004 Mar 19, Yemen security forces captured the nation's most wanted man and another militant who escaped from prison last year after being detained for the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. Jamal Badawi and Fahd al-Quso were arrested in the mountains of southern Abyan province.
2004 Jun 11, In Yemen a gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle on worshippers in a mosque outside the capital during midday prayers, killing four people and wounding six.
2004 Jul 10, In northern Yemen 5 policemen were killed as security forces continued an offensive against followers of a Shiite dissident, firing missiles on the militant's mountain hideout.
2004 Aug 5, Yemeni officials said its army has launched a major offensive to quash a rebellion in the northern mountains. About 50 soldiers and rebels have been killed in the two days of fighting.
2004 Aug 6, Yemeni warplanes and artillery pounded mountain hideouts of an anti-U.S. leader and his followers in a major offensive aimed at ending a six-week conflict that has killed at least 500 people.
2004 Aug 28, A Yemen court convicted 15 militants on terror charges including the 2002 bombing of a French oil tanker and plotting to kill the U.S. ambassador.
2004 Sep 10, Yemen reported that its troops had killed Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi (al-Houthi), a rebel cleric whose “Believing Youth” forces have battled the government in a remote northern region for months.
2004 Sep 29, A Yemeni judge sentenced two men to death and four others to prison terms ranging from five to 10 years for orchestrating the 2000 suicide bombing of the USS Cole.
2005 Feb 5, A Yemeni court overruled earlier rulings and imposed harsher sentences, including a death sentence, on three militants convicted of attacking a French oil tanker and a helicopter carrying U.S. employees of an oil company.
2005 Mar 29, In Yemen clashes between the military and followers of a slain cleric stretched into a second day of fighting, leaving eight Yemeni soldiers dead.
2005 Apr 16, Yemen's PM Bajammal said underground religious schools that promote extremist forms of Islam are drawing in many young students across the country. He promised to eliminate the underground schools, which he estimated numbered about 4,000 and drew about 330,000 students.
2005 Apr 21, Health officials said a polio outbreak in Yemen may be due to pilgrims returning from Mecca.
2005 Apr 29, The UN health agency reported 18 new cases of polio in Yemen and said more people are believed infected, sparking fears of an epidemic in the Middle Eastern country with a low immunization rate among children.
2005 Apr, Yemen troops put down a resumption of violence by the followers of cleric Hussein Badr Eddin al-Hawthi (al-Houthi), who was killed in September. It was thought to be led by his father, Badr Eddin al-Hawthi, in fighting that tribal sources say killed 250 people on both sides.
2005 May 17, The UN WHO health agency said confirmed polio cases reached 83 in Yemen. The country was believed to have been free of the disease until last month.
SOURCE:: http://timelines.ws/countries/YEMEN.HTM
