Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yemen. Show all posts

November 30 - National Days in Yemen and Benin

 Posted on November 30, 2021


This is an update of my post published on November 30, 2010:



Above, Yemen's flag
Below, Benin's flag



1. On which two continents are Yemen and Benin located?

2. Which two European countries colonized Yemen and Benin?

3. What do Yemen and Benin celebrate on this date?



Answers: 

1. Yemen is on the Arabian Peninsula, in the “Near East” portion of Asia; Benin is on the southern side of the "bulge" of Africa.

Yemen in red

Benin's location

2. The U.K. colonized southern Yemen; France colonized Benin. 

3. Yemen celebrates its Nov. 30, 1967, independence from the U.K.; Benin celebrates the Nov. 30, 1975, renaming to Republic of Benin. The former name, Dahomey, was the name of just a portion of the nation, so a more neutral name was chose. Benin is the name of the body of water next to the country.


Yemeni kids, above.
The kids below live in Benin.



By the way:

Yemen's main national holiday is on May 22, which is Unity Day, celebrating the 1990 joining of North and South Yemen. 

Benin's main national holiday is August 1, celebrating its independence from France in 1960.


These are a few of my favorite things...
...about Yemen and Benin.

  • Yemen is the only nation on the Arabian peninsula to have a pure republic form of government. The other nations have kings (or sultans) of some sort.

  • More than 200 islands, located in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, are part of Yemen. Most of the islands are volcanic in origin.


    Socotra Island, part of Yemen, has...
    ...weird trees!


  • I read that almost everybody in Yemen wears ceremonial daggers or swords on a daily basis. I can't help wondering if “almost everybody” really means “almost every adult man”? 

  • Shibam, in Yemen, is called the oldest skyscraper city of the world and also “the Manhattan of the desert.” Its many-storied buildings are made of mud bricks. With some buildings 100 feet tall, these are the tallest mud buildings in the world.




  • A memorial about the slave trade has been erected on the beach of Benin. Called The Door of No Return, it shows that slavery was a one-way trip into horror for most people.



  • The cathedral in Cotonou, Benin, may be one of the most unusually colored churches in the world.


  • Get a glimpse here of some of the animals you can see at Benin's Pendjari National Park.

  • Grand Popo is one of the most picturesque beaches of Benin.




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July 7 - Unity Day in Yemen

Posted on July 7, 2019

The words are awful: civil war. That means that a nation is tearing itself apart, two or more factions of the people fighting one another, spilling blood, grasping for control, power - or maybe striving to right a grievous wrong.

In the case of Yemen's 1994 Civil War, there were tensions over religious differences (Shia and Sunni), and there was disagreement about how important Islamic law should be in the nation's laws. There was anger about unfair economic conditions and marginalization of people in the south by people in the north. Even though Yemen is a relatively small nation (between California and Texas in area), many people wanted to go back to an earlier arrangement, when there was South Yemen and North Yemen. 

(Here is some background, explained largely via maps.)

Most of the fighting happened in the south, and the results were:

* From 7,000 to 10,000 people dead.
* Socialists and separatists (people who wanted Yemen to be split into North Yemen and South Yemen) either executed or exiled.
* "Unity" on this date in 1994 under a leader from the north...except none of the underlying causes were solved, so in 2011 a Yemeni crisis began, and in 2015 another civil war broke out.

So "Unity Day" has a nice sound to it - but Yemen is very definitely not all that unity-minded!




I hope that the U.N. can work some magic and bring peace to Yemen. For their sake:






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September 26 – Revolution Day in Yemen

Posted on September 26, 2015


When an oppressive king has ruled your nation badly – Wikipedia says that Ahmad bin Yahya, King of the Yemen, was “ruthless, arbitrary and inconsistent” – maybe having a monarchy doesn't sound so good. Maybe having a democratic republic begins to sound a bit better...

But I believe that the main reason that there was a revolution against the new king just a few days after Ahmad died – on this date in 1962 – is because Ahmad had made Yemen an enemy of Egypt. It was Egyptian soldiers who fought alongside nationalist forces to overthrow the king.

Sigh. I SO wanted Yemen to be a bit of democracy on the Arabian Peninsula, but in actual fact, the Republic of Yemen has seen civil war, corruption, abductions, torture, terrorist attacks, and rebellions! It's pretty much a mess...

We are warned NOT to travel to Yemen right now because of all the violence. So let's, instead, enjoy the beauties of the country in the comfort of our own homes:

The Shahara Bridge was created in the 1600s to connect towns at the tops of two mountains. It's super scary – but locals cross it often every day.



These weird-looking “umbrella” trees seep red sap and are therefore called dragon's blood trees. They are found on Socotra Island, which belongs to Yemen.



Also on Socotra Island, this tree is pretty ugly...for a tree!



But if you get an entire group of the “ugly” trees – and they look pretty darned cool.



I love this “rock palace,” found in Wadi Dhar.




Also on this date:


Plan ahead:

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