Ottoman rule expands along the Tihama

Ottoman naval and military forces under Hadım Süleyman Pasha seized Aden during a campaign intended to secure Red Sea routes and challenge Portuguese influence. Ottoman expansion tied Yemen to an...

An eighty-vessel fleet carrying troops and siege artillery departed Suez under Hadım Süleyman Pasha. The expedition was directed toward the Indian Ocean and the Portuguese stronghold at Diu, but its...

Ottoman troops entered Aden after Hadım Süleyman Pasha summoned Amir ibn Da’ud aboard his flagship. Amir and several officials were arrested and executed; troops occupied the port, plundered the city,...

After sixteen days in Aden, Hadım Süleyman Pasha sailed toward Gujarat, leaving Behram Bey, a garrison, and ships behind. The departure extended Ottoman operations into the Indian Ocean while...

Returning from the failed siege of Portuguese-held Diu, Hadım Süleyman Pasha’s fleet stopped at Shihr on the Hadramawt coast. The ruler of Shihr accepted Ottoman authority during the return...

Ottoman troops captured Sana’a after renewed campaigning. The city became an imperial center, while Zaydi imams and local forces continued to challenge Ottoman power in the surrounding highlands.

A major Yemeni uprising challenged Ottoman rule. Zaydi leadership and tribal forces resisted taxation, coercive administration and the presence of foreign garrisons. The revolt exposed the limits of...

After prolonged resistance, Ottoman forces withdrew from Yemen. The retreat ended the first Ottoman period of rule and restored substantial authority to Yemeni imamate leadership. The outcome...

The sultan of Lahej broke from the authority of Sana’a, consolidating a local ruling line in the south. The political fragmentation of the region helps explain why Britain later negotiated with and...

After a British ship was wrecked near Aden, British officials used the incident and the port’s strategic position to press for control. British India sought a coaling and naval station on the route to...