15 Facts About Aden Colony

Aden Colony, the Colony of Aden, was a British Crown colony from 1937 to 1963 located in the south of contemporary Yemen.

The British Government thereafter considered Aden Colony to be an important settlement due to its location, as the Royal Navy could easily access the port for resupply and repairs.

Aden Colony soon became an important transit port and coaling station for trade between British India and the Far East, and Europe.

The commercial and strategic importance of Aden Colony increased considerably when the Suez Canal opened in 1869.

In 1937, Aden was separated from British India to become a Crown colony, a status that it retained until 1963.

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The Aden Settlement, and later Aden Colony, included the outlying islands of Kamaran, Perim and Kuria Muria.

Fundamental law for the Crown colony of Aden was the Order of Council 28 September 1936, which follows the usual lines of basic legislation for British colonies.

The town of Aden Colony was noted as being tied "much more closely into the fabric of the British Empire", with a faster rate of development, than the area surrounding it.

However, in October 1958 there was a general strike, which was accompanied by widespread rioting and disorder which ended in the deportation of 240 Yemenis from Aden Colony, as claimed by author Gillian King: "By ignoring the views of the local labour force, the British pushed much of the Arab population into opposition against their rule, who previously had been by no means captivated by Nasser".

Aden Colony was located in a vital strategic location, on the main shipping routes between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Immigration into the Aden Colony was a major concern of the local Arab workforce.

Previously to the creation of the UAR, peace in Aden Colony it was admitted came not from the presence of the tiny garrison, but from a lack of Arab poles of attraction for malcontents.

Aden Colony became independent as the South Yemen on 30 November 1967 without joining the Commonwealth, but the South Arabian dinar continued at the one-to-one parity with sterling until 1972.

However, the population of Aden Colony was urban, well educated, secular and generally left-wing while the population of the protectorates were rural, mostly illiterate, religious and generally conservative, making the proposed federation a mismatch.

Many of the problems that Aden had suffered in its time as a colony did not improve on federation.