Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen

Hashemite Mutawakkilite Kingdom
المملكة المتوكلية الهاشمية al-Mamlakah al-Mutawakkilīyah Al-Hashimiyah
Part of United Arab States (1958–1961)
1918–1962
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem Royal Salute
Location of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen on the Arabian Peninsula.
Capital		Sana`a (1918–1948) Ta'izz (1948–1962)
Languages		Arabic
Religion		Zaidi Islam
Government		Theocratic Absolute monarchy
Imam
•	1918–1948	Imam Yahya Hamid ed-Din
•	1948–1962	Ahmad bin Yahya
•	1962	Muhammad al-Badr
Historical era		20th century
•	Independence from the Ottoman Empire	30 October 1918
•	Yemeni monarchy abolished	26 September 1962
Area
•	1962	195,000 km² (75,290 sq mi)
Currency		North Yemeni rial
Calling code		+967
Preceded by Succeeded by Emirate of Jabal Shammar Yemen Vilayet Yemen Arab Republic

The Hashemite Mutawakkilite Kingdom (Arabic: المملكة المتوكلية الهاشمية‎‎ al-Mamlakah al-Mutawakkilīyah Al-Hashimiyah), also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or, retrospectively, as North Yemen, was a state that existed between 1918 and 1962 in the northern part of what is now Yemen. Its capital was Sana'a until 1948, then Taiz.

Religious leaders of the Zaydi sect of Shia Islam expelled forces of the Ottoman Empire from what is now northern Yemen by the middle of the 17th century but, within a century, the unity of Yemen was fractured due to the difficulty of governing Yemen's mountainous terrain. In 1849, the Ottoman Empire occupied the coastal Tihamah region to put pressure on the Zaiddiyah imam to sign a treaty recognizing Ottoman suzerainty and allowing for a small Ottoman force to be stationed in Sana'a. However, the Ottomans were slow to gain control over Yemen and never managed to eliminate all resistance from local Zaydis. In 1913, shortly before World War I, the Ottoman Empire was forced to cede some power formally to highland Zaydis. On 30 October 1918, following the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, Imam Yahya Muhammad of the al-Qasimi dynasty declared northern Yemen an independent sovereign state. In 1926, Yahya proclaimed the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, becoming both a temporal king as well as a (Zaydi) spiritual leader, and won international recognition for his new state, such as with the Kingdom of Italy, entering into the Italo-Yemeni Treaty in 1926.