There are three geophysical regions: an arid, narrow coastal plain; steeply rising mountains that top out above 3,700 meters; and an arid plateau. Seasonally wet gullies drain both sides of the mountains: the Bana and the Masilah (or Hadhramaut(2)) are the most important. Yemen includes islands in the Red Sea like Hanish, and an island far out into the Arabian Sea: Socotra(3).
More than nine in every ten speak Arabian dialects of Arabic. The rest speak a miscellany of languages. Almost everyone is a Sunni Moslem.
San'a is the only city with more than a million inhabitants.
northeast, from the northeast
northeast, from the east
southeast, from the southeast
south
southwest
west
northwest
northwest, from the northeast of former Northern Yemen
(1) al-Yaman in strictly transliterated Arabic.
(2) Or Hadramawt.
(3) Suqutra in strictly transliterated Arabic.