Socotra or Soqotra located between the Guardafui Channel and the Arabian Sea, is the largest of the four islands in the Socotra Archipelago. The territory is located near major shipping routes and is officially part of Yemen, and had long been a subdivision of Aden Governorate. In 2004, it became attached to the Hadhramaut Governorate, which is much closer to the island than Aden (although the nearest governorate was the Al Mahrah Governorate). In 2013, the archipelago became its own governorate: Socotra Governorate.

The island of Socotra constitutes around 95% of the landmass of the Socotra Archipelago. It lies 380 kilometres (240 mi) south of the Arabian Peninsula.While politically a part of Yemen (part of the Arabian Peninsula and thus Western Asia), Socotra and the rest of its archipelago geographically are part of Africa.The island is very isolated, home to a high number of endemic species; up to a third of its plant life is endemic. It has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth.”The island measures 132 kilometres (82 mi) in length and 49.7 kilometres (30.9 mi) in width.In 2008 Socotra was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Taiz is a governorate of Yemen. The governorate’s capital is Taiz, which is the third largest city in Yemen. Today it is the most important commercial centre in Yemen owing to its proximity to the richest farmland in the nation and to the important Red Sea port of Mocha.

Taiz was ruled by Turan-Shah, the older brother of Saladin, after he had conquered Yemen in 1173 CE.Turan-Shah built the citadel on the hill overlooking the old city.In 1175 CE, Taiz was made the capital of Yemen as it was incorporated into dominions of the Ayyubid dynasty by Turan-Shah.The second Rasulid King, Almaddhafar (1288 CE), established Taiz as the second capital of the Rasulid Dynasty after Zabid.In 1332 Ibn Battutah visited Taiz and described it as one of the largest and most beautiful cities of Yemen.

Shabwah is a governorate of Yemen. Its main town is Ataq. During the Yemeni Civil War in 2015, the province became a battleground. The battle, known as the Shabwah Campaign, ended on August 15, 2015, after forces loyal to the government of Abd Rabbah Mansour Hadi defeated Houthi rebels.

The basaltic complex of the Bir Ali volcanic field in Shabwa Governorate, related to the Afar mafic plume, is located in the western part of the WSW−NEN trending Gulf of Aden coastal uplift and formed in the Pliocene to Quaternary. It covers an area of 450 km² and the whole complex forms two slightly rising shield−like elevations mounted by numerous volcano cones different in size and altitude. Most of the volcanoes consist of basaltic tuffs and scoria. Only a few flat eruptive cones situated in the north part are composed of basaltic lavas. Individual volcanoes are characterized by central type eruption. They are distributed along the coastal plain of the Gulf of Aden starting from Perim Island in the west to Bir Ali in the east. Mafic to ultramafic xenoliths, which are rarely coated with thin lava, are mainly enclosed by alkali olivine basaltic pyroclastites.

Sanaa also spelled Sanaʽa or Sana, is the largest city in Yemen and the centre of Sanaa Governorate. The city is not part of the Governorate, but forms the separate administrative district of “Amanat Al-Asemah”. Under the Yemeni constitution, Sanaa is the capital of the country,although the seat of the Yemeni government moved to Aden, the former capital of South Yemen in the aftermath of the Houthi occupation. Aden was declared as the temporary capital by President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi in March 2015.

Sanaa is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. At an elevation of 2,300 metres (7,500 ft),it is also one of the highest capital cities in the world and is next to the Sarawat Mountains of Jabal An-Nabi Shu’ayb and Jabal Tiyal, considered to be the highest mountains in the country and amongst the highest in the region. Sanaa has a population of approximately 3,937,500 (2012), making it Yemen’s largest city. As of 2020, the greater Sanaa urban area makes up about 10% of Yemen’s total population.

The Old City of Sanaa, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, has a distinctive architectural character, most notably expressed in its multi-storey buildings decorated with geometric patterns. In the conflict that raged in 2015, bombs hit UNESCO sites in the old city.The Al Saleh Mosque, the largest in Sana’a, is located in the Old City.

Sadah is the capital city of Saada Governorate in north-western Yemen at an elevation of about 1,800 meters. Its population in 2004 was estimated at 51,870.It was formerly identified with Karna, the kingdom of the ancient kingdom of Ma’in, which is now known to be identical to the ancient Qarnawu near the modern Ma’in in the Al Jawf Governorate.

Since June 2004, violent conflict has taken place in Saada, killing several thousand and displacing 250,000 people countrywide.Known in English as the Houthi insurgency in Yemen, the conflict has its roots in an insurgency against the government of Yemen which was initiated by the Zaidi religious leader Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi in 2004. A ceasefire, brokered in June 2007, was followed by a peace agreement in February 2008. By April 2008, however, the peace process was in jeopardy as each side of the conflict accused the other of failing to implement aspects of the peace agreement. Analysts suggest that renewed conflict will damage the humanitarian situation in the region.

Raymah is a governorate of Yemen. It was established in January 2004 from parts of the Sana’a Governate. Its name derives from Wadi Rima which crosses it. Its capital is Al Jabin.

Mountainous villages that, despite any first glance, make you think that the distance between them is short, but, practically, you will have to descend down mountains and climb up others to reach to a village.However,Raymah villages make every single step worth it, with its houses and sun rays peeking through the misty atmosphere here and there on the mountain tops. Raymah is a green land but the strange thing about that is the ability of tall, green plants to grow when surrounded by rocks. If they just find a small circle of soil, their roots will grow.

Marib is the capital city of Maʼrib Governorate, Yemen. It was the capital of the ancient kingdom of Saba,which some scholars believe to be the ancient Sheba of biblical fame.It is located approximately 120 kilometres (75 miles) east of Yemen’s modern capital, Sana’a, and is in the region of the Sarawat Mountains.In 2005 it had a population of 16,794.The ancient city, in a fertile oasis irrigated by the impounded waters of the Maʾrib Dam, has been called “the Paris of the ancient world.” It was on one of the principal caravan routes that linked the Mediterranean world and the Arabian Peninsula, and it prospered especially because of its trading monopoly of frankincense and myrrh from Yemen and the southern coastal region of Hadhramaut.

The surrounding region borders the southern Arabian desert known as Rubʿ al-Khali (“Empty Quarter”), mostly in Saudi Arabia. Although there are several wadis such as Ḥarīb and Al-Jawf, the region has the poorest agricultural productivity in the country. The land slopes eastward from 6,000 to 3,000 feet (2,000 to 1,000 metres) where it merges with the Rubʿ al-Khali. Sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys are raised, and dates are cultivated. Since 1984, when large deposits of petroleum were discovered nearby, Maʾrib has played a central role in the country’s oil industry.

Lahij or Lahej is a city and an area located between Ta’izz and Aden in Yemen. From the 18th to the 20th century, its rulers were of the Abdali branch of the Al-Sallami tribe who trace their lineage to one of the 10 tribes of Yaffa called Kalad. Lahij was the capital city of Sultanate of Lahej, a protectorate of the British Empire until 1967, when the sultan was expelled and the city became a part of People’s Republic of South Yemen.

Under the former Aden Protectorate, a British-ruled area, it was capital of the ʿAbdali Sultanate, abolished when Yemen (Aden) became independent in 1967. The sultan’s palace is now a school of agriculture. For a brief period in the 1960s, the town was renamed Al-Hawtah or Al-Houta. Laḥij is on the main road from Aden city to the northern parts of western Yemen and is a regional trade centre.

Ibb, city, southwestern Yemen, lying in the Yemen Highlands on a spur of the rugged Mount Shamaḥi, at 6,725 feet (2,050 metres) above sea level. The city’s origins, according to Arab myth, date to biblical times. The area became important in the Middle Ages, when the Ṣulayḥid princess Sayyidah Arwa ruled over much of Yemen from her capital at nearby Jiblah (11th century CE). Long an administrative capital, Ibb in the 20th century was the seat of a semiautonomous emirate, abolished by an administrative reform of the monarchy in the 1940s.

The city is one of the most picturesque in Yemen; it is surrounded by a thick wall, inset with tall houses. Among the numerous mosques located in Ibb, the twin-minareted Al-Muẓaffariyyah Mosque is particularly fine. Well-built multistory houses, typical of Yemeni urban architecture, are numerous. An aqueduct from the nearby mountains, supplemented by a small-scale modern distribution system, supplies running water to many of the houses—an unusual feature for the country.

Hajjah is the capital city of Hajjah Governorate in north-western Yemen. It is located 127 kilometres northwest of Sana’a, at an elevation of about 1800 metres.As of 2003, the Hajjah City District had a population of 53,887 inhabitants.

Historically, the name Hajjah referred to a district rather than a town. It was the mountainous region around the modern town, stretching northward towards al-Zafir, and separated from the mountain formations to the east, west, and north by the Wadi Sharis and the Wadi Mawr. There were numerous forts in this area during the middle ages. The 10th-century writer al-Hamdani counted Hajjah as part of the broader districts of Sarāt Qudam or Sarāt al-Maṣāniʽ, with Hajjah appearing to be on the border between the two. He wrote that its population mostly belonged to the Qudam tribe, and that its name was derived from one Ḥajjah b. Aslam b. ‘Aliyyān b. Zayd, of the tribe of Hashid.