Sanaa summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Sanaa.

Sanaa , Arabic Ṣanaʿāʾ, City (pop., 2004: 1,747,627), capital of Yemen. Located in the western part of the country, it was built on the site of an ancient pre-Islamic stronghold that has been traditionally dated to the 1st or 2nd century bc. Its people converted to Islam in 632. Nominally under Ottoman sovereignty from the mid-16th century, it was effectively controlled from the early 17th century until 1872 by the imams (leaders) of the Zaydī Shīʿite sect. It became the capital of an independent Yemen after the Ottoman defeat in World War I (1914–18). In 1990 it became the capital of the unified country. For many centuries it has been the chief economic, political, and religious centre of the Yemen highlands. The old walled city centre was designated a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1986.

Yemen Summary

Yemen, country situated at the southwestern corner of the Arabian Peninsula. It is mostly mountainous and generally arid, though there are broad patches with sufficient precipitation to make agriculture successful. The people speak various dialects of Arabic and are mostly Muslims (see Islam). The

Asia Summary

Asia, the world’s largest and most diverse continent. It occupies the eastern four-fifths of the giant Eurasian landmass. Asia is more a geographic term than a homogeneous continent, and the use of the term to describe such a vast area always carries the potential of obscuring the enormous