emirate · Arabia and the Gulf
Emirate of Beihan
Origins
Wadi Bayhan, once the core of the Kingdom of Qataban, was by the 19th century divided between local tribes and a family of sharifs, descendants of the Prophet, who emerged as emirs around 1800 with their seat at Suq Abdullah.
Rule and society
Beihan lay on the disputed border between the Aden Protectorate and the imams' Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen, and clashes there were frequent in the 1950s. Its ruling sharif, Husayn ibn Ahmad al-Habili, was one of Britain's firmest allies and a founding figure of the Federation of Arab Emirates of the South in 1959. Agriculture depended on seasonal floods.
Decline and legacy
In 1967 the National Liberation Front took over the region and the emirate was incorporated into South Yemen; its ruling family went into exile.
Few sources survive for this state; details are uncertain.
Lineage
On the connections map
Open the full map →Connections (3)
- Emirate of Beihan was part of Aden Protectorate1903 CE – 1967 CE
- Emirate of Beihan was part of Federation of Arab Emirates of the South1959 CE – 1962 CE
- Emirate of Beihan was part of Federation of South Arabia1962 CE – 1967 CE
More states of Arabia and the Gulf →
Cite this page
- APA
- The Epoch Institute. (2026). Emirate of Beihan. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-beihan
- MLA
- “Emirate of Beihan.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-beihan. Accessed .
- Chicago
- The Epoch Institute. “Emirate of Beihan.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-beihan.
- Harvard
- The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘Emirate of Beihan’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/emirate-of-beihan (Accessed: ).
Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻