Al Abr

Al Abr or Al ‘Abr (Arabic: آل العبر‎) is a small town in central-eastern Yemen. It is the seat of Al Abr District of the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is served by a small airport.

Al Abr
Town
Al Abr
Location in Yemen
Coordinates: 16°8′N 47°14′E
Country Yemen
GovernorateHadhramaut Governorate.
DistrictAl Abr
Time zoneGMT+3

History

A number of megalithic sites have been found in the surrounding area.[1] The original settlement there consisted of a cluster of wells in the wadi protected by an ancient fort (husn). Caravans on the Incense Route would water there and the place also served as a base for Bedouin tribes such as Sa'ar or Sei'ar. Abdulla bin Schuwail al Dawsai, who was active against the Sa'ar in the late 1940s, is known to have been present in the town.[2] One of the first western women to reach this area was Barbara Toy who wrote of her visit there in the 1960s.[3]

Geography

To reach it from Sana'a involves hundreds of miles of driving across desert. It lies along the N5 highway, north-northwest of Seiyun.[4] The Wadi Hadhramaut has its source near Al Abr[5] and it is about 3,000 feet above sea level.[6] It is served by a small airport.

Poetry

Poetry is politically significant in the region and the popular poet, Khamis Salim Kindi, made reference to the place in a famous quatrain about the powerful Adbat clan whose area was bombed by the British during WW2 because of their Axis sympathies, as the British had previously bombed the al-Say'ar tribe in the al-'Abr area.[7]

Thou wert repelled, o Ghurfah, like Berlin
By Mister Ingrams and Chamberlain.
They thought thee to be al-'Abr,
[That] when attacked with bombs thou wilt atone.

References
  1. Newton, Lynne S. (2007). A Landscape of Pilgrimage and Trade in Wadi Masila, Yemen: The Case Ofal-Qisha and Qabr Hud in the Islamic Period. p. 32. ISBN 978-0-549-30850-8.
  2. Hinchcliffe, Peter; Ducker, John T.; Holt, Maria (31 October 2006). Without Glory in Arabia: The British Retreat from Aden. I.B.Tauris. p. 131. ISBN 978-1-84511-140-3.
  3. Barbara Toy (2009), Travelling the Incense Route: From Arabia to the Levant in the Footsteps of the Magi, Tauris Parke Paperbacks, ISBN 9780857717498
  4. Google (10 April 2015). "Al Abr" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved 10 April 2015.
  5. Ingrams (28 October 2013). Arabia & The Isles. Routledge. p. 308. ISBN 978-1-136-17037-9.
  6. Western Arabia & The Red Sea. Routledge. 2013-10-28. ISBN 9781136209956. Retrieved 2015-04-10.
  7. Mikhail Rodionov, "Poetry and Power in Hadramawt", New Arabian Studies, 3: 127
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