ADEN

ADEN. — Since 1937, a British Crown colony. It consists of the actual peninsula (194 sq km, with 50,000 inhabitants) and the eponymous protectorate, on the adjoining northwestern coast of Arabia, with undefined boundaries (10,000–15,000 sq km, with 100,000 inhabitants), but which sometimes includes the whole of Hadramaut, that is, the territory facing the Gulf of Aden (150,000 sq km, 150,000–200,000 inhabitants, united in various sultanates). Perim Island (13 sq km and 1,700 inhabitants) also depends on Aden. A. is a commercial and military port for the control of Bab-el-Mandeb, on the route to India. The city has 32,000 inhabitants, mostly Muslims; it is a major market for trade between Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Persian Gulf. (For the Missions V. ARABIA). Giuseppe Caraci