ADEN

ADEN. - Since 1937, a British Crown colony. It consists of the actual peninsula (194 sq. km. with 50,000 inhabitants) and the homonymous protectorate on the contiguous northwest coast of Arabia, with indefinite borders (10-15,000 sq. km., with 100,000 inhabitants), though it sometimes includes all of Hadramaut, i.e., the territory facing the Gulf of Aden (150,000 sq. km., 150-200,000 inhabitants, grouped into various sultanates). Also under Aden’s jurisdiction is the islet of Perim (13 sq. km. and 1,700 inhabitants). Aden is a commercial and military port controlling the Bab-el-Mandeb, on the route to India. The city itself has 32,000 inhabitants, mostly Muslim; it is a major market for trade between Arabia, Ethiopia, and the Persian Gulf. (For the Missions, V. ARABIA). Giuseppe Caraci