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Hadhramout (حضرموت ) is a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen (proper) to the Dhofar region of Oman. The name of the region is currently retained in the smaller Hadhramaut Governorate of the Republic of Yemen. The people of Hadhramout are called Hadhramis. Hadhramout refers to the historical Qu'aiti and Kathiri sultanates, which were British protectorates in the Aden Protectorate overseen by the British Resident at Aden until their abolition upon the independence of South Yemen in 1967. The current governorate of Hadhramaut roughly incorporates the former territory of the two sultanates. It consists of a narrow, arid coastal plain bounded by the steep escarpment of a broad plateau (averaging 1,370 m [4,500 feet]), with a very sparse network of deeply sunk wadis (seasonal watercourses). The undefined northern edge of Hadhramout slopes down to the desert Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia.
In a wider sense, Hadhramout includes the territory of Mahra to the east all the way to the contemporary border with Oman. This encompasses the current governorates of Hadramaut and Mahra in their entirety as well as parts of the Shabwah Governorate.
 

The Hadhramis live in densely-built towns centered on traditional watering stations along the wadis. Hadhramis harvest crops of wheat, millet, tend date palm and coconut groves, and grow some coffee. On the plateau Bedouins tend sheep and goats. Society is still highly tribal. The old Seyyid aristocracy, descended from Muhammad, traditionally educated and strict in their Islamic observance, are still highly respected in religious and secular affairs. Hadhramaut emigration on a large scale since the early 19th century has established large Hadhrami minorities in South and South East Asia, namely Hyderabad, Java, Sumatra, Malacca and Singapore, for example, former Timor Leste primer minister Marí Alkatiri is of Hadhrami descendant.The original inhabitants of Hadhramaut are Hadhramis with the surnames that starts with "Ba" or "Bin." These are the among the Qahtan Original Arabs. The Sayyids are migrants from the Iraq who arrived about 400 years ago.
Though Bible dictionaries derive the name Hadhramaut from Hazarmaveth, a son of Joktan in the Book of Genesis 10:26-28, the name actually derives from Greek hydreumata or enclosed (and often fortified) 'watering stations' at wadis. A hydreuma is a manned and fortified watering hole or way station along a caravan route. The frankincense trees that supplied the Incense Road grew to the east of Hadhramaut, in Dhofar.

Modern history of the Wadi Hadhramout

The Qu'aiti sultans ruled most of Hadramout, under a loose British protectorate, the Aden Protectorate, from 1882 to 1967, when the Hadhramaut was annexed by South Yemen.The Qu'aiti dynasty was founded by 'Umar bin Awadh al-Qu’aiti, a Yafa’i tribesman from Southern Arabia, whose wealth and influence as hereditary Jemadar of the Nizam of Hyderabad’s armed forces enabled him to establish the Qu’aiti dynasty in the latter half of the 19th century, winning British recognition of his paramount status in the region in 1882. The British Government and the traditional and scholarly sultan Ali bin Salah signed a treaty in 1937 appointing the British government as "advisors" in Hadhramaut. The British exiled him to Aden in 1945, but the Protectorate lasted until 1967.In 1967, the former British Colony of Aden and the former Aden Protectorate including Hadramaut became an independent Communist state,

the People's Republic of South Yemen, later the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen. South Yemen along with Hadramaut was united with North Yemen in 1990 as the Republic of Yemen. The capital and largest city of Hadhramaut is the port Al Mukalla. The population of Yemen is crowding into its Hadramaut cities: Al Mukalla had a 1994 population of 122,400 and a 2003 population of 174,700, while the port city of ash-Shahir has grown from 48,600 to 69,400 in the same time.

Dam Agriculture in Mar’rib
The Marib Dam blocks the Wadi Adhanah (also Dhana or Adhana) in the valley of Dhana in the Balaq Hills, Yemen. The current dam is close to the ruins of the Great Dam of Marib, dating from around the seventh century BCE. It was one of the engineering wonders of the ancient world and a central part of the south Arabian civilization around Marib.

The Great Dam of Marib
The site of the great Dam of Marib (Sudd Marib) is upstream (south-west) of the ancient city of Marib, once the capital of the Kingdom of Saba'a, believed to be the kingdom of the legendary Queen of Sheba. The Kingdom of Saba'a was a prosperous trading nation, with control of the frankincense and spice routes in Arabia and Abyssinia. The Sabaens built the dam to capture the periodical monsoon rains which falls on the nearby mountains and so irrigate the land around the city.
Recent archaeological findings suggest that simple earth dams and a canal network were constructed as far back as 2000 BCE. The building of the first Marib dam began somewhere between 750 BCE and 600 BCE and took some hundreds of years to complete. (The monarch Ali Yanouf Bin Dhamar Ali had his name carved into parts of the dam to mark its completion). The dam was of packed earth, triangular in cross section, 580 m in length and 4 meters high. It ran between two groups of rocks on either side of the river and was linked to the rock with substantial stonework. The dam's position allowed for a spillway and sluices between the northern end of the dam and the cliffs to the west. Around 500 BCE the dam height was increased to 7 meters, the upstream slope (the water face) was reinforced with a cover of stones, and irrigation was extended to include the southern side as well as the northern side.
After the end of the Kingdom of Sheba, possession of the dam came to the Himyarites in around 115 BCE. They undertook a further reconstruction, creating a structure 14 meters high with extensive water works at both the northern and southern ends - with five spillway channels, two masonry-reinforced sluices, a settling pond, and a 1000 meter canal to a distribution tank. These extensive works were not actually finalised until 325 BCE and allowed the irrigation of 25,000 acres (100 km²).
Despite the increases in height, the dam suffered numerous breaches (recorded major incidents occurred in 449, 450, 542 and 548) and the maintenance works became increasingly onerous, the last recorded repairs took place in 557. In 570 or 575, the dam was again overtopped and this time left unrepaired. The the final destruction of the dam is noted in the Koran and the consequent failure of the irrigation system provoked the migration of up to 50,000 people.

The Current Dam
In 1986 a new 38 m high, 763 m long, earth dam was completed across the Wadi Dhana, creating a storage capacity of 398 million cubic meters. The dam site is located 3 km upstream of the ruins of the old Marib dam. The new dam was designed to store water for irrigating the Marib plains.

Seyoun
Once a major stop on the Incense Route, Seyoun served as the capital of the Kathiri Sultanate for five hundred years, from 1400 to 1967 AD, allowing it to become the largest city in Wadi Hadhramout. In the city's center the former Imam's palace it has since been transformed into a museum, complete with a spacious outdoor performance stage.

‘Aynat
The tiny village of ‘aynat is important as the site of pilgrimage to the tombs of Hadrami saints. After the death of a Saiyid, his holiness and spiritual power were regarded as embodied in his tomb, which was administered by his family (the head of whom, as the administrator of the bawtah, was known as Mansab). As a sanctuary, the tomb was often rebuilt several times, until it assumed the scale of the largest domed mausoleums in the wadi. Inside, the saint's coffin was often set within a richly ornamented wooden or bronze shrine. Some of the finest tombs are Qaber Hud, one of many locations claimed as the tomb site of the prophet Hud, and the mausoleum of the first Saiyid in the wadi, Abmad ibn Isa.

Tarim
Tarim (تريم) is a historic town in the Hadhramaut Valley of Yemen. It is famous for producing numerous Islamic scholars, including Imam al-Haddad. Tarim is the location the Dar al-Mustafa, a well known educational institute for the study of traditional Islamic Sciences. Tarim is an important historical site for Islam. Many manuscripts have been collected and are studied in the Al- Ahqaf library (the second largest library in Yemen.) Many of Tarim’s inhabitants immigrated to the western coast of India and established commercial settlements in Singapore and Indonesia since 1220AD. The architecture is also significant for it's blending of East Asian and Yemeni design. Some emigrants returned from their travels in Singapore and Indonesia and brought with them new designs that became eloquently integrated into the architecture. The minaret of the Al Muhdhar Mosque at Tarim, Yemen, is measured 53 metres (175 feet) high, and recognised to be one of the tallest earth structures in the world. The oldest standing mausoleum in Tarim is that of Masud ibn Yemeni, dated A.H. 648 (1270), and presumably built at the time of the Rasulid occupation. The large and beautiful tombs of Habshi in Sai'un and of Qadi Muhammad ibn Umar al-Haddad ibn 'Ali at Qatn, however, date back only seventy years.

Shebam Hadramout
Surrounded by a fortified wall, the 16th-century city of Shebam is one of the oldest and best examples of urban planning based on the principle of vertical construction. Its impressive tower-like structures rise out of the cliff and have given the city the nickname of 'the Manhattan of the desert'. Shebam Hadramout became a UNESCO world heritage site in 1982. Shebam is named after King Shebam Bin Harith Ibn Saba who ruled from here. It was a major city on the overland spice and incense route. It has been the commercial and political capital of Hadramout many times. It was the commercial capital of the Wadi Hadramout until 1940.

al-Hajarayn

Al-Hajarayn is a remarkable stone village atop a rocky slope of Wadi Hajarayn over-looking a forest of palm trees. It is one of the most ancient villages in Wadi Hadhramout. The first of the Sayed's to immigrate to Yemen were in the year 340AH initially they settled in Al-Hajarain and later in Al-Husaiyisha.

Ma’rib:
The present city of Ma’rib sits on the location of what was the capital of the Sabaean Kingdom. It was mentioned in the Qu’ran and the Bible, which relate the story of the visit of Balquis, the Queen of Sheba, to Prophet Solomon (peace to be upon him) about 950 BC. Ma’rib is associated with the name of Sheba (Saba’ in Arabic), which is the oldest and the most famous of the Yemeni Ancient Kingdoms. It has been associated also with many symbols of Yemeni history and civilization, and is the largest and the most famous of the ancient cities. Ma’rib is situated on the left bank of Dhana Valley, which flows in Saihad Desert. Its location made it possible to control the incense trade route. The village of Ma’rib is situated on a small part of the ancient city. The former great city is estimated to have been more than one hundred hectares. It was encircled by a stonewall with three gates from the northern, western, and the southeastern directions. It is believed that the present village was built over the ruins of the Sabaean historical palace (Salhin). In the ancient city, there are four temples, two in the northern part, and one in the southern part. The huge stone columns nearby the well represent the fourth temple. Some scholars believe that Ma’rib may have been built sometime in the second millennium BC, but the exact date when the city was built is unknown. The Sabaean inscriptions indicate that many Sabaenan kings participated in the construction of the city and its facilities during the first half of the first millennium BC.

Old Ma’rib
From a distance, the mud tower houses of old Ma’rib, built around 300 years ago but which rest on 8th-century BC foundations, rise majestically from the sands. Yet as you drive closer, it's obvious that that these elegant structures are now empty shells, wrecked by the bombing of the 1960s civil war. Only a couple of poor families scratch out a living here. Five kilometers southwest of old Ma’rib lies the remains of the Old Dam, the 8th-century BC structure that was one of the wonders of the ancient world. Today, the wadi, the seasonal river bed, is a dry, sun-bleached wilderness, but once the whole region was a lush oasis of palm trees, its fertile fields able to produce enough food to feed up to 50,000 people.

Ruins of Ancient Ma’rib

Mahram Balquis (Awanm Temple):

The Awann Temple is located 4 km to the southeastern of Marib village. It is a temple for the God, Almaqah, and God of Moon. The Ancient Yemenis devoted themselves to worship Sun, Moon, and Morning Star. This temple is believed to be the main temple in Marib. It is oval in shape. It is most likely that it was not roofed. The main entrance is located in the north side’ opposite to the door there is a parlor with side columns. Ten meters away from the entrance there are eight big columns erected in one line. There is a small stone structure with four columns, which is believed to have been built over the tombs on the eastern side. The name “Mahram Balquis” is associated with the story of Queen Balquis and her relationship with King Solomon. The temple has a stonewall decorated with an upper molding in the Sabaean style. The building of the temple dates back to the 8th century BC. The inscriptions indicate that the Temple had continued to perform its function for nearly one thousand years. The temple together with the Sabaean deities was neglected in the 4th century AD, when one of the Kings of Himyar adopted Christianity in about 360 AD. Partial excavation were conducted in the Temple by the American Foundation for Study of Man in the on-set of the fifties but have not yet been completed.

Throne of Bilquis (Bad’ra Temple):
The Bad’ra Temple lies 1400 m t o the northwestern direction of Mahram Balquis. This temple follows Awam Temple in importance, and is locally known as “al-Amaid” or the throne of Bilquis. A German Archaeological mission explored this temple, where upon they found it to be square in shape with an open yard involving the sacred well in the middle, together with a pool supplied with water by a funnel from the mouth of the statue of the Holy Taurus. The hall is surrounded with a number, of walls from the north, west, and south. In front of the western wall there erect a number of marble seats, and from the open yard there are 12 steps leading to the sacred room where the six columns stand (now there are only five columns, the sixth being broken) with decorated crowns. Every column is 17 tons, 350 kg in weight, 12 m in length, and 80 × 60 cm in thickness.
The sacred room of the temple is surrounded with a brick wall with towers, while the gate is located in the northern direction. From the excavations, it was concluded that the building of this temple had undergone two phases: The first phase started during the 2nd millennium until the beginning of the 1st millennium BC whereas. A partial suspension took again during the 4th century AD.