Abstract

For many centuries, European cartographers labeled the southwest corner of the otherwise mostly desert Arabian Peninsula as Arabia Felix, or “Happy Arabia.” It was a place where towering mountains trapped clouds blown in from the Indian Ocean so that twice-annual monsoon rains blessed terraced slopes and lowland wadis with plentiful crops. Sadly, since fighting engulfed the country in late March 2015, Yemen has never been less felix.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-2017

Publisher Statement

Copyright © 2017 Current History. This article first appeared in Current History 116: 794 (2017), 360-362.

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