Perim

Perim (Arabic: بريم, romanized: Barīm), also called Mayyun (Arabic: جزيرة ميون) in Arabic, is a Yemeni volcanic island in the Strait of Mandeb. The strait is at the south entrance to the Red Sea, off the south-west coast of Yemen. The island is part of Dhubab District, also called Bab al-Mandab District, in Taiz Governorate.

Perim is special because it splits the Strait of Mandeb into two channels.

The island was once a part of Aden Colony. As part of this colony, it was ruled by the British Empire from 1857 to 1967.

Not to be confused with Piram Island or Purim. For the ship, see HMS Perim (K593).

Etymology

In ancient times it was called "the island of Diodorus" (Greek: Διοδώρου νῆσος, Latin: Diodori insula). It is mentioned by Pliny the Elder, by the author of the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea, and in Ptolemy's Geography. The name Perim may come from the Arab word Barim, which means chain. This is linked to the history of the Straits and to one of its Arab names. The other Arab name is Mayyun.

The Portuguese called it Majun or Meho, which came from Mayun. In 1513, Albuquerque officially named the island Vera Cruz. Many British and French maps from the 1600s and 1700s called it Babelmandel, the same name they used for the Straits. Some navigation guides from the early 1800s still called it the island of Bab-el-Mandeb, though they sometimes said it was also called Perim. By the time the British took control of the island in 1857, the name Perim was widely used.

Geology

Perim is an eroded piece of the southwest side of a Miocene volcano. The volcano's center was on the far southwestern tip of Arabia. It is the westernmost of six volcanoes in a line called the Aden line. The line stretches 200 km (125 mi) along the coast of Arabia, from Perim to Aden.

Scientists believe the volcanoes are linked to a crack in the Earth's crust. This crack spread eastward. It happened before the most recent stage of sea-floor spreading in the Gulf of Aden.

Geography

Perim is shaped a bit like a crab. It is 5.63 km (3.50 mi) long and 2.85 km (1.77 mi) wide. Its surface area is 13 km² (5.0 sq mi), and its highest point is 65 m (213 ft). On the southwest coast there is a deep, fairly large natural harbour. The fishing village of Mayyun sits at the bottom of the bay.

The island divides the 32 km (20 mi) wide Bab-el-Mandeb into two straits. The Large Strait is about 17 km (11 mi) wide. The Small Strait is 2.5 to 5 km (1.6 to 3.1 mi) wide. The tides here are strong and uneven, which makes sailing difficult. Ships have often sunk near Perim, especially in the Small Strait. Fresh water has always been one of the biggest problems for people who want to live on the island all year. Rain falls now and then, but there can be eight months or more with none. The average yearly rainfall is about 60 mm (2.4 in). Very few plants grow on the island.

History

Some of the earliest modern humans may have crossed the Bab-el-Mandeb straits when they left Africa about 60,000 years ago. The sea was lower then because so much water was frozen in Ice Age glaciers. Perim has a sheltered natural harbour at the entrance of the Red Sea. However, it was mostly missing from written history until the mid-1800s. The bare island had little water, so people could hardly live there. Only fishermen and pearl divers stayed there for part of the year, in reed huts. In 1513, Afonso de Albuquerque tried to capture Aden but failed. He then sailed for the Red Sea and spent time on the island of Kamaran. He planned an attack on Jeddah, but strong winds stopped it. He named Perim Vera Cruz, but decided it was not fit for a fort because it had no water. In the years that followed, the Portuguese fought the Egyptian Mamluk and Ottoman navies. The Ottomans took Aden in 1538. A French group may have used the harbour during an attack on nearby Mocha in 1737. In 1799, the British East India Company briefly took control of the island while preparing to invade Egypt.

In 1856, British Prime Minister Palmerston agreed to occupy Perim. This was partly to limit French power, since France was supporting the Suez Canal project. The official reason was that a lighthouse was needed at the dangerous Bab el Mandeb entrance. The 11-meter lighthouse opened on 1 April 1861, but ships still wrecked in the waters around Perim. The island was attached to Aden, which was part of the Bombay Presidency of British India. For about twenty years, the only signs of British presence were the lighthouse and a small group of soldiers. In 1881, Hinton Spalding of London was allowed to start a coaling station on Perim. The Perim Coal Company began supplying ships in 1883. Its coal business competed with Aden's until the mid-1930s, but the company went bankrupt in 1935.

Main article: Attack on Perim

During the First World War, Ottoman Turks landed on Perim in June 1915. They were pushed back by the 23rd Sikh Pioneers, with help from the Royal Navy. In 1964, Perim became the home of the British Middle East Relay Station. The Diplomatic Wireless Service built it to pass on BBC World Service broadcasts. The transmitters had been used at a station in Somalia. They were sent back to Crowborough in the UK before being set up on Perim. Supplies arrived on flights from Aden Airways. A fire in 1965 stopped the broadcasts. The transmitters were moved to the Omani island of Masirah, and the Perim station closed before the end of 1966. In 1967, the island became part of the People's Republic of Southern Yemen. In 1971, the island's waters were used for an attack on a tanker by PFLP guerrillas. South Yemeni artillery and Egyptian navy units took part in a blockade during the October War. The Soviet Union later gained access to Perim and Socotra, but its presence faded after the 1986 military coup and the arrival of Perestroika under Mikhail Gorbachev.

Main article: Yemeni Civil War (2015–present)

After the Houthi takeover in Yemen, the Houthis moved to capture Perim. They wanted control of the important trade route through the Bab-el-Mandeb strait. After the civil war began in 2015, some Perim residents joined the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen to retake the island, with support from the United Arab Emirates Armed Forces. The UAE controlled the island until 2019, when control passed to Saudi Arabia and the Yemeni Coast Guard. In 2021, Tareq Saleh, a commander of the National Resistance Forces, said his units were stationed on Perim. In 2026, the Houthi forces retook the island.

Climate

Development

In 2008, a company based in Dubai called Al Noor Holding Investments announced a plan to build a bridge between Yemen and Djibouti through Perim Island. The plan cost $200 billion. The bridge, called the Bridge of the Horns, would be about 28.5 km (17.7 mi) long. It would be one of the longest bridges in the world, and its hanging part would be the longest.

In June 2010, it was announced that the first part of the bridge, a 3.5 km (2.2 mi) bridge between mainland Yemen and Perim, was delayed with no set date for restarting. The work would wait until Djibouti and Yemen could sign a framework agreement.