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Dutch exhibits open rare window into Yemen

A new online exhibition showcases a rich collection of materials offering unique
insight into Yemen’s history.
SOCIETY

Civil war and a humanitarian crisis are the

issues that in recent decades have drawn
public attention to Yemen, one of the Arab
world’s poorest countries whose geographical,
religious and social complexities have
ultimately resulted in state failure. However,
Yemen has a much richer history than news
reports allow us to see. A recently launched
online exhibition  now presents the region’s
© Alex/stock.adobe.com
complex history, and particularly the role that
the Netherlands played in it.
Titled ‘Yemen through a Dutch lens’, the exhibition is part of the EU-funded EMStaD
YEMEN  project that focuses mainly on the history of northern Yemen, a region
ruled by a Shiʿi sect called the Zaydis since the 10th century CE. It is investigating
how the country achieved stability between the 16th and 19th centuries, yet struggles
with similar conditions that are hampering its development today. The exhibition
showcases some of the project’s findings using manuscripts, maps and photographs
from the Leiden University Libraries (UBL) collection.
As noted on a UBL web page  introducing the exhibition, the Dutch connection to
Yemen goes as far back as the early 17th century, when merchants from the
Netherlands stopped at the Yemeni port of Mocha to buy coffee, a commodity that
was becoming more and more popular. “When Dutch merchants first reached
Yemen,” reports the article, “it was a province of the Ottoman Empire. However,
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within a few years after their arrival, it became an independent state again, as it had
been before the Ottoman conquests of the sixteenth century. This dramatic
transformation, a small country ousting a major early modern empire, was possible
due to the strength of local political traditions.”
Through Dutch eyes
In the centuries that followed, Yemen became increasingly difficult to access, only
opening its doors to the West again in the 1930s. Among the many people who
visited the country then were Cornelis Adriaanse, the Dutch chargé d’affaires in the
Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, and the Dutch engineer Gellius Flieringa.
After the signing of the Dutch-Yemeni treaty in 1933, Adriaanse and Flieringa were
invited to Yemen by the country’s ruler, Imam Yaḥyā Ḥamīd al-Dīn. “The Imam was
looking for a path forward for his country: how to take the most from the things that
modernity and Western know-how were offering while keeping the traditional state,
headed by descendants of the Prophet? Gellius Flieringa was invited to visit Yemen
twice to answer some specific questions about Yemen’s infrastructure and oil
potential. He compiled a report for the Dutch government about his discoveries and
wrote a diary about his travels.” The two Dutchmen’s photographs, letters and
reports provide insight into Yemeni society and politics during this period of time.
The exhibition supported by EMStaD YEMEN (Early Modern State Development in
Yemen) offers the unique opportunity to see Yemen through the eyes of Flieringa and
Adriaanse, “changing but keeping its traditions.” In addition to the exhibition, the
project will also disseminate its findings through specialist publications and blog
posts.
For more information, please see:
EMStaD YEMEN project web page 
Keywords
EMStaD YEMEN, Yemen, Yemeni, the Netherlands, exhibition, history, coffee
Related projects

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 EMStaD YEMEN
Early Modern State Development in
Yemen

23 June 2023
PROJECT

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Last update: 22 May 2024

Permalink: https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/451368-dutch-exhibits-open-rare-
window-into-yemen
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European Union, 2024

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