Aden 阿丹

[Travellers | Cities | Routes | Trade Goods | Themes]

by Sally K Church

Aden is "the port of Yemen", situated in 12° 47' N, 44° 59 E, on the south coast of Arabia. Its excellent harbour, its location adjacent to the junction of the sea-routes and commanding the entrance to the Red Sea, and its caravan roads to the north, made it a natural entrepôt for the commerce which began to trickle from East Africa and Asia into the narrows of Bab-al-Mandeb from very early times. In Chinese the name is Adan (A-tan in Wade-Giles).

In his study of Zheng He's maritime expeditions, J. V. G. Mills says, "In the beginning of the fifteenth century Aden was the main port on the main route from the Mediterranean to India and the Far East, and it enjoyed extraordinary prosperity under the Rasulid dynasty (1229-1454) of the Yemen (Yamen) whose capital was at Ta'izz. Aden was immensely strong; its ruler governed south-west Arabia as far north as Mecca, and contested the control of the Holy Cities, Mecca and Medina, with the Mameluke kings of Egypt."

- adapted from J. V. G. Mills, “The Country of A-tan”, Ma Huan, Ying-yai sheng-lan, The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores [1433], Hakluyt Society (Cambridge: Hakluyt Society, 1970), p. 154, n.1.