Hadhramaut in the context of "Najran"

Ḥaḍramawt (Hadrami: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩩, romanized: ḤḌRMT; Sabaic, Minaic, Qatabānic: 𐩢𐩳𐩧𐩣𐩥𐩩, romanized: ḤḌRMWT) was an ancient South Semitic-speaking kingdom of South Arabia (ancient Yemen) which existed from the early 1st millennium BCE till the late 3rd century CE in the area currently named after it in the region of the Ṣayhad desert.

The kingdom of Ḥaḍramawt was one of the six ancient South Arabian kingdoms of ancient Yemen, along with Sabaʾ, Maʿīn, Qatabān, Ḥimyar, and Awsān. Little is known about Ḥaḍramawt compared to the other early South Arabian states.

The Aden Protectorate (Arabic: محمية عدن Maḥmiyyat ‘Adan) was a British protectorate in southern Arabia. The protectorate evolved in the hinterland of the port of Aden and in the Hadhramaut after the conquest of Aden by the Bombay Presidency of British India in January 1839, and which continued until the 1960s. In 1940, it was divided for administrative purposes into the Western Protectorate and the Eastern Protectorate. The territory now forms part of the Republic of Yemen.

The rulers of the Aden Protectorate, as generally with the other British protectorates and protected states, retained a large degree of autonomy: their flags still flew over their government buildings, government was still performed by them or in their names, and their states maintained a distinct 'international personality' in terms of international law, in contrast to states possessed directly by the British Empire, such as Colony of Aden, where the British monarch was the sovereign.

The Ridda Wars were a series of military campaigns launched by the first Rashidun caliph Abu Bakr against rebellious Arabian tribes, some of which were led by rival prophethood claimants. These wars began shortly after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in 632 and concluded the next year, with all battles won by the Rashidun Caliphate.

In September 632, Laqit, the leader of the Banu Azd tribe, prepared an army to attack Oman. However, commander Hudayfa's forces defeated Laqit and his rebel army. The next month, more rebel attacks were faced in Northern Arabia and Yemen, which were also defeated. A few months later, Banu Hanifa's chief Musaylimah, a rival claimant of prophethood with an army of allegedly 40,000 soldiers, was killed in the Battle of Yamama. The last major rebel attack came from the tribe of Kinda in Hadhramaut in January 633. The campaigns came to an end in June 633 as Abu Bakr united all tribes of Arabia.

The Qahtanites (/ˈkɑːtənaɪts/; Arabic: قَحْطَانِيون, romanized: Qaḥṭānīyun), also known as Banu Qahtan (Arabic: بنو قحطان) or by their nickname al-Arab al-Ariba (Arabic: العرب العاربة), are the Arabs who originate from modern-day Hadhramaut, Yemen. The term "Qahtan" is mentioned in multiple Ancient South Arabian inscriptions found in Yemen. Some Arab traditions believe that the Qahtanites are the original Arabs.

In some Judeo-Christian-Islamic traditions, the Qahtanite Arabs descend from Jokshan, a son of Abraham through Keturah and half brother of Ishmael son of Abraham through Hagar.

Yemen (Arabic: إقليم اليمن, romanized: Eglîm el-Yemen) is a geographic region in South Arabia which includes all lands between Hijaz and Hadhramaut.

The Hadharem (Arabic: حضارم, romanized: ḥaḍārim; singular: Hadhrami, Arabic: حضرمي, romanized: ḥaḍramī) are an Arabic-speaking ethnographic group indigenous to the Hadhramaut region in the Arabian Peninsula, which is part of modern-day Yemen and Oman. The spoken language of the Hadharem is Hadhrami Arabic. Among the two million inhabitants of Hadhramaut, there are about 1,300 distinct tribes.

The ancient history of Yemen or South Arabia is especially important as one of the oldest centers of civilization in the Near East. Its relatively fertile land and adequate rainfall in a moister climate helped sustain a stable population, a feature recognized by the ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy, who described Yemen as Eudaimon Arabia (better known in its Latin translation, Arabia Felix) meaning Fortunate Arabia or Happy Arabia. Between the eighth century BCE and the sixth century CE, it was dominated by six main states which rivaled each other, or were allied with each other and controlled the lucrative spice trade: Saba', Ma'īn, Qatabān, Hadhramaut, Kingdom of Awsan, and the Himyarite Kingdom. Islam arrived in 630 CE and Yemen became part of the Muslim realm.

The centers of the Old South Arabian kingdoms of present-day Yemen lay around the desert area called Ramlat al-Sab'atayn, known to medieval Arab geographers as Ṣayhad. The southern and western Highlands and the coastal region were less influential politically. The coastal cities were however already very important from the beginning for trade. Apart from the territory of modern Yemen, the kingdoms extended into Oman, as far as the north Arabian oasis of Lihyan (also called Dedan), to Eritrea, and even along coastal East Africa to what is now Tanzania.