Sana

Sana (pop. 427,185), capital and largest city of Yemen, in southern Arabia on a high inland plain. The city, a trade center for grapes and other crops as well as the economic, political, religious, and educational center of Yemen, is linked to the Red Sea port of Hodeida by road. Sana, which is shaped like a figure eight and surrounded by a wall 20–30 ft (6–9 m) high, is noted for the architectural splendor of the Bab al-Yaman (Yemen Gate) and the 7-story Republican Palace, as well as some 50 mosques. Originally a pre-Islamic settlement, it was subsequently ruled by the Ethiopians (6th century) and the Ottoman Turks (17th century and 1872–1918) before Yemen's independence (1918).

See also: Yemen.