Taxation of Maritime Trade in Medieval Yemen in Pre-Ottoman Period

Studies of medieval Yemen still remain in the periphery of Oriental research. This fact is evidenced by the limited number of works related to this period in the history of that country. However, a reconstruction of the political and economic processes, which took place in the south of the Arabian peninsula and in the south-western part of the Indian Ocean basin, seems rather actual, since gave a possibility to discover the roots of the tense situation that embraced Yemen in the early 21st century AD. The paper focuses on the main features of taxation in medieval Yemen in Pre-Ottoman period. The research is based on the analysis of medieval sources of the 13th–15th centuries AD supported with works of modern researchers. It is concerned with the main aspects of domestic and foreign policy of medieval Yemen in Pre-Ottoman period, the emergence and decline of the Rasulid dynasty. It also contains a description of the maritime trade routes, the main ports of the Yemenite littoral and principal products of import and export. Furthermore, the research identifies various trading charges’ schemes operative in medieval Yemenite states, mostly which of the Rasulids, and procedures connected with collection of taxes. Keywords: taxation; maritime trade; Rasulid dynasty; Medieval Yemen.