Greater Yemen is a geographic term denoting the present territory of the Republic of Yemen

Yemen

The Republic of Yemen , commonly known as Yemen , is a country located in the Middle East, occupying the southwestern to southern end of the Arabian Peninsula. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the north, the Red Sea to the west, and Oman to the east....

 as well as the Saudi regions of 'Asir, Najran Province, Jizan Province, the adjacent islands in the Red Sea

Red Sea

The Red Sea is a seawater inlet of the Indian Ocean, lying between Africa and Asia. The connection to the ocean is in the south through the Bab el Mandeb strait and the Gulf of Aden. In the north, there is the Sinai Peninsula, the Gulf of Aqaba, and the Gulf of Suez...

 and the adjacent parts of Tihamah

Tihamah

Tihamah or Tihama is a narrow coastal region of Arabia on the Red Sea. It is currently divided between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In a broad sense, Tihamah refers to the entire coastline from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb Strait but it more often refers only to its southern half, starting...

 and sometimes the Omani province of Dhofar

Dhofar

The Dhofar region lies in Southern Oman, on the eastern border with Yemen. Its mountainous area covers and has a population of 215,960 as of the 2003 census. The largest town in the region is Salalah. Historically, it was the chief source of frankincense in the world. However, its frankincense...

.

Greater Yemen is also a political

Politics

Politics is a process by which groups of people make collective decisions. The term is generally applied to the art or science of running governmental or state affairs, including behavior within civil governments, but also applies to institutions, fields, and special interest groups such as the...

 term denoting the irredentist

Irredentism

Irredentism is any position advocating annexation of territories administered by another state on the grounds of common ethnicity or prior historical possession, actual or alleged. Some of these movements are also called pan-nationalist movements. It is a feature of identity politics and cultural...

 aspiration that these areas be united under a common state

Sovereign state

A sovereign state, or simply, state, is a state with a defined territory on which it exercises internal and external sovereignty, a permanent population, a government, and the capacity to enter into relations with other sovereign states. It is also normally understood to be a state which is neither...

. These claims recall the historical notion of Bilad al-Yaman as well as the Rasulid

Rasulid

The Rasulid was a Muslim dynasty that ruled Yemen and Hadhramaut from 1229 to 1454. The Rasulids assumed power after the Egyptian Ayyubid left the southern provinces of the Arabian Peninsula....

 state of the 13th-15th centuries and the Zaidi state of the late 17th and early 18th centuries which encompassed most of the territory of Greater Yemen.

In the 20th century, Imam Yahya, King of the Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen

Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen

The Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen , sometimes spelled Mutawakelite Kingdom of Yemen, also known as the Kingdom of Yemen or as North Yemen, was a country from 1918 to 1962 in the northern part of what is now Yemen...

 (North Yemen) attempted to realize these aspirations but only managed to consolidate his control in Upper Yemen

Upper Yemen

Upper Yemen and Lower Yemen are traditional regions of the north western highland mountains of Yemen. Northern Highlands and Southern Highlands are terms more commonly used presently. The Sumara Mountains just south of the town of Yarim denote the boundaries of the two regions. These two...

, Lower Yemen

Lower Yemen

Lower Yemen and Upper Yemen are traditional regions of the north western highland mountains of Yemen. Northern Highlands and Southern Highlands are terms more commonly used presently. The Sumara Mountains just south of the town of Yarim denote the boundaries of the two regions. These two...

, Marib, and Lower Tihamah

Tihamah

Tihamah or Tihama is a narrow coastal region of Arabia on the Red Sea. It is currently divided between Saudi Arabia and Yemen. In a broad sense, Tihamah refers to the entire coastline from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Bab el Mandeb Strait but it more often refers only to its southern half, starting...

. He was forced to acknowledge Saudi control over Asir and was unable to dislodge the British

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

 from the Aden hinterland

Aden Protectorate

The Aden Protectorate was a British protectorate in southern Arabia which evolved in the hinterland of Aden following the acquisition of that port by Britain in 1839 as an anti-piracy station, and it continued until the 1960s. For administrative purposes it was divided into the Western...

 or Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut

Hadhramaut, Hadhramout, Hadramawt or Ḥaḍramūt is the formerly independent Qu'aiti state and sultanate encompassing a historical region of the south Arabian Peninsula along the Gulf of Aden in the Arabian Sea, extending eastwards from Yemen to the borders of the Dhofar region of Oman...

.

In 1990, formation of the Republic of Yemen saw the majority of Greater Yemen ruled as a single polity for the first time in nearly two centuries.