Ibb

Ibb, city, southwestern Yemen, lying in the Yemen Highlands on a spur of the rugged Mount Shamāḥī, at 6,725 feet (2,050 metres) above sea level. The city’s origins, according to Arab myth, date to biblical times. The area became important in the Middle Ages, when the Ṣulayḥid princess Sayyidah Arwā ruled over much of Yemen from her capital at nearby Jiblah (11th century ce). Long an administrative capital, Ibb in the 20th century was the seat of a semiautonomous emirate, abolished by an administrative reform of the monarchy in the 1940s.

Ibb is the centre of a fertile agricultural region. Elevations vary from 4,000 to 6,000 feet (1,200 to 1,800 metres), and most of the cultivated area is terraced. Crops grown on the rich volcanic soil include grains (wheat, barley, and millet), fruits and vegetables, coffee, and khat (Arabic qat, a mild narcotic). Livestock, mainly sheep, are extensively grazed.

The city is one of the most picturesque in Yemen; it is surrounded by a thick wall, inset with tall houses. Among the numerous mosques located in Ibb, the twin-minareted Al-Muẓaffariyyah Mosque is particularly fine. Well-built multistory houses, typical of Yemeni urban architecture, are numerous. An aqueduct from the nearby mountains, supplemented by a small-scale modern distribution system, supplies running water to many of the houses—an unusual feature for the country.

The souk (Arabic sūq, marketplace) in Ibb is the trade centre for the agricultural and pastoral products of the region; the city also has some small handicraft industries. Ibb is an important way station on the north–south highway from the old port of Mocha (al-Mukhā), via Taʿizz and Dhamār, to the national capital of Sanaa. Ibb suffered an earthquake in 1982. Pop. (2001 est.) 140,000; (2004) 212,992.