IOR/L/PS/12/1443-1512

This collection consists of files relating to the administration of the Aden Settlement and Protectorate. The materials were created and accumulated by the India Office Political Department, and primarily consist of correspondence with the Aden Residency staff, the Foreign Office, the Colonial Office, and various departments of the Governments of India and Bombay.

The files primarily cover the following topics:

Administration of the Aden Political Agency, Residency, Chief Commissionership, and Colony; the transfer of administration from the Government of Bombay to the Government of India (1932), and later to the Colonial Office (1937); and the relationship between Aden and India, both pre- and post- Independence.

Treaty relationships with Tribes in the Aden Protectorate, covering: the negotiation of treaties, settlement of inter-tribal disputes, and tribal successions; conduct of air raids by the British; disputes over the boundaries of the Aden Protectorate; the administrative division of the Aden Protectorate into Eastern and Western divisions (1940); and the administration and status of Perim, Kamaran, and Socotra.

Relations with the Imam of Yemen, including details of: treaty and boundary negotiations; military action; Italian activity and influence in Yemen, the Aden Protectorate, and in East Africa; relations with King Ibn Sa'ūd.

The files also contain information on a range of other subjects, including: the economic status of Aden; Arab-Jewish relations in Aden; transport and communications infrastructure; early stage oil exploration; education; the salt industry; the early stages of the Second World War, and its impact on Britain in the region; and Anglo-Arab relations.