IOR/L/PS/12/1488

The file contains Political Intelligence Summaries compiled by the Aden Political Secretary and sent to the Secretary of State for the Colonies. It contains the Summaries for the year 1938, numbers 1-38. In addition to the Western Aden Protectorate, the reports periodically contain sections reporting on the Eastern Aden Protectorate, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and Italian East Africa.

The summaries contain information on:

• the relations between the British and the Aden Protectorate chiefs, the Imam of Yemen, and Ibn Sa'ūd;
• inter-tribal disputes, negotiation of truces, territorial disputes, and tribal successions;
• the movement and activities of foreign nationals and companies within the Aden Protectorate and Yemen, and the arrival of foreign vessels and goods (Italian, Swiss, German, French, Japanese, Belgian, Danish, and Russian);
• the British bombing of villages in the Aden Protectorate;
• Italian and German troop and arms movements in East Africa;
• Saudi-Yemeni, Yemeni-Turkish, and Italo-Yemeni relations;
• currency [specie] trade and smuggling, and the minting of Maria Theresa dollars;
• public opinion towards the British, with particular reference to the treatment of Muslims in Palestine;
• oil exploration.

The summaries also provide information on particular events, including: a malaria outbreak in Dirjaj [Ad Dirjāj]; a report on Freya Stark's travels across the Hadramawt; the threat of famine in the Aden Protectorate and Yemen; and BBC broadcasts at Kamaran and Lahej [Lahij].

The file includes a divider which gives a list of correspondence references contained in the file by year. This is placed at the end of the correspondence (folio 1).