Mahra Sultanate

Mahra Sultanate, former semi-independent state in the southern Arabian Peninsula, including the island of Socotra in the Indian Ocean, in what is now eastern Yemen. The mainland portion of the sultanate, on the Arabian Sea coast, had its capital in Qishn, although recent sultans preferred to reside at Tamrida (now Hadīboh) on Socotra. The sultan signed treaties in 1886 and 1888 accepting British protection for his lands; the last sultan was deposed in 1967, when the British vacated the region. The area’s products include fish and frankincense.