Indigo and Sesame in the Tihama; Magnificent Past, Uncertain Future

Zabid and Jibla, Yemen

“...and then rode to the city of Zabid, a great city in al-Yaman......after San’a, there is no place in al-Yaman that is larger than it nor whose population is wealthier. It lies amid luxuriant gardens with many streams and fruits such as bananas and others......it is a great and populous city and contains groves of palms, orchards and running streams, in fact the pleasantest and most beautiful town in al-Yaman.”

So wrote Ibn Battuta in 1329 arriving from the northern Tihama coast.  I arrived from the southern Tihama coastal backwater port of Mokha, which ironically in the 17th century was the reason for the decline of Zabid. In its turn however Mokha has sunk to an eternally humid, windswept ghost town. (The coffee term ‘mocha’ derives from this improbable place.)