Agricultural crops in South Arabia/Yemen in the first millennium ce

At the dawn of the 1st millennium ce Yemen was near the end of a sequence of South Arabian kingdoms which had transformed the landscape with major irrigation and highland terrace agricultural systems. The introduction of Islam in the 7th century facilitated greater access to trade from East Africa and India, given the importance of the southern port of Yemen, although it is not clear which new crops and plants were introduced during the early Islamic era. Knowledge of Yemeni agriculture during this time is found in Arab geographical texts, especially the work of the 10th century Yemeni al-Hamdani. Due to the relative lack of archaeobotanical analysis of Yemen during the 1st millennium ce, it is necessary to use surviving textual sources to reconstruct the known crops cultivated during the last major South Arabian kingdom of Himyar and the early Islamic period in Yemen.

Automated summary

At the dawn of the 1st millennium CE, Yemen experienced a sequence of South Arabian kingdoms that transformed the landscape with irrigation and agricultural systems. The introduction of Islam in the 7th century allowed for increased trade from East Africa and India. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the specific crops and plants introduced during this early Islamic era.