Kamaran

Kamaran, island in the Red Sea off the coast of Yemen, 320 km (200 mi) north of the Straits of Bab el Mandeb. Part of the Republic of Yemen, the flat and featureless island is 23 km (14 mi) long and 10 km (6 mi) wide. Occupied by the Portuguese early in the 16th century, Kamaran was later taken by the Ottoman Empire. British troops occupied the island in 1915 during World War I (1914-1918), and in 1949 it was placed under the administrative direction of the governor of Aden, a city in southern Yemen that was then a British colony.

For many years the island was an important quarantine station for Muslim pilgrims from India and the Netherlands Indies on their way to the Muslim holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia. The quarantine station was closed down in 1952. From 1963 to 1967 a commissioner responsible to the British high commissioner for Aden and the protectorate of South Arabia administered the island, although Kamaran did not form part of either place. In 1967 the island came under the sovereignty of the People's Republic of South Yemen (later named the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen), which united with the Republic of Yemen in 1990.