Abstract

This study analyses the means through which indigenous stakeholders and British imperialists competed for influence in the shaping of Aden’s built environment, thus complementing a robust body of literature highlighting the importance of the port city within the framework of the world capitalist system. Yet in much of the historiography highlighting the colonial port city as an object of historical analysis, the coast of South Arabia – and the city of Aden in particular – remains overshadowed by the wealthy port cities of the Eastern Mediterranean. Crucially, the imperial politics of demarcation and development found in Aden grounds for experimental placemaking, a process consisting of military and civilian infrastructure projects and the securitisation of territory both within and beyond Aden’s walls. Attempts to territorialise space through the imposition of hard borders and infrastructure exemplify the colonial embrace of geo-spatial abstractions, a process that occurred alongside the consolidation of direct rule within Aden and the concurrent projection of capitalist market forces into the hinterland. British incapacity created room for local agents of change to contest the construction of colonial space; attempts to integrate Aden and neighbouring polities into the imperial orbit entailed negotiation, compromise and occasionally the use of violence.

摘要

本研究分析了土著利益相关者和英帝国主义者在塑造亚丁建筑环境方面争夺影响力的方式，从而补充了大量强调港口城市在世界资本主义体系框架内的重要性的文献。然而，在许多强调殖民港口城市作为历史分析对象的历史编纂中，南阿拉伯的海岸——尤其是亚丁市——仍然被东地中海的富裕港口城市所掩盖。至关重要的是，在亚丁发现的分界和发展的帝国政治是实验性场所营造的基础，这一过程包括军事和民用基础设施项目以及亚丁城墙内外的领土安全化。通过强加硬边界和基础设施来对空间进行领土化的尝试体现了地理空间抽象的殖民拥抱，这一过程与亚丁内部直接统治的巩固以及资本主义市场力量同时投射到腹地同时发生。英国的无能为当地的变革推动者创造了竞争殖民空间建设的空间；将亚丁和邻近政体纳入帝国轨道的尝试需要谈判、妥协，有时还需要使用暴力。英国的无能为当地的变革推动者创造了竞争殖民空间建设的空间；将亚丁和邻近政体纳入帝国轨道的尝试需要谈判、妥协，有时还需要使用暴力。英国的无能为当地的变革推动者创造了竞争殖民空间建设的空间；将亚丁和邻近政体纳入帝国轨道的尝试需要谈判、妥协，有时还需要使用暴力。