Shibam

This article is about the walled city in Hadhramaut. For the double town in the central Yemeni highlands, see Shibam Kawkaban.

Shibam شِبَام (Arabic)
Town
Old Walled City of Shibam
Aerial view of Shibam Roofs of the towers View of the city and its walls City gate Great Mosque of Shibam
Nicknames:  Manhattan of the Desert (مَانْهَاتَن ٱلصَّحْرَاء) Chicago of the Desert (شِيْكَاغو ٱلصَّحْرَاء)
Map of the city
Shibam Location in Yemen Shibam Shibam (Middle East)
Coordinates: 15°55′37″N 48°37′36″E
Country	Yemen
Governorate	Hadhramaut
District	Shibam
Population
• Total	7,000
Time zone	GMT+3
UNESCO World Heritage Site
Official name	Old Walled City of Shibam
Type	Cultural
Criteria	iii, iv, vi
Designated	1982; endangered as of 2015
Reference no.	192
Region	Arab States

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Shibam (Arabic: شِبَام, romanized: Shibām), officially the Old Walled City of Shibam (Arabic: مدينة شبام القديمة وسورها), is a town in Wadi Hadhramaut in eastern Yemen with about 7,000 inhabitants. It is the seat of the Shibam District in the Hadhramaut Governorate. It is known for its mudbrick-made high-rise buildings, with some of the buildings reaching as high as eleven stories. The design centred around protecting the residents of the city from Bedouin attacks.

The city was founded around the 3rd century and became the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut in 300 AD. Its strategic location along ancient trade routes contributed to its prosperity. Shibam has been continuously inhabited for an estimated 1,700 years. In 1982, Shibam was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its unique architecture and cultural significance. It is sometimes informally referred to as the "Manhattan of the Desert" (مَانْهَاتَن ٱلصَّحْرَاء) or "Chicago of the Desert" (شِيْكَاغو ٱلصَّحْرَاء).