Kabir – Yemeni Zaidi State

In 1775, the Zaidi State in Yemen, centered in the mountainous northern highlands with its capital at Sana'a, operated within a complex and fragmented monetary system. The primary currency in circulation was the silver riyal, heavily influenced by the Maria Theresa thaler (MTT), a large, high-quality silver coin minted in Austria that dominated Red Sea and Arabian Peninsula trade. Locally, the state and various imams also minted their own lower-quality silver and copper coins, such as the abbasi and bogache, but these often suffered from debasement and inconsistent weight, leading to public distrust. The monetary landscape was therefore a dual one: foreign silver coins like the MTT were preferred for large transactions and long-distance trade, while local coinage facilitated smaller, everyday commerce.

This currency situation was a direct reflection of the Zaidi State's political and economic fragility during this period. The state exercised limited control over its coastal regions, where the sharif of Mecca and the rising power of the Wahhabi Emirate of Diriyah contested influence, and where European trade coins flowed more freely. Internally, tribal autonomy and the declining authority of the Imamate meant that monetary policy was inconsistent and enforcement weak. Chronic shortages of specie (coined money) were common, exacerbated by Yemen's relative isolation from major silver flows and the practice of hoarding high-quality foreign coins, which further drained them from the domestic market.

Consequently, the economy of the Zaidi State in 1775 functioned with a constrained and unreliable money supply. The reliance on a foreign coin as the de facto standard of value highlighted the state's integration into regional trade networks but also its vulnerability to external economic forces beyond its control. This monetary instability mirrored the broader political decentralization of the era, hindering centralized taxation and long-term economic planning, and placing a burden on merchants and the populace who had to constantly navigate the fluctuating values between different coins.