Shibam
Yemen
Shibam's skyline of mudbrick high-rises — some reaching sixteen stories — rising from Yemen's Wadi Hadhramaut has earned this modest walled town the nickname "Manhattan of the Desert." Founded around the 3rd century and once the capital of the Kingdom of Hadhramaut, the city has been continuously inhabited for roughly 1,700 years. Its medieval tower buildings, constructed to defend residents from Bedouin raids, were designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1982, and the site was added to UNESCO's endangered list in 2015.
- Population7,000
- Nearest water from center3.8 km
- Nearest mountain from center1.3 km
- UNESCO within 50 km1