Socotra, an island in the Indian Ocean, 150 miles E. by N. from Cape Guardafui, and 220 from the southern coast of Arabia. Seventy miles long by twenty broad, it has an area of 1380 sq. m. The interior embraces numerous barren plateaus (1500 to 2000 feet), with several well-wooded mountains, rising to 4500 feet; there are fertile valleys between the ranges and belts of rich soil along the coasts. The climate is moist and warm, but healthy. Aloes and dragon's blood are the chief commercial products. The inhabitants, about 10,000 in all, live on dates and the produce of their sheep, goats, and cows. They belong to two distinct types—one with a comparatively light-coloured skin and straight hair, the other darker with curly hair. But all alike speak the same peculiar language, which has certain affinities with the South Arabian dialect of Malira. The people show traces of intermixture with Negro, Arab, and Indian tribes; and in ancient times the inhabitants of Socotra were believed to have been acquainted with Greek civilisation and later to have been Nestorian Christians. From the 16th century at least they owed some sort of allegiance to the sultan of Keshin on the Arabian coast. After being occupied by Britain in 1835-39, the island was taken under British protection in 1876 and formally annexed in 1886. The chief town is Tamarida on the north coast. The Royal Society and the British Association sent out in 1880 a commission of scientific men to investigate the botany and zoology of the island; and a German expedition followed them the year after.
See Yule's Mareo Polo (vol. ii.), Bent in Nineteenth Century (June 1897), and the Royal Scottish Geographical Magazine for December 1898.