 The colony, known as the Aden Settlement, gained much political and strategic importance after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.Aden was ruled as part of British India until 1937, when the city of Aden became the Colony of Aden, a crown colony in its own right.The Aden hinterland and Hadhramaut to the east formed the remainder of what would become South Yemen and was not administered directly by Aden but were tied to Britain by treaties of protection.