Yemen Arab Republic (YAR), commonly known as North Yemen was a former country of Asia, now the northern part of the Republic of Yemen, in the south-western corner of the Arabian Peninsula. From 1962 to 1990, the country was an Islamic Arab sovereign republic, governed under a provisional constitution published in 1974. The country's capital was Sana'a (Sanaa). On May 22, 1990, under the terms of a constitution drafted in 1981, the Yemen Arab Republic (YAR) and the People's Democratic Republic of Yemen (PDRY) joined to form the Republic of Yemen.