Qu'aiti (Arabic: قعيطي), officially the Qu'aiti State in Hadhramaut or the Qu'aiti State of Shihr and Mukalla (Arabic: سلطنة القعيطي في الشحر و المكلا), was a sultanate in the southern Arabian Peninsula, in what is now Yemen. Its capital was Al Mukalla. It encompassed a large portion of the Hadhramaut coast on the Gulf of Aden. The sultanate entered into treaty relations with the British in the late 19th century and became a part of the Aden Protectorate. Qu’aiti declined to join the Federation of South Arabia but remained under British protection as part of the Protectorate of South Arabia. In 1967, the sultanate was abolished and Qu’aiti became part of newly independent South Yemen which united with North Yemen in 1990 to become the Republic of Yemen.