Arabian Peninsula

Not to be confused with Arabian Plate.
"Arabia" and "Arabian" redirect here. For other uses, see Arabia (disambiguation) and Arabian (disambiguation).

Arabian Peninsula
ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة (Arabic)
شِبْه ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة (Arabic)
Area3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 sq mi)
Population95,000,000 (2023 estimate )
Population density29.0/km2
HDI0.819 (2022)
Very High
DemonymArab, Arabian
Countries
Largest cities
Satellite view of the Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula[1] (/əˈreɪbiən pənɪnsjulə/; Arabic: شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَة الْعَرَبِيَّة, shibhu l-jazīra l-ʿarabiyya, "Arabian Peninsula" or جَزِيرَةُ الْعَرَب, jazīratu l-ʿarab, lit. 'Island of the Arabs'),[2] or Arabia, is a peninsula in West Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. At 3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 sq mi), comparable in size to India, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.[3][4][5][6][7]

Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes Bahrain,[a] Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Yemen, as well as southern Iraq and Jordan.[8] The largest of these is Saudi Arabia.[9] In the classical era, the Sinai Peninsula was also considered a part of Arabia.

The Arabian Peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of the Red Sea between 56 and 23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west and southwest, the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the northeast, the Levant and Mesopotamia to the north and the Arabian Sea and the Indian Ocean to the southeast. The peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Arab world and globally due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas.

Before the modern era, the region was divided into primarily four distinct regions: the Central Plateau (Najd and Al-Yamama), South Arabia (Yemen, Hadhramaut and Oman), Al-Bahrain (Eastern Arabia or Al-Hassa), and the Hejaz (Tihamah for the western coast), as described by Ibn al-Faqih.[10]


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  1. ^ Hopkins, Daniel J.; 편집부 (2001). Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary (Third ed.). Merriam-Webster. p. 61. ISBN 978-0877795469. Archived from the original on 6 February 2016. Retrieved 19 October 2015.
  2. ^ Nijim, Basheer K. "Arabia | peninsula, Asia". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 22 May 2019. Retrieved 7 June 2018.
  3. ^ Niz, Ellen Sturm (10 April 2006). Peninsulas. Capstone. p. 19. ISBN 9780736861427.
  4. ^ McColl, R. W. (14 May 2014). Encyclopedia of World Geography. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9780816072293. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  5. ^ Condra, Jill (9 April 2013). Encyclopedia of National Dress: Traditional Clothing Around the World [2 Volumes]. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 9780313376375. Archived from the original on 19 May 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  6. ^ Dodge, Christine Huda (1 April 2003). The Everything Understanding Islam Book: A Complete and Easy to Read Guide to Muslim Beliefs, Practices, Traditions, and Culture. Simon and Schuster. ISBN 9781605505459. Archived from the original on 31 October 2021. Retrieved 19 May 2020.
  7. ^ "15 Largest Peninsulas in the World". WorldAtlas. Archived from the original on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2017.
  8. ^ Cohen, Saul Bernard (2003). Geopolitics of the World System. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 337. ISBN 9780847699070. Archived from the original on 1 October 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2022.
  9. ^ Zaken, Ministerie van Buitenlandse (14 May 2017). "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Doing business in the Gulf region – netherlandsworldwide.nl". netherlandsworldwide.nl. Archived from the original on 11 May 2021. Retrieved 19 February 2021.
  10. ^ Ibn al-Faqih (c. 903). Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 20 April 2021. Retrieved 20 April 2021.