Arabian Peninsula

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jump to navigationJump to search
"Arabia" and "Arabian" redirect here. For other uses, see Arabia
(disambiguation) and Arabian (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Arabian Plate.
Coordinates:  23°N 46°E

Arabian Peninsula
‫ٱ ْل َج ِزي َرة ٱ ْل َع َربِيَّة‬  (Arabic)
‫ش ْبه ٱ ْل َج ِزي َرة ٱ ْل َع َربِيَّة‬  (Arabic)
ِ

Area 3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 sq mi)

Population 86,221,765

HDI 0.788 (2018)

high

Demonym Arabian

Countries Bahrain[note 1]

Iraq[note 2]

Jordan[note 2]

Kuwait

Oman

Qatar

Saudi Arabia
 United Arab Emirates

Yemen[note 3]

Digital rendering of a satellite view of the Arabian Peninsula

Africa, Arabia, and Eurasia

The Arabian Peninsula[1] (/əˈreɪbiən ... /; Arabic: ‫ير ِة ْال َع َر ِبيَّة‬

َ ‫شِ ْب ُه ْال َج ِز‬, shibhu l-jazīrati l-
ْ
ʿarabiyyah, "Arabian Peninsula" or ‫يرةُ ال َع َرب‬
َ ‫ج ِز‬, jazīratu
َ l-ʿarab, "Island of the Arabs")
[2]
 is a peninsula of Western Asia, situated northeast of Africa on the Arabian Plate. At
3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 sq mi), the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in
the world.[3][4][5][6][7]
Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia,
the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Yemen, as well as the southern portions
of Iraq and Jordan.[8] The Peninsula, plus Bahrain, the Socotra Archipelago, and
other nearby islands form a geopolitical region called Arabia, which is the largest
region in the world without any river.[9]
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 to the northeast, the Levant to the north and the Indian
Ocean to the southeast. The peninsula plays a critical geopolitical role in the Arab
world due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas.
Before the modern era, the region was divided into four distinct regions: the Central
Plateau (Najd or Al-Yamama), the Indian Ocean Coast (South Arabia
or Hadhramaut), the Persian Gulf Coast (Eastern Arabia or Al-Bahrain), and the Red
Sea Coast (Hejaz or Tihamah). Eastern Arabia consists of the entire coastal strip of
the Persian Gulf. Hejaz and Najd make up most of Saudi Arabia. South
Arabia consists of Yemen plus parts of Oman (Dhofar) and Saudi Arabia
('Asir, Jizan, and Najran).