Arabian Peninsula

Coordinates: 23°N 46°E﻿ / ﻿23°N 46°E﻿ / 23; 46

Arabian Peninsula
ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة  (Arabic)
شِبْه ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة  (Arabic)
Arabian Peninsula (orthographic projection).png
Area3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 sq mi)
HDI0.788 (2018)
Digital rendering of a satellite view of the Arabian Peninsula
Africa and Eurasia

The Arabian Peninsula[1] (/əˈrbiən .../; Arabic: شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَةِ الْعَرَبِيَّة‎, shibhu l-jazīrati l-ʿarabiyyah, "Arabian Peninsula" or جَزِيرَةُ الْعَرَب, 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 biggest of these is Saudi Arabia.[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 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 or Al-Yamama), South Arabia, Al-Bahrain (Eastern Arabia or Al-Hassa), and the Hejaz (Tihamah for the western coast), as described by Ibn al-Faqih.[10]


The geographical and political boundaries of the Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula is located in the continent of Asia and is bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the northeast, the Strait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the southeast, the Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel and Somali Sea on the south, the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait on the southwest and the Red Sea, which is located on the southwest and west.[11] The northern portion of the peninsula merges with the Syrian Desert with no clear borderline, although the northern boundary of the peninsula is generally considered to be the northern borders of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.[11]

The most prominent feature of the peninsula is desert, but in the southwest, there are mountain ranges, which receive greater rainfall than the rest of the peninsula. Harrat ash Shaam is a large volcanic field that extends from northwestern Arabia into Jordan and southern Syria.[12]

Political boundaries[edit]

The constituent countries of Arabia

The Peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise from north to south) Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east, Oman on the southeast, Yemen on the south, and Saudi Arabia at the center. The island country of Bahrain lies just off the east coast of the Peninsula.[11] Due to Yemen's jurisdiction over the Socotra Archipelago, the Peninsula's geopolitical outline faces the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea to the south.[13]

The six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).[14]

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the Peninsula. The majority of the population of the Peninsula lives in Saudi Arabia and Yemen.[15] The Peninsula contains the world's largest reserves of oil. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are economically the wealthiest in the region. Qatar, the only peninsular country in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home to the Arabic-language television station Al Jazeera and its English-language subsidiary Al Jazeera English. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting the United States-led 2003 invasion of Iraq.


Historical population
1950 9,481,713—    
1960 11,788,232+24.3%
1970 15,319,678+30.0%
1980 23,286,256+52.0%
1990 35,167,708+51.0%
2000 47,466,523+35.0%
2010 63,364,000+33.5%
2014 77,584,000+22.4%
2018 86,221,765+11.1%
Political Definition: Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen
Sources:1950–2000[16] 2000–2014[17]
Historical population (Gulf 4)
1950 356,235—    
1970 1,329,168+273.1%
1990 4,896,491+268.4%
2010 11,457,000+134.0%
2014 17,086,000+49.1%
2018 18,675,440+9.3%
Population of 4 smallest (in area) GCC states with entire coastline in Persian Gulf: UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait
Sources:1950–2000[18] 2000–2014[17]



The ten most populous cities on the Arabian Peninsula are:

Rank City Population
1 Saudi Arabia Riyadh 7,231,447
2 Saudi Arabia Jeddah 4,610,176
3 United Arab Emirates Dubai 3,331,420
4 Kuwait Kuwait City 3,114,553
5 Yemen Sanaa 2,972,988
6 Saudi Arabia Mecca 2,042,106
7 United Arab Emirates Sharjah 1,684,649
8 Oman Muscat 1,549,729
9 Saudi Arabia Medina 1,488,782
10 United Arab Emirates Abu Dhabi 1,482,816
Source: 2020[21]


A caravan crossing Ad-Dahna Desert in central Saudi Arabia


The peninsula consists of:

  2. A range of deserts: the Nefud in the north,[22] which is stony; the Rub' al Khali or Great Arabian Desert in the south, with sand estimated to extend 600 ft (180 m) below the surface; between them, the Dahna
  3. Mountains[23][24][25]
  5. Oases and marshy coast-land in Eastern Arabia, the most important of which are those of Al Ain (Tawam in the United Arab Emirates and Oman) and Al-Hasa (in Saudi Arabia), according to one author[25]
  6. Tropical monsoon coastline in Dhofar and Al-Mahra (known as Khareef in the Arabian Peninsula).





The Haraz Mountains in western Yemen include Arabia's highest mountain, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb or Jabal Hadhur[27][28][29] near Sanaa[23][24]

There are mountains at the eastern, southern and northwestern borders of the peninsula. Broadly, the ranges can be grouped as follows:

From the Hejaz southwards, the mountains show a steady increase in altitude westward as they get nearer to Yemen, and the highest peaks and ranges are all located in Yemen. The highest, Jabal An-Nabi Shu'ayb or Jabal Hadhur[27][28][29] of the Haraz subrange of the Sarawat range, is 3,666 metres (12,028 ft) high.[23][24] By comparison, the Tuwayr, Shammar and Dhofar generally do not exceed 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in height.[25]

Not all mountains in the peninsula are visibly within ranges. Jebel Hafeet in particular, on the border of the UAE and Oman, measuring between 1,100 and 1,300 m (3,600 and 4,300 ft),[35][36] is not within the Hajar range, but may be considered an outlier of that range.

Land and sea[edit]

Coconut palms line corniches of Al-Hafa, Oman
Red Sea coral reefs


The fertile soils of Yemen have encouraged settlement of almost all of the land from sea level up to the mountains at 10,000 feet (3,000 m). In the higher elevations, elaborate terraces have been constructed to facilitate grain, fruit, coffee, ginger and khat cultivation. The Arabian peninsula is known for its rich oil, i.e. petroleum production due to its geographical location.[37]



  • Arabia Petraea ("Stony Arabia"[38]): for the area that is today southern modern Syria, Jordan, the Sinai Peninsula and northwestern Saudi Arabia. It was the only one that became a province, with Petra as its capital.
  • Arabia Deserta ("Desert Arabia"): signified the desert interior of the Arabian peninsula. As a name for the region, it remained popular into the 19th and 20th centuries, and was used in Charles M. Doughty's Travels in Arabia Deserta (1888).
  • Arabia Felix ("Fortunate Arabia"): was used by geographers to describe what is now Yemen, which enjoys more rainfall, is much greener than the rest of the peninsula and has long enjoyed much more productive fields.


The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – Bilad al-'Arab (Arabia), and its major divisions were the bilad al-Sham (Levant), bilad al-Yaman (Yemen), and Bilad al-'Iraq (Iraq).[40] The Ottomans used the term Arabistan in a broad sense for the region starting from Cilicia, where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through Palestine, and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas.[41]



Ancient coins from Failaka Island, Kuwait

The history of the Arabian Peninsula goes back to the beginnings of human habitation in Arabia up to 130,000 years ago.[44] However, a fossilized Homo sapiens finger bone was found at Al Wusta in the Nefud Desert, which indicates that the first human migration out of Africa to Arabia might date back to approximately 90,000 years ago.[45] Nevertheless, the stone tools from the Middle Paleolithic age along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that hominids migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.[46] Acheulean tools found in Saffaqah, Riyadh Region reveal that hominins lived in the Arabian Peninsula as recently as 188,000 years ago.[47] However, 200,000-year-old stone tools were discovered at Shuaib Al-Adgham in the eastern Al-Qassim Province, which would indicate that many prehistoric sites, located along a network of rivers, had once existed in the area.[48]

Pre-Islamic Arabia[edit]


There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago.[49] The harsh climate historically[when?] prevented much settlement in the pre-Islamic Arabian peninsula, apart from a small number of urban trading settlements, such as Mecca and Medina, located in the Hejaz in the west of the peninsula.[50]

Archaeology has revealed the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as the Thamud), especially in South Arabia.[51][52] South Arabian civilizations include the Sheba, the Himyarite Kingdom, the Kingdom of Awsan, the Kingdom of Ma'īn and the Sabaean Kingdom. From 106 CE to 630 CE northwestern Arabia was under the control of the Roman Empire, which renamed it Arabia Petraea.[53] Central Arabia was the location of the Kingdom of Kindah in the 4th, 5th and early 6th centuries AD. Eastern Arabia was home to the Dilmun civilization. The earliest known events in Arabian history are migrations from the peninsula into neighbouring areas.[54]

The Arabian peninsula has long been accepted as the original Urheimat of the Semitic languages by a majority of scholars.[55][56][57][58]

Rise of Islam[edit]

Age of the Caliphs
Arab tribes before the spread of Islam





Nevertheless, Mecca and Medina remained the spiritually most important places in the Muslim world. The Qur'an requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the five pillars of Islam, to make a pilgrimage, or Hajj, to Mecca during the Islamic month of Dhu al-Hijjah at least once in his or her lifetime.[62] The Masjid al-Haram (the Grand Mosque) in Mecca is the location of the Kaaba, Islam's holiest site, and the Masjid al-Nabawi (the Prophet's Mosque) in Medina is the location of Muhammad’s tomb; as a result, from the 7th century, Mecca and Medina became the pilgrimage destinations for large numbers of Muslims from across the Islamic world.[63]

Middle Ages[edit]


Portuguese colonies in Arabia.



Modern history[edit]

The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered in Syria, which included Palestine, the Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon (Mount Lebanon was, however, a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate). It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula.[65][66] The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as the Najd region.



Late Ottoman rule and the Hejaz Railway[edit]

Arabian peninsula during 1900s.


The Arab Revolt and the foundation of Saudi Arabia[edit]

The peninsula in right before World War I.



Oil reserves[edit]


North Yemen Civil War[edit]




Gulf War[edit]


2014 Yemen civil war[edit]

The Arab Spring reached Yemen in January 2011.[73] People of Yemen took to the street demonstrating against three decades of rule by President Ali Abdullah Saleh.[74] The demonstration led to cracks in the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and Saleh's Sanhani clan.[75] Saleh used tactic of concession and violence to save his presidency.[76] After numerous attempt Saleh accepted the Gulf Cooperation Council mediation. He eventually handed power to Vice President Hadi, who was sworn in as President of Yemen on 25 February 2012. Hadi launched a national dialogue to address new constitution, political and social issues. The Houthi movement, dissatisfied with the outcomes of the national dialogue, launched an offensive and stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014.[77] In response, Saudi Arabia launched a military intervention in Yemen in March 2015.[78] The civil war and subsequent military intervention and blockade caused a famine in Yemen.[79]

Transport and industry[edit]



See also[edit]

Explanatory notes[edit]

  1. ^ As an island country, Bahrain is technically not a part of the Arabian Peninsula, but a part of the slightly larger geopolitical region called Arabia.
  2. ^ a b Southern portion only.
  3. ^ Excluding the Socotra Archipelago.


  3. ^ Niz, Ellen Sturm (2006-04-10). Peninsulas. Capstone. p. 19. ISBN 9780736861427.
  7. ^ "15 Largest Peninsulas in the World". WorldAtlas. Retrieved 2017-10-21.
  8. ^ Geopolitics of the World System – Page 337, Saul Bernard Cohen – 2003
  9. ^ Zaken, Ministerie van Buitenlandse (2017-05-14). "Kingdom of Saudi Arabia - Doing business in the Gulf region -". Retrieved 2021-02-19.
  10. ^ Ibn al-Faqih (c. 903). Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan (in Arabic). Retrieved 20 April 2021.
  12. ^ Weinstein, Y. (1 January 2007). "A transition from strombolian to phreatomagmatic activity induced by a lava flow damming water in a valley". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research. 159 (1–3): 267–284. Bibcode:2007JVGR..159..267W. doi:10.1016/j.jvolgeores.2006.06.015.
  13. ^ McLaughlin, Rob. "The Continuing Conundrum of the Somali Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone." The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 30.2 (2015): 305-334.
  15. ^ "Arabian Peninsula Countries 2021". Retrieved 2021-07-08.
  16. ^ "International Programs". Archived from the original on 2015-09-24. Retrieved 2017-12-14.
  21. ^ World City Populations 2020
  23. ^ a b c d Robert D. Burrowes (2010). Historical Dictionary of Yemen. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 5–340. ISBN 978-0-8108-5528-1.
  24. ^ a b c d e McLaughlin, Daniel (2008). "1: Background". Yemen. Bradt Travel Guides. p. 3. ISBN 978-1-8416-2212-5.
  27. ^ a b زبارة, محمد بن محمد بن يحيى اليمني/الصنعاني (1998-01-01). نيل الوطر من تراجم رجال اليمن في القرن الثالث عشر 1-2 ج1 (in Arabic). Dar Al Kotob Al Ilmiyah (دار الكتب العلمية). ISBN 978-2-7451-2623-8.
  28. ^ a b Gazetteer of Arabia. II [1044] (81/688). Qatar Digital Library. 1917. Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  29. ^ a b "Jabal an-Nabī Shu'ayb, Bani Matar, Sanaa, Yemen". Retrieved 2020-04-17.
  35. ^ a b Gardner, Andrew Somerville (January 2004). "The reptiles of Jebel Hafeet". ADCO and Emirates Natural History Group: 149–168. Retrieved 2019-01-14. Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  37. ^ Sorkhabi, Rasoul (June 2008). "The Emergence of the Arabian Oil Industry". Geoexpro. Retrieved 16 April 2021.
  38. ^ "Arabia Petraea". Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Retrieved 18 February 2021.
  44. ^ Uerpmann, Hans-Peter; Usik, Vitaly I.; Parker, Adrian G.; Marks, Anthony E.; Jasim, Sabah A.; Armitage, Simon J. (2011-01-28). "The Southern Route "Out of Africa": Evidence for an Early Expansion of Modern Humans into Arabia". Science. 331 (6016): 453–456. Bibcode:2011Sci...331..453A. doi:10.1126/science.1199113. ISSN 0036-8075. PMID 21273486. S2CID 20296624.
  48. ^ "Saudi Arabia's Qassim stone axe find points to prehistoric 'crossroads'". Arab News. 2 January 2021.
  53. ^ Taylor, Jane (2005). Petra. London: Aurum Press Ltd. pp. 25–31. ISBN 9957-451-04-9.
  55. ^ Gray, Louis Herbert (2006) Introduction to Semitic Comparative Linguistics
  56. ^ Courtenay, James John (2009) The Language of Palestine and Adjacent Regions
  57. ^ Kienast, Burkhart. (2001). Historische semitische Sprachwissenschaft.
  58. ^ Bromiley, Geoffrey W. (1995) The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
  59. ^ See:
    • Holt (1977a), p.57
    • Hourani (2003), p.22
    • Lapidus (2002), p.32
    • Madelung (1996), p.43
    • Tabatabaei (1979), p.30–50
  64. ^ Encyclopædia Britannica Online: History of Arabia retrieved 18 January 2011
  69. ^ King Hussein and the Kingdom of Hejaz, Randall Baker, Oleander Press 1979, ISBN 0-900891-48-3, page 18
  73. ^ BBC World News, Arab Uprising:Country by Country -Yemen
  74. ^ Cornell University Library. Arab Spring:A Research & Study Guide:Yemen guides. Last Updated: May 9, 2019
  75. ^ "Yemen Uprising of 2011-12". Written By:The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.
  76. ^ University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign. Arab Spring Workshop:Yemen
  77. ^ Kasinof, Laura (2015). "How the Houthis Did It". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  78. ^ Wintour, Patrick (3 September 2019). "UK, US and France may be complicit in Yemen war crimes – UN report". The Guardian.
  79. ^ Kristof, Nicholas (31 August 2017). "The Photos the U.S. and Saudi Arabia Don't Want You to See". The New York Times.

External links[edit]