The Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية) is the largest peninsula in the world, spanning 3,237,500 km² (1.25 million sq mi) in West Asia, situated northeast of Africa. It includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Yemen, along with parts of southern Iraq and Jordan, with Saudi Arabia being the largest country in the region.
The peninsula formed between 56 and 23 million years ago due to the rifting of the Red Sea and is bordered by the Red Sea, Persian Gulf, Gulf of Oman, Levant, Mesopotamia, Arabian Sea, and Indian Ocean. The region holds significant geopolitical importance due to its vast oil and natural gas reserves.
Human settlement in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to prehistoric times, with systematic records emerging during Pre-Islamic Arabia. During the medieval Islamic period, the peninsula was divided into four main regions: Central Plateau, South Arabia, Al-Bahrain, and Hejaz.
Image Credit | By M.Bitton – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0. [Accessed 06/09/2025]
