TheArabian Peninsula (Arabic:شبه الجزيرة العربية,Shibhu al-jazīra al-ʿarabiyya, orجزيرة العرب,Jazīrat al-ʿarab,lit.'Island of theArabs')[1] orArabia, is apeninsula inWest Asia, situated north-east ofAfrica on theArabian plate. At 3,237,500 km2 (1.25 million sq mi), comparable in size toIndia, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world.[2][3][4][5][6]
The Arabian Peninsula formed as a result of the rifting of theRed Sea between 56 and 23 million years ago, and is bordered by the Red Sea to the west and south-west, thePersian Gulf and theGulf of Oman to the north-east, theLevant andMesopotamia to the north and theArabian Sea and theIndian Ocean to the south-east. The peninsula plays a criticalgeopolitical role in theArab world and globally due to its vast reserves ofoil andnatural gas.
In antiquity, the term "Arabia" encompassed a larger area than the current term "Arabian Peninsula" and included theArabian Desert and large parts of theSyrian–Arabian desert. During theHellenistic period, the area was known asArabia (Ancient Greek:Ἀραβία). TheRomans named three regions "Arabia":
Arabia Petraea ('Stony Arabia'[9]): it consisted of the formerNabataean Kingdom in the southern Levant, the Sinai Peninsula and north-western Arabian Peninsula. It was the only one that became aprovince, withPetra (inJordan) as its capital.
Arabia Felix ('Fortunate Arabia'): was used by geographers to describe the southern part of the Arabian peninsula, mostly what is nowYemen, which enjoys more rainfall, is much greener than the rest of the peninsula and has long enjoyed much more productive fields.
One of thenomes of Ptolemaic Egypt was namedArabia.[10]
Arabians used a north–south division of Arabia:ash-Sham vs.al-Yaman, orArabia Deserta vs.Arabia Felix. Arabia Felix had originally been used for the whole peninsula, and at other times only for the southern region. Because its use became limited to the south, the whole peninsula was simply called Arabia. Arabia Deserta was the entire desert region extending north from Arabia Felix to Palmyra and the Euphrates, including all the area between Pelusium on the Nile and Babylon. This area was also called Arabia and not sharply distinguished from the peninsula.[11]
The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs'—billadal-'Arab (Arabia), and its major divisions were the biladal-Sham (Levant), biladal-Yaman (Yemen), and biladal-'Iraq (Iraq).[12] The Ottomans used the term Arabistan in a broad sense for the region starting fromCilicia, where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, throughPalestine, and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas.[13]
The provinces of Arabia were: al-Tih, the Sinai peninsula, Hejaz, Asir, Yemen, Hadramaut, Mahra and Shilu, Oman, Hasa, Bahrain, Dahna, Nufud, the Hammad, which included the deserts of Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylonia.[14][15]
Map of the geographic regions of the Arabian Peninsula
The Arabian Peninsula is located in the continent of Asia and is bounded by (clockwise) the Persian Gulf on the north-east, theStrait of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman on the east, the Arabian Sea on the south-east, theGulf of Aden, and theGuardafui Channel on the south, and theBab-el-Mandeb strait on the south-west and the Red Sea, which is located on the south-west and west.[1] The northern portion of the peninsula merges with theSyrian 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, also southern regions of Iraq and Jordan.[1]
The most prominent feature of the peninsula isdesert, but in the south-west, 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 north-western Arabia into Jordan and southernSyria.[16]
The Peninsula's constituent countries are (clockwise from north to south)Kuwait,Qatar, and theUnited Arab Emirates (UAE) on the east,Oman on the south-east,Yemen on the south, and Saudi Arabia at the center. The island country ofBahrain lies just off the east coast of the Peninsula.[1] Due to Yemen's jurisdiction over theSocotra Archipelago, the Peninsula's geopolitical outline faces theGuardafui Channel and the Somali Sea to the south.[17]
The six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE form theGulf Cooperation Council (GCC).[18]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia covers the greater part of the Peninsula. 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 theArabic television stationAl Jazeera and its English-language subsidiaryAl Jazeera English. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is an important country strategically, forming one of the main staging grounds for coalition forces mounting theUnited States–led2003 invasion of Iraq.
Population of 4 smallest (in area)GCC states with their coastline in the Persian Gulf: UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait Sources:1950–2000[21] 2000–2014[20]
Despite its historically sparse population, political Arabia stands out for its rapid population growth, driven by both significant inflows of migrant labor and persistently high birth rates. The population is characterized by its relative youth and a heavily skewed gender ratio favoring males. In several states, the number of South Asians surpasses that of the native population. The four smallest states (by area), with coastlines entirely bordering the Persian Gulf, showcase the world's most extreme population growth, nearly tripling every two decades. In 2014, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936 (including expatriates).[22] The Arabian Peninsula is known for having one of the most uneven adult sex ratios in the world, with females in some regions (especially the east) constituting only a quarter of people aged between 20 and 40.[23]
Ras al-Jinz in southeastern Arabia (Oman), also known as the 'Turtle Beach'
AR-Arabian Plate, velocities with respect to Africa in millimeters per year
The rocks exposed vary systematically across Arabia, with the oldest rocks exposed in theArabian-Nubian Shield near the Red Sea, overlain by earlier sediments that become younger towards the Persian Gulf. Perhaps the best-preservedophiolite on Earth, theSemail Ophiolite, lies exposed in the mountains of the UAE and northern Oman.
The peninsula consists of:
A central plateau, theNajd, with fertile valleys and pastures used for the grazing ofsheep and other livestock
Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most areas are drained by ephemeral watercourses calledwadis, which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancientaquifers exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces,oases form (e.g. Al-Hasa andQatif, two of the world's largestoases) and permit agriculture, especiallypalm trees, which allowed the peninsula to produce moredates than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot andarid, although there are exceptions. Higher elevations are made temperate by their altitude, and the Arabian Sea coastline can receive cool, humid breezes in summer due to cold upwelling offshore. The peninsula has no thick forests. Desert-adapted wildlife is present throughout the region.
A plateau more than 2,500 feet (760 m) high extends across much of the Arabian Peninsula. The plateau slopes eastwards from the massive, rifted escarpment along the coast of the Red Sea, to the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf. The interior is characterized bycuestas and valleys, drained by a system ofwadis. A crescent of sand andgravel deserts lies to the east.
North-west: Aside from the Sarawat, the northern portion of Saudi Arabia hosts theJabal Shamar Mountains, which include the Aja andSalma subranges[36]
Central: The Najd hosts theTuwaiq Escarpment[40] or Tuwair range[36]
From theHejaz 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[37][38][39] of the Haraz subrange of the Sarawat range, is 3,666 metres (12,028 ft) high.[34][35] By comparison, theTuwayr, Shammar and Dhofar generally do not exceed 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in height.[36]
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),[45][46] is not within the Hajar range, but may be considered anoutlier of that range.
Most of the Arabian Peninsula is unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation and land reclamation projects essential. The narrow coastal plain and isolated oases, amounting to less than 1% of the land area, are used to cultivate grains,coffee andtropical fruits. Goat, sheep, andcamel husbandry is widespread elsewhere throughout the rest of the Peninsula. Some areas have a summer humidtropical monsoon climate, in particular theDhofar andAl Mahrah areas of Oman and Yemen. These areas allow for large scale coconut plantations. Much of Yemen has a tropicalmonsoon rain influenced mountain climate. The plains usually have either a tropical or subtropical ariddesert climate or aridsteppe climate. The sea surrounding the Arabian Peninsula is generally tropical with a very rich sea life and some of the world's largest and most pristine coral reefs. In addition, theprotozoa andzooxanthellae living insymbiosis with Red Sea corals have a unique hot weather adaptation to sudden rise (and fall) in sea water temperature. Hence, these coral reefs are not affected by coral bleaching caused by rise in temperatures, asIndo-Pacific coral reefs are. The reefs are also unaffected by mass tourism and diving or other large scale human interference. The Persian gulf has suffered significant loss and degradation of coral reefs with the biggest ongoing threat believed to be coastal construction activity altering the marine environment.[47]
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 andkhat cultivation. The Arabian peninsula is known for its rich oil, i.e. petroleum production due to its geographical location.[48]
According to NASA'sGravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) satellite data (2003–2013) analysed in aUniversity of California, Irvine (UCI)-led study published inWater Resources Research on 16 June 2015, the most over-stressed aquifer system in the world is theArabian Aquifer System, upon which more than 60 million people depend for water.[49] Twenty-one of the 37 largest aquifers "have exceeded sustainability tipping points and are being depleted" and thirteen of them are "considered significantly distressed".[49]
Stone tools from theMiddle Paleolithic age along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in north-western Saudi Arabia, might imply thathominins migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.[50] Two-hundred-thousand-year-old stone tools were discovered at Shuaib Al-Adgham in the easternAl-Qassim Province, which would indicate that many prehistoric sites, located along a network of rivers, had once existed in the area.[51]Acheulean tools found in Sadaqah,Riyadh Region reveal that hominids lived in the Arabian Peninsula around 188,000 years ago.[52] Human habitation in Arabia may have occurred as early as 130,000 years ago.[53] A fossilizedHomo sapiens finger bone found at Al Wusta in theNefud Desert dates to approximately 90,000 years ago and is the oldest human fossil discovered outside of Africa and the Levant. This indicates human migrations from Africa to Arabia occurred around this time.[54] The Arabian Peninsula may have been the homeland of a 'Basal Eurasian' population, which diverged from other Eurasians soon after the Out-of-Africa migration, and subsequently became isolated, until it started to mix with other populations in the Middle East around 25,000 years ago. These different Middle Eastern populations would later spread Basal Eurasian ancestry via theNeolithic Revolution to all of Western Eurasia.[55]
A map published by the British academic Harold Dixon duringWorld War I, showing the locations of Arab tribes inWest Asia, 1914
There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago.[56] The harsh climate historically[when?] prevented much settlement in the pre-Islamic Arabian Peninsula, apart from a small number of urban trading settlements, such asMecca andMedina, located in theHejaz in the west of the peninsula.[57]
The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. TheIslamic prophetMuhammad was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, butmigrated toMedina in 622. From there he and his companions united thetribes of Arabia under the banner ofIslam and created thefirst Islamic state—a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian Peninsula.
With Muhammad's death in 632, disagreement broke out over who would succeed him as leader of the Muslim community.Umar ibn al-Khattab, a prominentcompanion of Muhammad, nominatedAbu Bakr, who was Muhammad's intimate friend and collaborator. Others added their support and Abu Bakr was made the firstcaliph. This choice was disputed by some of Muhammad's companions, who held thatAli ibn Abi Talib, his cousin and son-in-law, had been designated his successor. Abu Bakr's immediate task was to avenge a recent defeat byByzantine (orEastern Roman Empire) forces, although he first had to put down a rebellion by Arab tribes in an episode known as theRidda wars, or "Wars of Apostasy".[66]
The Middle East, c. 1190.Saladin's empire and its vassals shown in red
Despite its spiritual importance, in political terms Arabia soon became a peripheral region of theIslamic world, in which the most importantmedieval Islamic states were based at various times in such far away cities asDamascus,Baghdad, andCairo.However, from the 10th century (and, in fact, until the 20th century) theHashemiteSharifs of Mecca maintained a state in the most developed part of the region, theHejaz. Their domain originally comprised only the holy cities ofMecca andMedina but in the 13th century it was extended to include the rest of theHejaz. Although, the Sharifs exercised at most times independent authority in theHejaz, they were usually subject to thesuzerainty of one of the major Islamic empires of the time. In the Middle Ages, these included theAbbasids ofBaghdad, and theFatimids,Ayyubids, andMamluks ofEgypt.[71]
Expansion of thefirst Saudi State from 1744 to 1814The Arabian Peninsula in 1914Territorial evolution of theThird Saudi State (1902–1934)
The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered inSyria, 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.[72][73] The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as theNajd region.
The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as theAl Saud, began inNajd in central Arabia in 1744, whenMuhammad bin Saud, founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leaderMuhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab, founder of theWahhabi movement, a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam.[74] TheEmirate of Diriyah established in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia,sacking Karbala in 1802, andcapturing Mecca in 1803.[75]
TheDamascus Protocol of 1914 provides an illustration of the regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate ofHejaz, asked for a British guarantee of independence. Their proposal included all Arab lands south of a line roughly corresponding to the northern frontiers of present-day Syria and Iraq. They envisioned a new Arab state, or confederation of states, adjoining the southern Arabian Peninsula. It would have comprisedCilicia—İskenderun andMersin, Iraq with Kuwait, Syria,Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate, Jordan, andPalestine.[76]
In the modern era, the term bilad al-Yaman came to refer specifically to the south-western parts of the peninsula. Arab geographers started to refer to the whole peninsula as 'jazirat al-Arab', or the peninsula of the Arabs.[12]
The railway was started in 1900 at the behest of the Ottoman SultanAbdul Hamid II and was built largely by theTurks, withGerman advice and support. A public subscription was opened throughout the Islamic world to fund the construction. The railway was to be awaqf, an inalienable religious endowment or charitable trust.[77]
The Arab Revolt and the foundation of Saudi Arabia
The major developments of the early 20th century were theArab Revolt during World War I and the subsequent collapse andpartitioning of the Ottoman Empire. The Arab Revolt (1916–1918) was initiated by theSherif Hussein ibn Ali with the aim of securing independence from the rulingOttoman Empire and creating a single unified Arab state spanning fromAleppo in Syria toAden in Yemen. During World War I, the Sharif Hussein entered into an alliance with the United Kingdom and France against the Ottomans in June 1916.
The Arabian Peninsula in 1923
These events were followed by the foundation of Saudi Arabia under KingAbdulaziz Ibn Saud. After the collapse of theEmirate of Diriyah, the House of Sand regrouped and in 1824 founded theSecond Saudi State, which would control most of Arabia for the next two-thirds of a century. Ibn Saud, after his family lost power in 1891, would establish theThird Saudi State, capturingRiyadh in 1902, and, successively subduing Al-Hasa,Jabal Shammar andHejaz between 1913 and 1926. The Saudis then absorbed theEmirate of Asir, with their expansion only ending in 1934 after awar with Yemen.
The second major development has been the discovery ofvast reserves of oil in the 1930s. Its production brought great wealth to all countries of the region, with the exception of Yemen.
The North Yemen Civil War was fought inNorth Yemen between royalists of theMutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen and factions of theYemen Arab Republic from 1962 to 1970. The war began with acoup d'état carried out by the republican leader,Abdullah as-Sallal, which dethroned the newly crownedMuhammad al-Badr and declared Yemen a republic under his presidency. The Imam escaped to the Saudi Arabian border and rallied popular support.
The royalist side received support from Saudi Arabia, while the republicans were supported by Egypt and the Soviet Union. Both foreign irregular and conventional forces were also involved. TheEgyptian President,Gamal Abdel Nasser, supported the republicans with as many as 70,000 troops. Despite several military moves and peace conferences, the war sank into a stalemate. Egypt's commitment to the war is considered to have been detrimental to its performance in theSix-Day War of June 1967, after which Nasser found it increasingly difficult to maintain his army's involvement and began to pull his forces out of Yemen.
By 1970, KingFaisal of Saudi Arabia recognized the republic and a truce was signed. Egyptian military historians refer to Egypt's role in the war in Yemen as analogous to theUnited States' role in theVietnam War.[78]
In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait.[79] Theinvasion of Kuwait by Iraqi forces led to the 1990–91Gulf War. Egypt, Qatar, Syria, and Saudi Arabia joined a multinationalcoalition that opposed Iraq. Displays of support for Iraq by Jordan and Palestine resulted in strained relations between many of the Arab states. After the war, a so-called "Damascus Declaration" formalized an alliance for future joint Arab defensive actions between Egypt, Syria, and the GCC member states.[80]
TheArab Spring reached Yemen in January 2011.[81] People of Yemen took to the street demonstrating against three decades of rule by PresidentAli Abdullah Saleh.[82] The demonstration led to cracks in the ruling General People's Congress (GPC) and Saleh's Sanhani clan.[83] Saleh used tactics of concession and violence to save his presidency.[84] After numerous attempts, Saleh accepted the Gulf Cooperation Council's 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 constitutional, political and social issues. TheHouthi movement, dissatisfied with the outcomes of the national dialogue,launched an offensive and stormed the Yemeni capital Sanaa on 21 September 2014.[85] In response, Saudi Arabia launched amilitary intervention in Yemen in March 2015.[86] The civil war and subsequent military intervention andblockade caused afamine in Yemen.[87]
^abAs anisland country, Bahrain is technically not a part of the Arabian Peninsula, but a part of the slightly larger geopolitical region calledArabia.
^"Arabia Petraea".Encyclopædia Britannica.Archived from the original on 25 February 2021. Retrieved18 February 2021.
^De Jong, Janneke (2017).Arabia, Arabs, and "Arabic" in Greek Documents From Egypt in "New Frontiers of Arabic Papyrology Arabic and Multilingual Texts from Early Islam". Brill.ISBN9789004345171.
^Frankfurter, David (1998).Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt. Leiden: Brill. p. 163.ISBN90-04-11127-1.
^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.
^McLaughlin, Rob (2015). "The Continuing Conundrum of the Somali Territorial Sea and Exclusive Economic Zone".The International Journal of Marine and Coastal Law 30.2. 305–334.
^A.S. Alsharhan, Z. A. Rizk, A. E. M. Nairn [et al.], 2001,Waterology of an Arid Region, Elsevier.
^Alrouh, Hekmat, Awatef Ismail, and Sohaila Cheema. "Demographic and health indicators in Gulf Cooperation Council nations with an emphasis on Qatar." Journal of Local and Global Health Perspectives (2013): p 4
^Gardner, Andrew Somerville (January 2004)."The reptiles of Jebel Hafeet".ADCO and Emirates Natural History Group. pp. 149–168.Archived from the original on 14 January 2019. Retrieved14 January 2019.
^As cited by R, John and S. Hadawi's, Palestine Diary, pp. 30–31, the 'Damascus Protocol' stated: "The recognition by Great Britain of the independence of the Arab countries lying within the following frontiers: North: The Line Mersin_Adana to parallel 37N. and thence along the line Birejek-Urga-Mardin-Kidiat-Jazirat (Ibn 'Unear)-Amadia to the Persian frontier; East: The Persian frontier down to the Persian Gulf; South: The Indian Ocean (with the exclusion of Aden, whose status was to be maintained). West: The Red Sea and the Mediterranean Sea back to Mersin. The abolition of all exceptional privileges granted to foreigners under the capitulations. The conclusion of a defensive alliance between Great Britainand the future independent Arab State. The grant of economic preference to Great Britain." seeKing Husain and the Kingdom of HejazArchived 22 March 2015 at theWayback Machine, By Randall Baker, Oleander Press, 1979,ISBN0-900891-48-3, pages 64–65
^King Hussein and the Kingdom of Hejaz, Randall Baker, Oleander Press 1979,ISBN0-900891-48-3, page 18
^see Richard Schofield, Kuwait and Iraq: Historical Claims and Territorial. Disputes, London: Royal Institute of International Affairs 1991,ISBN0-905031-35-0 and The Kuwait Crisis: Basic Documents, By E. Lauterpacht, C. J. Greenwood, Marc Weller, Published by Cambridge University Press, 1991,ISBN0-521-46308-4
^Egypt's Bid for Arab Leadership: Implications for U.S. Policy, By Gregory L. Aftandilian, Published by Council on Foreign Relations, 1993,ISBN0-87609-146-X, pages 6–8
^BBC World News, Arab Uprising:Country by Country -Yemen
^Cornell University Library. Arab Spring:A Research & Study Guide:Yemen guides. library.cornell.edu. Last Updated: May 9, 2019
^Britannica.com. "Yemen Uprising of 2011–12". Written By:The editors of Encyclopedia Britannica.
^University Library. University of Illinois at Urbana-champaign. guides.library.edu. Arab Spring Workshop:Yemen
^Kasinof, Laura (2015)."How the Houthis Did It".Foreign Policy.Archived from the original on 30 March 2022. Retrieved15 February 2015.
Note: Mountains are sorted in alphabetical order, unless where it concerns ranges. The highest confirmed mountains in each country are indicated with 'HP', and those with the highest peak are indicated with 'HP', bearing in mind that in the UAE, the highest mountain and the mountain with the highest peak are different.Outcrops are indicated with 'OC', andoutliers with 'OL', andanticlines with 'AC'.Volcanoes are indicated with 'V',volcanic craters with 'VC',lava fields with 'LF', andvolcanic fields with 'VF'.
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