Arabian Peninsula
The world's largest peninsula, cradle of Islam, and a land of ancient trade and modern oil wealth.
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The Arabian Peninsula, situated in West Asia, is the planet's largest peninsula, covering roughly 1,250,000 square miles (3,237,500 km²).[1][2]
Key facts and history
The peninsula is bounded by the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, the Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Strait of Mandeb, and the Red Sea.[3] Prior to the 7th century AD, Greco-Roman conceptions of "Arabia" were broader and included the Sinai, the Negev, and parts of modern Jordan.[3] Medieval Muslim geographers divided the peninsula into four main regions: Najd and Al-Yamama, South Arabia, Al-Bahrain, and the Hejaz.[4] The discovery and industrialization of vast oil and natural gas reserves since the 20th century have given the peninsula critical geopolitical significance.[4]
Discoveries at Ti's al Ghadah in northwestern Saudi Arabia include Middle Paleolithic stone tools and animal fossils, suggesting hominin movement through a "Green Arabia" occurred 300,000 to 500,000 years ago.[5] The oldest human fossil found outside Africa and the Levant is a Homo sapiens finger bone from Al Wusta in the Nefud Desert, dated to roughly 90,000 years ago.[6]
What the cited sources add
The WorldAtlas account states the Arabian Peninsula is roughly 1,250,000 square miles and is larger than Greenland.[2] A biblearchaeology.org source explains that in the first century AD, the term "Arabia" included the Sinai Peninsula and did not correspond just to modern Saudi Arabia.[7] The same source notes that Herodotus called the entire region east of the Nile and the Pelusian Branch, from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea, "Arabia"[7] The Guardian report states that the UN documented at least 7,292 civilians killed in Yemen between March 2015 and June 2019.[8]
A UN expert panel created a list of 160 military officers and politicians who might face war crimes charges related to the Yemen conflict, including individuals from Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and the Houthi movement.[8]
References
- Wikipedia, "Arabian Peninsula" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Nijim, "Arabia"; Niz, "Peninsulas", Capstone, 10 April 2006, p. 19; McColl, Infobase, 14 May 2014; Condra, "Encyclopedia of National Dress: Traditional Clothing Around the World [2 Volumes]", ABC-CLIO, 9 April 2013; Dodge, "The Everything Understanding Islam Book: A Complete and Easy to Read Guide to Muslim Beliefs, Practices, Traditions, and Culture", Simon and Schuster, 1 April 2003; "15 Largest Peninsulas in the World", WorldAtlas; Cohen, "Geopolitics of the World System", Rowman & Littlefield, 2003, p. 337 (we also read that sourc en.wikipedia.org
- "15 Largest Peninsulas in the World", WorldAtlas. facts only, no text reused. worldatlas.com
- Wikipedia, "Arabian Peninsula" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Where is Mount Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 4:25)?", biblearchaeology.org; "Herodotus, The Histories, Book 2", www.perseus.tufts.edu (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Arabian Peninsula" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Mukhtasar Kitab al-Buldan", c. 903 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Arabian Peninsula" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "History and Archaeology of Ancient Arabia", Madain Project; Roberts, "Fossil herbivore stable isotopes reveal middle Pleistocene hominin palaeoenvironment in 'Green Arabia'", Nature Ecology & Evolution, 29 October 2018, p. 1871–1878 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- Wikipedia, "Arabian Peninsula" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: "Saudi Arabia's Qassim stone axe find points to prehistoric 'crossroads'", Arab News, 2 January 2021; Scerri, "The expansion of later Acheulean hominins into the Arabian Peninsula", Scientific Reports, 29 November 2018, p. 17165; Uerpmann, "The Southern Route "Out of Africa": Evidence for an Early Expansion of Modern Humans into Arabia", Science, 28 January 2011, p. 453–456 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
- "Where is Mount Sinai in Arabia (Galatians 4:25)?", biblearchaeology.org. facts only, no text reused. biblearchaeology.org
- Wintour, "UK, US and France may be complicit in Yemen war crimes – UN report", The Guardian, 3 September 2019. facts only, no text reused. theguardian.com
Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Arabian Peninsula (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.
Also in the Codexery
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Sources
Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.
- Wikipedia: Arabian Peninsula (CC BY-SA 4.0).
- Word definitions: the , each quoted from its Wikipedia article.
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