The Arabian Peninsula is a peninsula in West Asia situated on the Arabian plate. At 3,237,500 square kilometres, it is the world’s largest peninsula, comparable in size to India, and is home to nine countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and the southern portions of Iraq and Jordan.
Bounded by the Persian Gulf, Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and Red Sea, the peninsula is largely covered by the Arabian Desert, an extension of the Sahara. It was formed between 56 and 23 million years ago through the Red Sea Rift separating the African and Arabian plates. The region was among the first occupied by modern humans after their departure from Africa during the Palaeolithic. For much of its ancient history the peninsula remained sparsely populated by Arab tribes, but in the seventh century AD it was unified politically, culturally and religiously under the Arab leader Muhammad following the founding of Islam. The peninsula’s position at the intersection of Africa, Asia and Europe has made it a crossroads for human migration, trade and cultural exchange for millennia.
