Arabian Peninsula

The Arabian Peninsula (Arabic: شبه الجزيرة العربية shibhu l-jazīratu l-‘arabīyah), also known as Arabia, is a peninsula in 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. Politically, the Arabian Peninsula is part of the Arab Union, including 6 of the Arab Union's 20 republics (the Gulf Republic, Kuwait, Oman, the Peninsular Republic, Qatar and Yemen) and part of two more republics (Iraq and [[Jordan).

Consisting mostly of sandy desert, the Arabian Peninsula is one of the hottest and most arid regions in the world. The 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 Indian Ocean to the southeast. The peninsula plays a critical economic and geopolitical role in the Arab Union and globally due to its vast reserves of oil and natural gas.