Content deleted Content added
Masterhatch (talk | contribs) Undid revision 1211625082 by 178.161.57.192 (talk) |
HeyElliott (talk | contribs) |
||
| (43 intermediate revisions by 28 users not shown) | |||
Line 5:
{{Infobox continent
|title = Arabian Peninsula<br />{{nobold|{{native name|ar|ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة}}<br />{{native name|ar|شِبْه ٱلْجَزِيرَة ٱلْعَرَبِيَّة}}}}
|image = {{Switcher|[[File:Arabian Peninsula.svg|frameless]]|Show national borders|[[File:Arabian Peninsula (no borders).svg|frameless]]|Hide national borders|default=1}}
|location = [[Western Asia]]
|area = {{cvt|3237500|km2|mi2}}
|population = {{Round|
|density = {{Round|29.0000|1}}/km<sup>2</sup>
|demonym = [[Arabs|Arab]], [[Arabian]]
|countries = {{Plain list|
* [[Bahrain]]{{efn|As an [[island country]], Bahrain is technically not a part of the Arabian Peninsula, but a part of the slightly larger geopolitical region called Arabia.|name="AP 1"}}
Line 23:
* [[Yemen]]
}}
|list_countries =
|dependencies =
|HDI = 0.788 (2018) <!-- [(0.857 + 0.463 + 0.848 + 0.834 + 0.866 + 0.838 + 0.808) / 7] with constituent HDIs sourced from list released in 2019 with 2018 data) --><br /><span style="color:#006400">
| cities = {{Collapsible list
| titlestyle = background:transparent;text-align:left;font-weight:normal;
| title = [[List of Arabian cities by population|15 largest cities on the Arabian Peninsula]]
|
# [[Riyadh]]
# [[Jeddah]]
Line 50:
[[File:Arabian Peninsula dust SeaWiFS.jpg|thumb|Satellite view of the Arabian Peninsula]]
The '''Arabian Peninsula'''<ref>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GN9UQMuNQNkC&pg=PA61 |title=Merriam Webster's Geographical Dictionary |edition=Third |isbn=978-0877795469 |year=2001 |page=61 |last1=Hopkins |first1=Daniel J. |author2=편집부 |publisher=[[Merriam-Webster]] |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-date=6 February 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160206060436/https://books.google.com/books?id=GN9UQMuNQNkC&pg=PA61 |url-status=live }}</ref> ({{IPAc-en|ə|ˈ|r|eɪ|b|i|ə|n|...}}; {{lang-ar|شِبْهُ الْجَزِيرَة الْعَرَبِيَّة}}, {{transl |ar |ALA |shibhu l-jazīra l-ʿarabiyya}}, "Arabian Peninsula" or {{lang|ar|جَزِيرَةُ الْعَرَب}}, {{transl|ar|ALA|jazīratu l-ʿarab}}, "Island of the [[Arabs]]"),<ref name = arabia>{{cite web|title=Arabia {{!}} peninsula, Asia|url=https://www.britannica.com/place/Arabia-peninsula-Asia|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|first=Basheer K.|last=Nijim|access-date=7 June 2018|archive-date=22 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190522211749/https://www.britannica.com/place/Arabia-peninsula-Asia|url-status=live}}</ref>
Geographically, the Arabian Peninsula includes [[Bahrain]],{{efn|name="AP 1"}} [[Kuwait]], [[Oman]], [[Qatar]], [[Saudi Arabia]], the [[United Arab Emirates]] (UAE) and [[Yemen]], as well as southern [[Iraq]] and [[Jordan]].<ref>{{cite book|title = Geopolitics of the World System|page = 337|first = Saul Bernard|last = Cohen|date = 2003|publisher = Rowman & Littlefield|isbn = 9780847699070|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=QkMD8HKRlgoC&pg=PA337|access-date = 5 September 2022|archive-date = 1 October 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20221001180013/https://books.google.com/books?id=QkMD8HKRlgoC&pg=PA337|url-status = live}}</ref> The largest of these is Saudi Arabia.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Zaken|first=Ministerie van Buitenlandse|date=2017-05-14|title=Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – Doing business in the Gulf region – netherlandsworldwide.nl|url=https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/doing-business-in-the-gulf-region/other-sectors-in-the-gulf-region/gcc-countries/saudi-arabia|access-date=2021-02-19|website=www.netherlandsworldwide.nl|language=en|archive-date=11 May 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210511171451/https://www.netherlandsworldwide.nl/doing-business-in-the-gulf-region/other-sectors-in-the-gulf-region/gcc-countries/saudi-arabia|url-status=live}}</ref> In the classical era, the [[Sinai Peninsula]] was also considered a part of Arabia.
Line 69:
The Arab inhabitants used a north–south division of Arabia: Al Sham-Al Yaman, or Arabia Deserta-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.<ref>See [https://books.google.com/books?id=3yENB_dXAtwC&pg=PA163 ''Pilgrimage and Holy Space in Late Antique Egypt''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170801050109/https://books.google.com/books?id=3yENB_dXAtwC&pg=PA163 |date=1 August 2017 }}, David Frankfurter, BRILL, 1998, {{ISBN|90-04-11127-1}}, page 163</ref>
The Arabs and the Ottoman Empire considered the west of the Arabian Peninsula region where the Arabs lived 'the land of the Arabs' – Bilad '''al-'Arab''' ([[Arabia]]), and its major divisions were the bilad '''al-Sham''' ([[Levant]]), bilad '''al-Yaman''' ([[South Arabia|Yemen]]), and Bilad '''al-'Iraq''' ([[Iraq]]).<ref name = california>{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4vOJ15vTZV4C&pg=PA60 |title=A House of Many Mansions: The History of Lebanon Reconsidered |first=Kamal Suleiman |last=Salibi |publisher=University of California Press |date=1988 |isbn=978-0-520-07196-4 |pages=60–61 |access-date=19 October 2015 |archive-date=13 June 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200613100816/https://books.google.com/books?id=4vOJ15vTZV4C&pg=PA60 |url-status=live }}</ref> The Ottomans used the term Arabistan in a broad sense for the region starting from [[Cilicia]], where the Euphrates river makes its descent into Syria, through [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]], and on through the remainder of the Sinai and Arabian peninsulas.<ref>See for example Palestine: The Reality, [[Joseph Mary Nagle Jeffries]], Published by Longmans, Green and co., 1939, [https://archive.org/details/PalestineTheReality/page/n4/mode/1up Page 11]</ref>
''The provinces of Arabia were:'' Al Tih, the Sinai peninsula,
==Geography==
Line 145:
|10|| {{left}} {{flagicon|UAE}} [[Abu Dhabi]] || {{right}} 1,539,830
|-
|11|| {{left}} {{flagicon|IRQ}} [[Basra]] || {{right}} 1,
|-
|colspan="100%" style="font-size:85%; border-top:1px solid black;" |Source: 2022<ref name="Largest cities">{{Cite web|url=https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities|title=World City Populations 2022|website=worldpopulationreview.com|access-date=10 June 2020|archive-date=20 February 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220194018/http://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|}
Line 164:
# A range of deserts: the [[Nefud]] in the north,<ref name=Prothero15>{{cite book|last=Prothero|first=G.W.|title=Arabia|year=1920|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London|page=15|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11767/view/1/15/|access-date=8 September 2013|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031163556/https://www.wdl.org/en/item/11767/view/1/15/|url-status=live}}</ref> which is stony; the [[Rub' al Khali]] or Great [[Arabian Desert]] in the south, with sand estimated to extend {{convert|600|ft|m|abbr=on}} below the surface; between them, the [[Dahna]] [[#Mountains|Mountains]]<ref name="Burrows2010">{{cite book |author=Robert D. Burrowes |title=Historical Dictionary of Yemen |pages=5–340 |publisher=[[Rowman & Littlefield]] |year=2010 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXRfqBv_0UC |isbn=978-0-8108-5528-1 |access-date=19 May 2020 |archive-date=15 February 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170215025046/https://books.google.com/books?id=tjXRfqBv_0UC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Laughlin2008">{{cite book |last=McLaughlin |first=Daniel |title=Yemen |publisher=[[Bradt Travel Guides]] |chapter=1: Background |page=3 |isbn=978-1-8416-2212-5 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eQvhZaEVzjcC |year=2008 |access-date=29 December 2018 |archive-date=2 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200702224444/https://books.google.com/books?id=eQvhZaEVzjcC |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Cavendish2007">{{cite book |last1=Cavendish |first1=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Cavendish |title=World and Its Peoples |volume=1 |chapter=Geography and climate |date=2007 |publisher=Cavendish Square Publishing |isbn=978-0-7614-7571-2 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/worlditspeoplesm0000unse/page/n151 8]–19 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=j894miuOqc4C&pg=PA8 |url=https://archive.org/details/worlditspeoplesm0000unse |url-access=limited }}</ref>
# Stretches of dry or marshy coastland with coral reefs on the Red Sea side ([[Tihamah]])
# Oases and marshy coast-land in [[Eastern Arabia]], the most important of which are those of the [[Al Ain, Emirate of Abu Dhabi|Al Ain emirate]] ([[Tawam (region)|Tawam]]
#
Arabia has few lakes or permanent rivers. Most areas are drained by ephemeral watercourses called [[wadi]]s, which are dry except during the rainy season. Plentiful ancient [[aquifer]]s exist beneath much of the peninsula, however, and where this water surfaces, [[oases]] form (e.g. Al-Hasa and [[Qatif]], two of the world's largest [[oases]]) and permit agriculture, especially [[palm trees]], which allowed the peninsula to produce more [[date palm|dates]] than any other region in the world. In general, the climate is extremely hot and [[Desert|arid]], 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.
Line 172:
====Mountains====
[[File:Kawkaban -68 (353668857).jpg|thumb|The [[Jabal Haraz|Haraz Mountains]] in
There are mountains at the eastern, southern and northwestern borders of the peninsula. Broadly, the ranges can be grouped as follows:
* Northeast: The [[Hajar Mountains|Hajar range]],
* Southeast: The [[Dhofar Mountains]] of southern Oman,<ref name="Cavendish2007"/> contiguous with the eastern Yemeni [[Hadhramaut Mountains|Hadhramaut]]<ref name="Scoville1979">{{cite book |last=Scoville |first=Sheila A. |title=Gazetteer of Arabia: a geographical and tribal history of the Arabian Peninsula |volume=2 |pages=117–288 |publisher=Akademische Druck- u. Verlagsanstalt |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AH8YAQAAMAAJ&q=hadhramaut+mountains |isbn=978-0-7614-7571-2 |year=2006 |access-date=19 May 2020 |archive-date=31 October 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031101208/https://books.google.com/books?id=AH8YAQAAMAAJ&q=hadhramaut+mountains |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="GhazanfarFisher2013">{{cite book |last1=Ghazanfar |first1=Shahina A. |
* West: Bordering the [[Tihamah|eastern coast]] of the Red Sea are the [[Sarawat Mountains|Sarawat]],<ref name="Burrows2010"/> which can be seen to include the [[Jabal Haraz|Haraz Mountains]]
* Northwest: Aside from the Sarawat, the northern portion of Saudi Arabia hosts the [[Shammar Mountains|Jabal Shamar Mountains]], which include the Aja and [[Salma Mountains|Salma]] subranges<ref name="Cavendish2007"/>
* Central: The Najd hosts the [[Tuwaiq]] Escarpment<ref name="Scoville1979"/> or Tuwair range<ref name="Cavendish2007"/>
Line 186:
<gallery mode="packed">
File:Salalah Oman.jpg|[[Dhofar War|Dhofar]]
File:Yemen landscape 05.jpg|
File:شعيب جو بجبال أجـــا - panoramio.jpg|
</gallery>
Line 204:
==History==
Stone tools from the [[Middle Paleolithic]] age along with fossils of other animals discovered at Ti's al Ghadah, in northwestern Saudi Arabia, might imply that [[hominins]] migrated through a "Green Arabia" between 300,000 and 500,000 years ago.<ref>{{cite journal |
===Pre-Islamic Arabia===
{{main article|Pre-Islamic Arabia|Arabian Peninsula in the Roman era}}
[[File:Near East in 1000bc (en).jpg|thumb|Pre-Islamic Arabia in 1000 BC]]
{{further|Religion in pre-Islamic Arabia}}There is evidence that human habitation in the Arabian Peninsula dates back to about 106,000 to 130,000 years ago.<ref name="Saudi Embassy US Website">[http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history/ Saudi Embassy (US) Website] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304062348/http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/history/ |date=2016-03-04 }} retrieved 20 January 2011</ref> The harsh climate historically{{when|date=July 2019}} prevented much settlement in the pre-Islamic Arabian
[[Archaeology]] has revealed the existence of many civilizations in pre-Islamic Arabia (such as the [[Thamud]]), especially in [[South Arabia]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Robert D. Burrowes|year=2010|title=Historical Dictionary of Yemen|page=319|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield|isbn=978-0810855281}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author=Kenneth Anderson Kitchen|year=2003|title=On the Reliability of the Old Testament|url=https://archive.org/details/onreliabilityold00kitc|url-access=limited|page=[https://archive.org/details/onreliabilityold00kitc/page/n139 116]|publisher=Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing|isbn=978-0802849601}}</ref> [[South Arabian kingdoms in pre-Islamic Arabia|South Arabian civilizations]] include
The Arabian
===Rise of Islam===
{{main article|Early Muslim conquests|Islamic Golden Age}}
[[File:Umayyad750ADloc.png|thumb|The [[Umayyad Caliphate]] (661–750)]]
The seventh century saw the rise of Islam as the peninsula's dominant religion. The [[Islamic prophet]] [[Muhammad]] was born in Mecca in about 570 and first began preaching in the city in 610, but [[Hijra (Islam)|migrated]] to [[Medina]] in 622. From there he and his companions united the [[tribes of Arabia]] under the banner of [[Islam]] and created a single Arab Muslim religious polity in the Arabian
Muhammad established a new unified polity in the Arabian peninsula which under the subsequent [[Rashidun]] and [[Umayyad]] [[Caliphate]]s saw a century of rapid expansion of Arab power well beyond the Arabian peninsula in the form of a vast Muslim Arab Empire with an area of influence that stretched from the northwest [[Indian subcontinent]], across [[Central Asia]], the [[Middle East]], [[North Africa]], southern [[Italy]], and the [[Iberian Peninsula]], to the [[Pyrenees]].
Line 231:
On his death in 634, he was succeeded by [[Umar]] as caliph, followed by [[Uthman ibn al-Affan]] and [[Ali ibn Abi Talib]]. The period of these first four caliphs is known as ''al-khulafā' ar-rāshidūn'': the [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun or "rightly guided" Caliphate]]. Under the Rashidun Caliphs, and, from 661, their [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad successors]], the Arabs rapidly expanded the territory under Muslim control outside of Arabia. In a matter of decades Muslim armies decisively defeated the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine army]] and destroyed the [[Sassanid Empire|Persian Empire]], [[Early Muslim conquests|conquering huge swathes of territory]] from the [[Iberian peninsula]] to India. The political focus of the Muslim world then shifted to the newly conquered territories.<ref>See: Holt (1977a), p.57, Hourani (2003), p.22, Lapidus (2002), p.32, Madelung (1996), p.43, Tabatabaei (1979), p.30–50</ref><ref name="L. Gardet">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Islam|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam Online|author=L. Gardet|author2=J. Jomier}}</ref>
Nevertheless, [[Mecca]] and [[Medina]] remained the spiritually most important places in the [[Muslim world]]. The [[Qur'an]] requires every able-bodied Muslim who can afford it, as one of the [[five pillars of Islam]], to make a pilgrimage, or [[Hajj]], to [[Mecca]] during the [[Islamic calendar|Islamic month]] of [[Dhu al-Hijjah]] at least once in his or her lifetime.<ref>Farah, Caesar (1994). Islam: Beliefs and Observances (5th ed.), pp.145–147 {{ISBN|978-0-8120-1853-0}}</ref> The [[Masjid al-Haram]] (the Grand Mosque) in [[Mecca]] is the location of the [[Kaaba]], Islam's holiest site, and the [[Masjid al-Nabawi]] (the Prophet's Mosque) in [[Medina]] is the location of [[Muhammad]]
===Middle Ages===
Line 244:
The provincial Ottoman Army for Arabia (Arabistan Ordusu) was headquartered in [[Syria (region)|Syria]], which included Palestine, the Transjordan region in addition to Lebanon ([[Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate|Mount Lebanon was, however, a semi-autonomous mutasarrifate]]). It was put in charge of Syria, Cilicia, Iraq, and the remainder of the Arabian Peninsula.<ref>see History of the Ottoman Empire and Modern Turkey, Stanford J. Shaw, Ezel Kural Shaw, Cambridge University Press, 1977, {{ISBN|0-521-29166-6}}, page 85</ref><ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=Uxkz9D4Ff_sC&pg=PA417 The Politics of Interventionism in Ottoman Lebanon, 1830–1861, by Caesar E. Farah] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514211350/https://books.google.com/books?id=Uxkz9D4Ff_sC&pg=PA417&dq=&lr=&ei=BoDxSP2rFZbMzQTO3MXtBg&client= |date=14 May 2016 }}, explains that Mount Lebanon was in the jurisdiction of the Arabistan Army, and that its headquarters was briefly moved to Beirut.</ref> The Ottomans never had any control over central Arabia, also known as the [[Najd]] region.
The emergence of what was to become the Saudi royal family, known as the [[House of Saud|Al Saud]], began in [[Najd]] in central Arabia in 1744, when [[Muhammad bin Saud]], founder of the dynasty, joined forces with the religious leader [[Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab]], founder of the [[Wahhabism|Wahhabi movement]], a strict puritanical form of Sunni Islam.<ref>{{cite book |title=Contemporary Religions: A World Guide |first1=Ian |last1=Harris |first2=Stuart|last2=Mews|first3=Paul|last3=Morris|first4= John |last4= Shepherd |year=1992 |isbn=978-0-582-08695-1 |page=369|publisher=Longman }}</ref> The [[Emirate of Diriyah]] established in the area around Riyadh rapidly expanded and briefly controlled most of the present-day territory of Saudi Arabia, [[Wahhabi sack of Karbala|sacking Karbala]] in 1802, and [[Destruction of early Islamic heritage sites in Saudi Arabia|capturing Mecca]] in 1803.<ref>"[http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/7.htm The Saud Family and Wahhabi Islam] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170316131703/http://countrystudies.us/saudi-arabia/7.htm |date=16 March 2017 }}". Library of Congress Country Studies.</ref>
The [[Damascus Protocol]] of 1914 provides an illustration of the regional relationships. Arabs living in one of the existing districts of the Arabian peninsula, the Emirate of [[Hejaz]], 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 comprised [[Cilicia]] – [[İskenderun]] and [[Mersin]], Iraq with Kuwait, Syria, [[Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate]], Jordan, and [[State of Palestine|Palestine]].<ref>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 Britain ''and the future independent Arab State''. The grant of economic preference to Great Britain." see [https://books.google.com/books?id=n706ShSYt-sC ''King Husain and the Kingdom of Hejaz''] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150322142502/http://books.google.com/books?id=n706ShSYt-sC&printsec=toc&dq=&source=gbs_summary_s&cad=0#PPA65,M1 |date=22 March 2015 }}, By Randall Baker, Oleander Press, 1979, {{ISBN|0-900891-48-3}}, pages 64–65</ref>
Line 288:
File:Diriyahpic.jpg|[[Diriyah]] the capital of the [[first Saudi state]]
File:Jemen1988-022 hg.jpg|[[Dam of Marib|Dam of Ma'rib]]
File:Dhamar Ali Yahbur
File:AradFort.jpg|[[Arad Fort]] in Bahrain
File:Nizwa (5).jpg|[[Nizwa Fort]] in Oman
Line 322:
==Further reading==
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11756/ Travels in Arabia], 1892
* [http://www.swaen.com/antique-map-image-of.php?id=31 High resolution scan of old map of Arabia] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140714205448/http://www.swaen.com/antique-map-image-of.php?id=31 |date=14 July 2014 }}
* [http://www.wdl.org/en/item/2914/ The Coast of Arabia the Red Sea, and Persian Sea of Bassora Past the Straits of Hormuz to India, Gujarat and Cape Comorin] from the World Digital Library, depicts a map from 1707.
* {{Cite EB1911 |first=Robert Alexander |last=Wahab |first2=Griffithes Wheeler |last2=Thatcher |first3=Michael Jan de |last3=Goeje |author3-link=Michael Jan de Goeje |wstitle=Arabia|short=x}}
| |||