Arabian

Arabia (also known as the Arabian Peninsula) is a peninsula located at the confluence of Africa and Asia, between the Persian Gulf, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea. It belongs entirely to the Middle East region and is considered the largest peninsula in the world.

Geography and climate

Topographic map of the peninsula.

It is a region mostly crossed by the Tropic of Cancer and with a desert climate, where the inhospitable Rub al-Jali and the An-Nafud desert (in the center of the Nechd plain) stand out.

The south and east make up a region where the high mountains take advantage of the monsoon rains: Yemen and Oman have developed agriculture.

In its geography, Badia stands out, close to Syria and Iraq.

From a geological perspective, it would be more appropriate to call it the "Arabian subcontinent", since it occupies its own tectonic plate, the Arabian plate. However, this denomination is not usually used in Spanish. Usually, it is said that its importance is related to the fact that it is the crossroads of the three continents of the Old World, which are Europe (in the north), Africa (in the west) and Asia (in the east), in addition to have access to the Mediterranean Sea.

Political Boundaries

Nations on the Arabian peninsula.

The constituent countries of the Peninsula are (clockwise from north to south) Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the east, Oman to the southeast, Yemen to the south, and Saudi Arabia to the south. center. The island country of Bahrain lies just off the eastern coast of the peninsula. Due to Yemen's jurisdiction over the Socotra archipelago, the peninsula's geopolitical setting is completed by the Guardafui Channel and the Somali Sea to the south.

The six countries of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE make up the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia occupies most of the peninsula. The majority of the Peninsula's population lives in Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The Peninsula contains the largest oil reserves in the world. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are the most economically rich in the region. Qatar, the only peninsular country in the Persian Gulf on the larger peninsula, is home to the Arabic-language television network Al Jazeera and its English-language affiliate Al Jazeera English. Kuwait, on the border with Iraq, is a strategically important country, having been one of the main rallying points for the coalition forces that mounted the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Population

Evolution of the population

Sources: 1950–2000

2000–2014

Though historically sparsely populated, political Arabia is characterized by a high rate of population growth, as a result of both a strong influx of immigrant labor and sustained high birth rates. The population tends to be relatively young and with a highly skewed gender ratio, dominated by men. In many states, the number of South Asians exceeds that of the local citizenry. The four smallest states (by area), which have their entire coastline on the Persian Gulf, have the most extreme population growth in the world, roughly tripling every 20 years. In 2014, the estimated population of the Arabian Peninsula was 77,983,936 (including expatriates). The Arabian Peninsula is known for having one of the most unequal adult ratios in the world, as in some regions (especially in east) women make up only a quarter of people in their 20s and 30s and 30s and 40s.

Cities

The ten most populous cities in the Arabian Peninsula are:

Source: 2022[20]

Economy

The region was traditionally inhabited by nomadic peoples, due to the fact that the scarcity of water and the aridity of the soil make it an inhospitable place for agriculture. For many years, most of the countries that comprised it were behind in the fields of technology and socioeconomic development. In the 20th century, the discovery of huge oil reserves on the peninsula allowed countries to foster significant economic development, and its royal houses are among the richest in the world.

Beyond the growth due to oil exports, the region's political instability and the still incipient development of economic areas not related to hydrocarbon exploitation endanger the region's future when reserves begin to run out.

Despite the advances produced by oil, today the Bedouin continue to lead their wandering life, although in many cases they have replaced camels with motorized vehicles and many members, who see the future of this way of life in danger, They have migrated to the cities. Even the Saudi government itself has tried to encourage these groups to settle in some urbanization.

Religion

Medina and Mecca, the two holy cities of Islam, are both located on the peninsula. Muslims must make a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in their lives, which is why hundreds of thousands of Muslims from all over the world come to visit the city every year.