Notes

The Arabian Peninsula is the largest peninsula in the world. A peninsula is a land mass surrounded by water on three sides. It is a region of Southwest Asia. It lies between Mesopotamia and the continent of Africa. It is nearly surrounded by water: the Red Sea, Arabian Sea and the Persian Gulf. The peninsula is about 1,200 miles from north to south and 1,300 miles from east to west. This is about one-fourth the size of the United States.

Arabia has a harsh environment. Most of the land is desert. To the north, the Nafud desert separates Arabia from the rest of southwest Asia. An even larger desert, the Rub al-Khali, or “Empty Quarter, covers much of the Arabian interior to the south. This is the largest sand desert in the world.

The region is very arid. Temperatures throughout Arabia are high, reaching up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit in the interior, and in most areas there is little rainfall. Because of scant rainfall – an average of 4 inches of rain a year – the Arabian Peninsula has few permanent lakes or rivers. Because of its desert climate, only a small amount of the land is useful for agriculture. Farmland is found in the southern mountains and along the northern coastline. In ancient times, most Arabs relied on oases for their survival. An oasis is a fertile place in the desert where a spring or well provides a water supply.

A range of high, rugged mountains runs along the western and southern edges of the Arabian Peninsula. Here, there is more rainfall and conditions are better for settlement. Plants throughout the deserts of Arabia adapt by growing small spiny leaves instead of bigger leaves that would shrivel in the heat. Cacti survive by storing water. Other types of grasses spring to life when it rains and quickly wilt, but not before they drop sturdy seeds into the soil that survive until the next rainfall. Even in the Empty Quarter, the scant rainfall is enough for a hardy species of salt grass to grow.