The Arabian
Peninsula is a land mass situated north-east of Africa.
Also known as Arabia or the Arabian
subcontinent, it is the world's largest
peninsula and covers 3,237,500 km2 (1,250,000 mi2). The area is an important
part of the Asian continent and plays a critical geopolitical role of the Middle East and Arab World due to its vast reserves of
oil and natural gas. 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, the Persian Gulf to the northeast, and the Indian
Ocean to the southeast.