ARABIA, the peninsula in the southwestern part of Asia, called by the natives Jeziret el Arab, that is, the Peninsula of the Arabs; and by the Turks and Persians, Ara bistan. It is encompassed on three sides by the sea, namely, on the northeast by the Per sian Gulf and Gulf of Oman, on the southeast by the Indian Ocean and on the southwest by the Red Sea. Its extreme southern point, Ras Arah (the Cape Saint Anthony of some maps), lies in lat. 12° 35' N.; long. 44° 4' E. Thirty miles west of it are the Straits of Bab-el Mandeb. The extreme eastern point of Arabia, Ras-el-Had, stands in lat. 22° 23' N., long. 60 5' E. A line drawn from the head of the Gulf of Suez to that of the Persian Gulf, and mark ing the limits of the Arabian peninsula on the north, will be found to run nearly in the 30th parallel of north latitude, but a portion of what is considered Arabia extends north of this. Arabia includes also the peninsula of Sinai, be tween the Gulf of Suez and that of Akabah. The whole area of the vast country thus de scribed does not probably fall much short of 1,250,000 square miles.
Divisions.— According to Ptolemy, ancient Arabia consisted of Arabia Petrwa, Arabia De serta and Arabia Felix, a division likewise fol lowed in modern times, but which is not only founded on erroneous principles, but unwar ranted by the example of the inhabitants of the country. The name of Arabia Felix, or Ara bia the Happy, is derived from an incorrect translation of the word Yemen, which does not signify happy, but the country lying to the right of Mecca, in the same manner as the Arabic term for Syria, Al-Sham, denotes the country lying to the left of that city. Arabia Petra likewise has been erroneously translated Stony Arabia, the epithet Petrma having been bestowed on it by Ptolemy, from the once flourishing city of Petra.
The first of the divisions met with in pro ceeding down the Red Sea is Hejaz, which, as it includes the sacred cities Mecca and Medina, is always set forth conspicuously by Arab ge ographers. It extends a short way within the
mountain barrier and terminates in the south in about lat. 20° N. Next comes Yemen which, according to some writers, embraces the whole of south Arabia; but the name is now gen erally used in a confined sense, Yemen proper occupying the southwest part of the peninsula, and comprising a Tehama or maritime lowland on the shores of the Red Sea, with an elevated inland district of considerable breadth. It con tains the towns of Sana and Mocha. Apper taining to Yemen is Aden, now a free port in the hands of the British. Next Yemen, on the east, is Hadramaut, the western portion of which is a desert five days' journey in length. The limits of this province are, however, vari ously assigned by authors, some extending the name to almost the whole of the southeast coast, while others confine it to a district only 100 miles in length. Beyond Hadramaut, in the latter narrower sense, lies Mahrah, beyond which again extends the principality of Shejer or Shehr, at the eastern termination of which, near the coast, is the populous district of Dho far, which has occasionally figured as an inde pendent state. At the east angle of the penin sula is situated Oman. On the south shores of the Persian' Gulf is Bahrein, from which, to ward the head of the Gulf, extends the mari time district of Hasa, while at a short distance southwest in the interior lies the fertile district of El-Ahsa, the name of which is sometimes also given to the coast. The interior of Arabia from Hejaz and Yemen across to the vicinity of the Persian Gulf is comprised by Arab ge ographers under the single name of Nejed. The Sinaitic peninsula is called Al-Tih. The remaining divisions are Dahna, the great terri tory between Hadramaut, Oman and Nejed. Toward the north are the deserts of Sinai and those of .Sham, Jezireh and Irak (Syria, Mesopotamia and Babylon). The two most populous districts are Yemen and Oman.