The great peninsulas of the world and their countries

A peninsula is land surrounded by water on three sides and joined to the mainland on only one. Some are so large that whole groups of countries fit on them, while others give a single country its unmistakable shape. Know the great peninsulas and you can recognise half a continent by its outline in a quiz. Six of the best known are here, from the largest of all to the European classics.

The Arabian Peninsula, the largest of all

At around 3.2 million square kilometres, the Arabian Peninsula is the largest in the world, roughly the size of India. It is enclosed by the Red Sea, the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea. On it sit Saudi Arabia, which takes up most of the space, along with Yemen, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.

For all its size, much of it is desert, above all the Empty Quarter in the south. To the north the peninsula merges into the mainland with no sharp coastline, so at these dimensions it hardly counts as a narrow neck of land.

Europe's great peninsulas

Europe itself is made up in large part of peninsulas. The biggest is the Scandinavian Peninsula, at around 750,000 square kilometres, carrying Norway and Sweden along with a corner of Finland. It is mostly mountainous and belongs to the ancient bedrock of the Baltic Shield. The Scandinavian Mountains run down its spine, and along the western coast the ice carved out the deep fjords of Norway, giving the country one of the longest coastlines in the world.

Further south-west lies the Iberian Peninsula, the second-largest in Europe, at a good 580,000 square kilometres. It holds Spain and Portugal and is cut off from the rest of the continent by the Pyrenees. At its centre sits the broad plateau of the Meseta. The Italian Peninsula, the famous boot, reaches around a thousand kilometres into the Mediterranean, with the Apennine range down its spine. On it sit Italy, San Marino and Vatican City. On the Bay of Naples stands Vesuvius, one of the best-known volcanoes in Europe.

Two striking shapes in Asia

The Korean Peninsula juts about 1,100 kilometres south from the Asian mainland, with the Yellow Sea on its western side. Around three quarters of the land is mountainous, which gives it a rugged profile. The higher mountains lie in the east, while the land flattens into plains towards the west and south.

Peninsular India, the southern part of the country, narrows to a triangular point at Cape Comorin. To the west lies the Arabian Sea, to the east the Bay of Bengal. At its core is the Deccan plateau, one of the oldest pieces of land on Earth. The plateau is framed by two ranges, the Western and Eastern Ghats, which drop away towards the coasts. At the southern tip, at Cape Comorin, several seas meet.

The great peninsulas at a glance

From northern Europe to southern Asia:

• Arabian Peninsula: around 3.2 million km2, the largest in the world, with Saudi Arabia, Oman, Yemen and neighbours.
• Scandinavian Peninsula: around 750,000 km2, the largest in Europe, Norway and Sweden.
• Iberian Peninsula: a good 580,000 km2, Spain and Portugal, cut off by the Pyrenees.
• Italian Peninsula: the boot, around 1,000 km long, with the Apennines.
• Korean Peninsula: around 1,100 km long, mostly mountainous.
• Peninsular India: narrows to a triangular point at Cape Comorin, cored by the Deccan plateau.

Why peninsulas help in a quiz

Peninsulas are a gift for map memory, because their shape is so distinct. The Italian boot, the triangular tip of India, the long back of Scandinavia: these outlines are hard to confuse. Once you have them down, you place the countries on them faster too, even when only a slice is showing. Neighbours fall into place as well: spot the boot and you think of Italy and the Adriatic, see the Iberian mass and you think of Spain and Portugal.

In CountryRush you train exactly that, spot the outline and match the country, from the Iberian to the Arabian Peninsula. The Daily Trip shows you a whole peninsula one day and a single country from it the next.