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Floridian Peninsula

Scandinavian Peninsula

Satellite photos of some of the most notable peninsulas on each continent.

A peninsula^[1]^[2] is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most sides.^[3]^[4] Peninsulas exist on each continent.^[5]^[2] The largest peninsula in the world is the Arabian Peninsula.^[6]^[7]

Etymology

The word peninsula derives from Latin paeninsula, from paene 'almost' and insula 'island'. The word entered English in the 16th century.^[3]

Definitions

A peninsula is generally defined as a piece of land surrounded on most sides by water.^[8]^[9]

A peninsula may be bordered by more than one body of water, and the body of water does not have to be an ocean or a sea.^[10] A piece of land on a very tight river bend or one between two rivers is sometimes said to form a peninsula, for example in the New Barbadoes Neck in New Jersey, United States.^[8] A peninsula may be connected to the mainland via an isthmus, for example, in the Isthmus of Corinth which connects to the Peloponnese peninsula.^[11]

Formation and types

Peninsulas can be formed from continental drift, glacial erosion, glacial meltwater, glacial deposition, marine sediment, marine transgressions, volcanoes, divergent boundaries or river sedimentation.^[12] More than one factor may play into the formation of a peninsula. For example, in the case of Florida, continental drift, marine sediment, and marine transgressions were all contributing factors to its shape.^[13]

Glaciers

In the case of formation from glaciers (e.g., the Antarctic Peninsula or Cape Cod), peninsulas can be created due to glacial erosion, meltwater or deposition.^[14] If erosion formed the peninsula, softer and harder rocks were present, and since the glacier only erodes softer rock, it formed a basin.^[14] This may create peninsulas, and occurred for example in the Keweenaw Peninsula.^[14]

In the case of formation from meltwater, melting glaciers deposit sediment and form moraines, which act as dams for the meltwater.^[14] This may create bodies of water that surround the land, forming peninsulas.^[14]

If deposition formed the peninsula, the peninsula was composed of sedimentary rock, which was created from a large deposit of glacial drift.^[15]^[16] The hill of drift becomes a peninsula if the hill formed near water but was still connected to the mainland, for example during the formation of Cape Cod about 23,000 years ago.^[17]^[18]

Others

In the case of formation from volcanoes, when a volcano erupts magma near water, it may form a peninsula (e.g., the Alaskan Peninsula).^[15] Peninsulas formed from volcanoes are especially common when the volcano erupts near shallow water.^[19] Marine sediment may form peninsulas by the creation of limestone.^[20] A rift peninsula may form as a result of a divergent boundary in plate tectonics (e.g. the Arabian Peninsula),^[21]^[22] while a convergent boundary may also form peninsulas (e.g. Gibraltar or the Indian subcontinent).^[23] Peninsulas can also form due to sedimentation in rivers. When a river carrying sediment flows into an ocean, the sediment is deposited, forming a delta peninsula.^[24]

Marine transgressions (changes in sea level) may form peninsulas, but also may affect existing peninsulas. For example, the water level may change, which causes a peninsula to become an island during high water levels.^[25] Similarly, wet weather causing higher water levels make peninsulas appear smaller, while dry weather make them appear larger.^[26] Sea level rise from global warming will permanently reduce the size of some peninsulas over time.^[27]

Uses

Peninsulas are noted for their use as shelter for humans and Neanderthals.^[28] The landform is advantageous because it gives hunting access to both land and sea animals.^[28]They can also serve as markers of a nation's borders.^[29]

List of the largest peninsulas in the world

Rank	Peninsula	Continent	Subregion	Part of	Area		Nation(s)	Source
Rank	Peninsula	Continent	Subregion	Part of	(km²)	(sq mi)	Nation(s)	Source
1	Arabian Peninsula	Asia	West Asia	Arabia	3,100,000	1,200,000	Iraq (southern region) Jordan (southern region) Kuwait Oman Qatar Saudi Arabia United Arab Emirates Yemen	^[30]
2	Indochinese Peninsula		Southeast Asia	Mainland Southeast Asia	2,000,000	770,000	Cambodia Laos Malaysia (western region) Myanmar Thailand Vietnam	^[31]
3	Deccan Peninsula		South Asia	Indian Subcontinent	1,900,000	730,000	India (southern region)	^[32]
4	Labrador Peninsula	North America	Northern America	–	1,400,000	540,000	Canada (eastern region)	^[33]
5	Anatolian Peninsula	Asia	West Asia	Asia Minor	755,688	291,773	Turkey (Asian part)	^[34]
6	Scandinavian Peninsula	Europe	Northern Europe	Fennoscandia	750,000	290,000	Finland (northern region) Norway Sweden	^[35]
6	Somali Peninsula	Africa	East Africa	Horn of Africa	750,000	290,000	Ethiopia (eastern region) Somalia	^[36]
8	Balkan Peninsula	Europe	Southern Europe	South-eastern Europe	666,700	257,400	Albania Bosnia and Herzegovina Bulgaria Croatia (southern mainland) Greece (mainland) Kosovo Montenegro North Macedonia Romania (coastal region) Serbia (central region) Slovenia (south-western region) Turkey (European part)	^[37]
9	Iberian Peninsula	Europe	Southern Europe	South-western Europe	583,256	225,196	Andorra France (French Cerdagne) Gibraltar (United Kingdom) Portugal (mainland) Spain (mainland)	^[38]
10	Antarctic Peninsula	Antarctica	West Antarctica	–	522,000	202,000	–	^[39]
11	Taymyr Peninsula	Asia	North Asia	North Siberian Lowland	400,000	150,000	Russia (Krasnoyarsk Krai)	^[40]
12	Kamchatka Peninsula	Asia	North Asia	Russian Far East	370,000	140,000	Russia (Kamchatka Krai)	^[41]