Last updated: April 16th, 2025 at 2:11 pm · Est. Reading Time: < 1 minute
Two mountain ranges enhance the grace of the Arabian Peninsula. One stretches from north to south parallel to the shoreline of the Red Sea. The other runs from east to west along the coast of the Arabian Gulf. Both increase in height and width as they approach the south-western corner of the Arabian Peninsula. Their confluence creates what is called the Yemen Highlands
Some mountain peaks rise up to three thousand meters here. The southernmost peaks of this mountain chain in Asir rise up to three thousand meters. Their highest point, Jabl An-Nabi Shu’ayb (شعيب النبى جبل) in Yemen, is 3666 meters above sea level.
Climate
The Yemen Highlands are not arid. They receive up to thirty cm of rainfall per year, mainly due to monsoons that come from October through March from the Indian Ocean. This area supports terrace farming. The highlands of Yemen have even fewer clusters of Junipers and boast a hundred-kilometre-long river, Hajr (Wādi al Hajr الحجر وادى). That is the only river on the peninsula, though it is seasonal.
Further reading
Paul Sanlaville, “Geographic Introduction” in Roads of Arabia, ed. ‘Ali ibn Ibrāhīm Ghabbān, Beatrice Andre-Salvini Francoise Demange, Carine Juvin and Marianne Cotty, (Paris: Louvre, 2010), 55 – 68.
William Bayne Fisher, The Middle East. A Physical, Social and Regional Geography, London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1952.
History of Islam, Geography and Climate of Pre-Islamic Arabia, https://historyofislam.org/geography-and-climate/