ABSTRACT
GEOGRAPHY Saudi Arabia is the largest country in the Middle East by area, covering 830,000 square miles (2.15 million square km). It sits in the middle of the Arabian Peninsula, with Yemen and Oman to the south; Kuwait, Iraq, and Jordan to the north; the Persian Gulf, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates to the east; and the Red Sea to the west. In the center of the country lies the Najd, a rocky plateau where the capital of Riyadh is located. Surrounding the Najd are a thousand square miles of some of the hottest and driest desert on the planet. To the south, there are mountains that receive regular rainfall.
