Saudi Islands

Saudi Islands are those located within the Kingdom's three waterfronts (the Red Sea, the Arabian Gulf, and the Gulf of Aqaba) with a total length of 3,800 km. They are different in terms of origin and composition. Most of them are coral in origin, while the others are either sandy, continental or volcanic.

The Kingdom has around 1,300 islands, 88.5 percent of which are located in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba (1,150 islands,) and 11.5 percent are situated in the Arabian Gulf (150 islands.) Tabuk and Makkah have the largest number of islands in the Kingdom.

The number of well-known and famous Saudi islands is 405, representing 35 percent of the total islands, and 376 of which are located in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, while twenty-nine islands are situated in the Arabian Gulf.

The size of the islands in Saudi Arabia varies between large, medium, small, and very small. The largest island is Farasan Island, which is located within the Farasan archipelago in the Red Sea, with an area of 380 km, in addition to Sajid Island, the second largest island in the Kingdom. The third largest island is Tiran Island, popularly known as Jazīrat Tīrān, followed by Sanafir Island. The Kingdom's largest islands in the Arabian Gulf are Abu Ali, al-Batina, Tarout, and Junna, which is locally pronounced as Qannah.

Similar to most of the island's characteristics, most of the Kingdom's islands are coral in origin, while the others are either sandy, continental or volcanic. The islands in the Kingdom have a flat surface, except for Tiran, Sanafir, Farasan and some other islands, where hills appear on their surface.

The majority of the Kingdom's islands are located near the coast, with the exception of those that are more than twenty-four NM away. There are about 184 islands in this case, and the most prominent one is al-Baghala which is the farthest from the coast at a distance of 57.8 NM. In the north, al-Wasl Island, known as Al-Humaidah, is the farthest from the coast. In the south, Ramin Island is the farthest from the Red Sea coast at 27.30 NM.

Although the majority of the Kingdom's islands are uninhabited, due to their climate, formation and scarcity of economic resources, except for a number of them, they are population centers, such as Farasan Island, Sajid and Qummah in the Red Sea, and some Arabian Gulf islands, such as Abu Ali, Tarout and Junna, known as Qannah.

Some Saudi islands have the potential to be attractive tourist areas for visitors, such as those with sandy beaches, mountain heights, vegetation and coral reefs. Some of these islands located in the Red Sea include Tiran, Sanafir, Jabal Hassan, Naaman and most of the Farasan archipelago. In the Persian Gulf, the most prominent tourist islands are Karan, Qannah, Abu Ali, "Al-Zakhnouniya" and Huwaisat.