The Arabian Peninsula

The Baja California Peninsula, Mexico

A peninsula (Latin: paenīnsula, "paene-": almost + "īnsula": island; also called a byland or biland) is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland.^[1] The surrounding water is usually understood to belong to a single, contiguous body,^[2][3] but is not always explicitly defined as such.^[4] In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic, Hungarian, Chinese and Korean, peninsulas are called "half-islands".^{[citation needed]} A peninsula can also be a headland (head), cape, island promontory, bill, point, or spit.^[5] Note that a point is generally considered a tapering piece of land projecting into a body of water that is less prominent than a cape.^[6] In English, the plural of peninsula is peninsulas or, less commonly, peninsulae.

Oceania [edit]

Australia [edit]

A beach on the Mornington Peninsula

Looking north over the Kurnell Peninsula.

Papua New Guinea [edit]

New Zealand [edit]

In the North Island:

In the South Island:

Europe [edit]

• Europe is sometimes considered to be a large peninsula extending off Eurasia. It is composed of many peninsulas, the four main component peninsulas being the Iberian, Scandinavian, Italian, and Balkan peninsulas.

Balkan Peninsula [edit]

The Balkans is a peninsula including Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia and the European part of Turkey.

Denmark [edit]

Iberian Peninsula [edit]

Satellite view of the Iberian Peninsula

Encompassing continental Spain and Portugal, Andorra, British overseas territory of Gibraltar and a small amount of southern France.

Ireland [edit]

Italy [edit]

Satellite view of the famous boot shaped Italian Peninsula

• Italian Peninsula
• Calabria
• Penisola Salentina
• Promontorio del Gargano
• Sorrentine Peninsula
• Promontorio di Orbetello

Russia [edit]

Curonian Spit, a large peninsula in the Baltic Sea

• Chukotka Peninsula
• Curonian Spit, Kaliningrad Oblast (shared with Lithuania)
• Kamchatka Peninsula
• Kola Peninsula
• Rybachy Peninsula
• Samland peninsula, Kaliningrad Oblast
• Taymyr Peninsula
• Vistula Spit, Kaliningrad Oblast (shared with Poland)
• Yamal Peninsula

Scandinavian Peninsula [edit]

Encompassing present-day Sweden, Norway, and part of Finland.

Turkey [edit]

• Anatolian Peninsula
• Armutlu Peninsula
• Datça Peninsula
• Dilek Peninsula
• Gallipoli Peninsula
• Karaburun Peninsula
• Thracian Peninsula

United Kingdom [edit]

• During the great Ice Ages, all of Great Britain was a peninsula^{[citation needed]}, extending north west from the mainland of Europe/France. The English Channel did not exist at that time.

England [edit]

Scotland [edit]

Wales [edit]

Northern Ireland [edit]

Other countries in Europe [edit]

A small peninsula in Croatia

Au peninsula, Lake Zürich, Switzerland

• Absheron Peninsula, Azerbaijan
• Akranes, Iceland
• Au Peninsula, Au, Zurich, Switzerland
• Brittany, France
• Butjadingen, Germany
• Brøggerhalvøya, Svalbard
• Cotentin Peninsula, France
• Crimean peninsula, Ukraine
• Fischland-Darß-Zingst, Germany
• Hel Peninsula, Poland
• Kakumäe Peninsula, Estonia
• Karpass Peninsula, Cyprus
• North Holland, the Netherlands
• Sõrve Säär, Estonia
• Tihany, Hungary
• Walcheren, the Netherlands
• Zuid-Beveland, the Netherlands

Asia [edit]

China [edit]

Eastern Mediterranean [edit]

Indian subcontinent and South Asia [edit]

South India (Peninsular India).

• Indostanic Peninsula: The Indian subcontinent is itself a peninsula.
• Colaba peninsula, Mumbai
• Deccan peninsula
• Worli peninsula, Mumbai
• Kathiawar Peninsula, Gujarat
• Gwadar peninsula, Pakistan
• Jaffna Peninsula, Northern Sri Lanka

Indonesia [edit]

Iraq [edit]

• Al Faw Peninsula

Japan [edit]

Kyūshū [edit]

Honshū [edit]

Hokkaido [edit]

• Shiretoko Peninsula
• Shakotan Peninsula

Kazakhstan [edit]

• Mangyshlak Peninsula

Korea [edit]

Korean Peninsula.

The whole land mass encompassing North and South Korea is a peninsula, surrounded by the Sea of Japan on the east, the East China Sea to the south, and the Yellow Sea to the west, the Korea Strait connecting the first two bodies of water.

Malaysia [edit]

Persian Gulf [edit]

• Arabian Peninsula; Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, Oman
• Qatar
• Al-Faw Peninsula, Iraq
• Musandam Peninsula; Oman, United Arab Emirates

South East Asia [edit]

• Malay Peninsula
• Indochina Peninsula

Philippines [edit]

Vietnam [edit]

North America [edit]

Canada [edit]

Greenland [edit]

• Alfred Wegeners Halvo
• Hayes Halvo
• Ingnerit
• Nuussuaq Peninsula
• Sigguup Nunaa (Svartenhuk Halvø)

Mexico [edit]

The Yucatán Peninsula

• Baja California Peninsula, Mexico, containing the states of Baja California and Baja California Sur
• Yucatán Peninsula, partly separating the Gulf of Mexico from the Caribbean

United States [edit]

Alaska [edit]

California [edit]

Florida [edit]

The Floridian Peninsula, shown by a NASA satellite image.

Florida is a well-known example of a large peninsula, with its land area divided between the larger Florida peninsula and the smaller Florida panhandle on the north and west. It has several smaller peninsulas within it:

• The St. Johns River creates a large peninsula over 75 miles in length that stretches from eastern Jacksonville down to the border of Flagler and Volusia counties, where the river emanates from Lake George.
• Fairpoint Peninsula
• Pinellas peninsula including St. Petersburg and Clearwater
• Much of Tampa lies on a peninsula called Interbay Peninsula jutting out into Tampa Bay
• Cape Sable

Maryland [edit]

Mid-Atlantic shoreline showing, from the upper right, the Cape May Peninsula of New Jersey, Delaware Bay, the Delmarva Peninsula, and Chesapeake Bay. Also visible are the peninsulas of Maryland and Virginia along the Chesapeake's shores.

• Maryland shares the Delmarva Peninsula east of Chesapeake Bay with Delaware and Virginia.
• St. Mary's Peninsula is defined by the Patuxent River, the Potomac River, and Chesapeake Bay.
• Calvert Peninsula lies between Chesapeake Bay and the Patuxent River.
• Numerous smaller tidal tributaries form smaller peninsulas on both the Eastern and Western shores of Chesapeake Bay. Named examples include the Broadneck Peninsula in Anne Arundel County and the Elk Neck Peninsula in Cecil County.

Massachusetts [edit]

Cape Cod, a peninsula of Massachusetts

• Cape Cod, Massachusetts, a cape that can be viewed as a peninsula
• Nahant, a town in Essex County, is on a small peninsula.
• Nantasket Peninsula, Hull

Michigan [edit]

The large Michigan Peninsulas from space, showing both the Upper Peninsula and Lower Peninsula.

Michigan - the only bi-peninsular state - is very distinguishable for its mitten-shaped Lower Peninsula of Michigan which includes:

• Dyke Peninsula
• Fountain Point
• Leelanau Peninsula
• Old Mission Peninsula
• Presque Isle Peninsula
• The Thumb
• Woodtick Peninsula

The rifle-shaped Upper Peninsula of Michigan contains:

• Abbaye Peninsula
• Garden Peninsula
• Keweenaw Peninsula
• Stonington Peninsula

New Jersey [edit]

New York [edit]

Long Island, New York, with its North and South Forks.

Utah [edit]

Virginia [edit]

Washington [edit]

Other states [edit]

• Delmarva Peninsula, encompassing parts of Maryland and Virginia, and all of Delaware
• Door Peninsula, Wisconsin, in Lake Michigan
• Mokapu, Hawaii
• Presque Isle, Erie, Pennsylvania
• Port Bolivar, Texas, On the Texas Coast.
• Encinal Peninsula, Flour Bluff, Corpus Christi, Texas.

South America [edit]

• Tierra del Fuego of Chile/Argentina was once a peninsula extending south from South America during the great Ice Ages

Other countries in South America [edit]

Caribbean [edit]

Africa [edit]

The Somali peninsula.

Somalia [edit]

Ras Hafun.

• Horn of Africa or Somali peninsula, Somalia
• Raas Xaafuun peninsula/Ras Hafun, Somalia

Antarctica [edit]

References [edit]

External links [edit]

The dictionary definition of peninsula at Wiktionary
Media related to Peninsulas at Wikimedia Commons

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