ARABGIR, or ARABKIR (Byz. _Arabraces_), a town of Turkey in Asia in the
Mamuret el-Aziz or Kharput vilayet, situated near the confluence of the
eastern and western Euphrates, but some miles from the right bank of the
combined streams. Pop. about 20,000, of which the larger half is
Mussulman. It is connected with Sivas by a _chaussee_, prolonged to the
Euphrates. The inhabitants are enterprising and prosperous, many of them
leaving their native city to push their fortunes elsewhere, while of
those that remain the greater part is employed in the manufacture of
silk and cotton goods, or in the production of fruit. The present town
was built at a comparatively recent date; but about 2 m. north-east is
the old town, now called Eski-Shehr, given (c. 1021) to Senekherim of
Armenia by the emperor Basil II. It contains the ruins of a castle and
of several Seljuk mosques. The Armenian population suffered severely
during the massacres of 1895. (D. G. H.)
ARABIA, a peninsula in the south-west of Asia, lying between 34 deg. 30'
and 12 deg. 45' N., and 32 deg. 30' and 60 deg. E., is bounded W. by the
Red Sea, S. by the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean, and E. by the Gulf
of Oman and the Persian Gulf. Its northern or land boundary is more
difficult to define; most authorities, however, agree in taking it from
El Arish on the Mediterranean, along the southern border of Palestine,
between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba, then bending northwards
along the Syrian border nearly to Tadmur, thence eastwards to the edge
of the Euphrates valley near Anah, and thence south-east to the mouth of
the Shat el Arab at the head of the Persian Gulf,--the boundary so
defined includes the northern desert, which belongs geographically to
Arabia rather than to Syria; while on the same grounds lower Mesopotamia
and Irak, although occupied by an Arab population, are excluded.
In shape, the peninsula forms a rough trapezium, with its greatest
length from north-west to south-east. The length of its western side
from Port Said to Aden is 1500 m.; its base from the Straits of
Bab-el-Mandeb (or Bab al Mandab) to Ras el Had is 1300 m., its northern
side from Port Said to the Euphrates 600 m.; its total area
approximately 1,200,000 sq. m.