The Largest Physical Regions on Earth

Basins, belts, steppes, and peninsulas, by area.

The planet's great physical regions — Siberia, Amazonia, the Sahel, the Eurasian Steppe, the Arabian Peninsula — ranked by area. These are the units the land itself suggests: a basin, a grass corridor, a rain shadow, a shelf of limestone.

#	Place	Area (sq mi)
1	The Arctic The circumpolar north, warming four times faster than the world	8,108,142 sq mi 21,000,000 km²
2	Siberia A tenth of the world's land, and the ground beneath it is thawing	5,057,936 sq mi 13,100,000 km²
3	The Eurasian Steppe The grass corridor that carried empires from Hungary to Manchuria	3,088,816 sq mi 8,000,000 km²
4	Amazonia The basin, the forest, and the flying rivers they make	2,586,883 sq mi 6,700,000 km²
5	The Australian Outback Seventy percent of a continent, and almost nobody in it	2,162,171 sq mi 5,600,000 km²
6	The Congo Basin The second great rainforest, and the peat beneath it	1,428,577 sq mi 3,700,000 km²
7	The Arabian Peninsula The largest peninsula on Earth, and it has no rivers	1,250,005 sq mi 3,237,500 km²
8	The Sahel The semi-arid belt where the Sahara frays into savanna	1,178,769 sq mi 3,053,000 km²
9	The Mediterranean Basin A rare climate, an inland sea, and five thousand years of use	805,023 sq mi 2,085,000 km²
10	The Great Plains The grass built the soil, and the plow found out	501,933 sq mi 1,300,000 km²
11	Patagonia Wind, ice, and the emptiest end of the Americas	402,704 sq mi 1,043,000 km²
12	The Pampas Soil deep enough to feed continents, flat enough to bore a surveyor	289,577 sq mi 750,000 km²
13	The Indo-Gangetic Plain The debris of the Himalayas, and a billion people living on it	270,271 sq mi 700,000 km²
14	The Iberian Peninsula A high, dry tableland walled off by the Pyrenees	225,196 sq mi 583,254 km²
15	The Yucatan Peninsula A limestone shelf, a buried crater, and water only underground	76,294 sq mi 197,600 km²

Place

Area (sq mi)

The Arctic
The circumpolar north, warming four times faster than the world

8,108,142 sq mi
21,000,000 km²

Siberia
A tenth of the world's land, and the ground beneath it is thawing

5,057,936 sq mi
13,100,000 km²

The Eurasian Steppe
The grass corridor that carried empires from Hungary to Manchuria

3,088,816 sq mi
8,000,000 km²

Amazonia
The basin, the forest, and the flying rivers they make

2,586,883 sq mi
6,700,000 km²

The Australian Outback
Seventy percent of a continent, and almost nobody in it

2,162,171 sq mi
5,600,000 km²

The Congo Basin
The second great rainforest, and the peat beneath it

1,428,577 sq mi
3,700,000 km²

The Arabian Peninsula
The largest peninsula on Earth, and it has no rivers

1,250,005 sq mi
3,237,500 km²

The Sahel
The semi-arid belt where the Sahara frays into savanna

1,178,769 sq mi
3,053,000 km²

The Mediterranean Basin
A rare climate, an inland sea, and five thousand years of use

805,023 sq mi
2,085,000 km²

The Great Plains
The grass built the soil, and the plow found out

501,933 sq mi
1,300,000 km²

Patagonia
Wind, ice, and the emptiest end of the Americas

402,704 sq mi
1,043,000 km²

The Pampas
Soil deep enough to feed continents, flat enough to bore a surveyor

289,577 sq mi
750,000 km²

The Indo-Gangetic Plain
The debris of the Himalayas, and a billion people living on it

270,271 sq mi
700,000 km²

The Iberian Peninsula
A high, dry tableland walled off by the Pyrenees

225,196 sq mi
583,254 km²

The Yucatan Peninsula
A limestone shelf, a buried crater, and water only underground

76,294 sq mi
197,600 km²

Figures are drawn from standard government and reference sources and shown in both imperial and metric units. See each entry for full details and citations. Browse all guides or open the explore map.