When did the term ‘Arabia’ begin to refer to the Entire Peninsula?

1. Answer: 4th Century BC. A Result of terrible Greek Geography. Source: MCA Macdonald, Oxford University
2. Origin of the term ‘Arabian Peninsula’, M Macdonald. When Greeks learned of a landmass between the Red Sea & Gulf via Alexander’s sea expeditions, the whole landmass took the name of its known part in the North – Arabia. For Greeks, ‘Arabia’ originally referred to Eastern Egypt.

The term ‘Arabia’ was borrowed from the North and it was wrongly used to refer to the newly discovered Region. This completely disregarded how people in this region self-identified. The vast majority of inhabitants in this “Arabia” were not Arab and did not identify as such.