Jordan, officially Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, formerly Transjordan, kingdom (31,189 sq mi/89,206 sq km; 1993 estimated population 4,150,000; 2004 estimated population 5,611,202), SW Asia, bordering Israel on the W, Syria on the N, Iraq on the NE, and Saudi Arabia on the E and S, (cap.) Amman; 31°00'N 36°00'E.
Geography
Major cities in Jordan include Zarqa, Irbid, Aqaba, Salt, and Al Karak (see Karak, Al ). In the Arab-Israeli War of 1967, Israel captured and occupied all of the territory of former Palestine seized by Jordan during the Israeli War of Independence in 1948 and formally annexed to the kingdom in 1950. The 1994 peace treaty between Israel and Jordan sets Jordan’s W boundary along the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, and the Wadi Araba except where the river enters the Dead Sea, and at the point where the river met the 1948 armistice line S of Beit Shean. The final determination of the boundary is to be made when Israeli and Palestinian authorities arrive at a lasting peace agreement. This territory is located W of the Jordan River and NW of the Dead Sea (the area known collectively as the West Bank), which comprises about 2,165 sq mi/5,607 sq km and includes Hebron, Jericho, and Nablus (for population and history, see West Bank). Annexation of the West Bank was recognized only by Britain and Pakistan, but not by the Arab League. Jordan is made up of a section (average elevation 2,500 ft/760 m) of the Arabian Plateau that includes part of the Syrian Desert in the NE. In the W part of the plateau are the Jordanian Highlands, and S of Ma’an near the Gulf of Aqaba is a mountainous region including Jabal Ramm (elevation 5,755 ft/1,754 m), Jordan’s loftiest point. Most of the uplands consists of barren, caleareous rock in advanced stages of soil erosion. Jordan’s most distinctive feature is the deep Jordan Valley, generally called the Ghor, which together with the saline Dead Sea and the Araba (an arid valley) forms a continuous depression to the Gulf of Aqaba on the Red Sea. This depression, part of the Great Rift Valley of Africa and the Near East, is 1,322 ft/403 m below sea level at the surface of the Dead Sea. Both sides are lined by steep cliffs. The E mountains rise to a height of 3,280 ft/1,000 m and then descend gently to merge with the Syrian Desert. The majority of the country’s population is concentrated in the N and central parts of this mountainous rim. The climate, influenced by the Mediterranean, has dry, hot summers; winters are mild and cool with occasional torrential rains.
Population
Until 1948, Jordan’s population was largely of Bedouin ancestry and more than half was nomadic. As a result of the Arab-Israeli war, refugees from Palestine have changed the country’s demographic character so that two-thirds of the populace is of Palestinian Arab origin. There are small minorities of Armenians and Circassians. Arabic, the official language, is spoken by virtually everyone. About 92% of the people are Sunni Muslims. Christians make up about 8% of the population, half of whom are Greek Orthodox.
Economy
Jordan’s economy is largely agricultural. Less than 10% of the country’s land is arable, although irrigation has been extended considerably, especially on the E side of the Jordan Valley by the diversion of the Yarmuk and other, smaller rivers. The principal crops of the valley are bananas, lentils, tomatoes, eggplants, and citrus fruits. They are grown under hothouse, drip-irrigation conditions. There is dry farming of wheat and barley on the plateau, and olives and grapes are also cultivated. Pastoralism (sheep and goat raising) has declined with the sedentation of the Bedouins. Manufacturing includes items such as food, beverages, clothing, construction materials (especially cement and glass), soap, dairy products, plastics, fertilizers, chemicals, and cigarettes. Most of the country’s industry is based in the Amman-Zarqa area. Numerous artisans make items of leather, wood, and metal. Phosphate rock and potash are produced in significant quantities. Oil was discovered in 1982, and hence a small oil and natural-gas industry has been developed, including petroleum refining. Tourism is of growing importance, especially in the Gulf of Aqaba resorts and in ancient sites. In addition to the Jordan, other important rivers include the Yarmuk (which partly flows along Jordan’s N border, abutting the Israeli and Syrian borders), Wadi Zarqa, Wadi el Mujib and Wadi Hasa. Jordan’s transportation system consists of a small network of all-weather roads and a railroad (formerly part of the Hijaz Railroad) that enters Jordan from Syria and runs S through Amman and has been extended to Aqaba (the country’s only seaport). In a territorial agreement with Saudi Arabia (1963), Jordan added 6.2 mi/10 km of coast, almost double the length of its outlet to the Gulf of Aqaba. A new highway running from Aqaba to Iraq has made trade and transportation more efficient. The principal imports are foodstuffs, textiles, machinery, iron and steel, and chemicals; the main exports are phosphates, tomatoes, and bananas. Jordan’s leading trade partners are the U.S., Iraq, India, and Saudi Arabia.
History to 1921
The region of present-day Jordan roughly corresponds to the biblical lands of (N-S) Gilead, Ammon, Moab, and Edom. The area was conquered by the Seleucids in the 4th century B.C. and was part of the Nabatean empire, whose capital was Petra, from the 1st century B.C. to the mid-1st century A.D., when it was captured by the Romans under Pompey. In the period between the 6th and 7th centuries it was the scene of considerable fighting between the Byzantine Empire and Persia. In the early 7th century the region was invaded by the Muslim Arabs, and after the Crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099, it became part of the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem. In 1516 the Ottoman Turks gained control of what is now Jordan, and it remained part of the Ottoman Empire until the 20th century. After the fall of the Ottoman Empire in World War I, the region came under (1919) the government of Faisal I, centered at Damascus. When Faisal was ejected by French troops in July 1920, Transjordan (as Jordan was then known) was made (1920) part of the British League of Nations mandate of Palestine.
History - 1921 to 1968
In 1921, Abdullah ibn Husain, a member of the Hashemite dynasty and the brother of Faisal, was made head of Transjordan, and later became king. By a treaty with Great Britain signed in 1946, it became (May 25) independent as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The Arab League (of which it was a part) entered into military conflict with the newly created Israel in 1948, and as a result Transjordan acquired the area of W central Palestine that the UN had designated as Arab territory. In April 1949, the country’s name was changed to Jordan, reflecting its acquisition of Palestinian lands. In December 1949, Jordan concluded an armistice with Israel, and early in 1950, it formally annexed the West Bank. The annexation of the West Bank increased Jordan’s population by about 550,000 persons, many of them homeless refugees from Israel. In 1951, Abdullah was assassinated in Jerusalem by a Palestinian and was succeeded the following year by his grandson, Hussein I. The next decade marked a period of tension and hostility not only with Israel, but also Jordan’s Arab neighbors, causing short-lived alliances and eventual U.S. and British intervention. In the mid-1960s, Jordanian politics were calm, the economy expanded as its international trade increased, and the kingdom was on good terms with Egypt (which had previously called for an overthrow of Jordan’s government). Despite Israeli attempts to persuade Jordan to abstain from battle, the nations became embroiled in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. As a result, Jordan was ejected from the West Bank area, which Israeli troops then occupied. A large number of Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan during and after the war.
History - 1968 to 1991
In 1968–1969 there were clashes along the frontier with Israel, but of greater significance was the growing hostility between the Jordanian government and the Palestinian guerrilla organizations operating in Jordan, culminating in a bloody ten-day civil war in September 1970. The Palestinians suffered heavy casualities, and many of them fled to Lebanon and Syria, which shifted the locus of the Palestinian refugee problem. In July 1971, the army carried out a successful offensive that destroyed the remaining guerrilla bases in Jordan. The kingdom played a minor role in the Arab-Israeli War of October 1973, sending a small number of troops to fight on the Syrian front. In 1974, Hussein complied with the Arab League’s ruling that the PLO (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was to be the single legitimate representative of the Palestinians. Jordan sided with Iraq in the Iran-Iraq War, despite Syrian threats, and supplied the country with large amounts of war materials via the port of Aqaba. In 1988, Hussein formally relinquished claim to the West Bank in acknowledgement of Palestinian sovereignty. He approved the creation of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank, and Arabs residing in that area lost their Jordanian citizenship. Plagued by serious economic problems since the mid-1980s, Jordan received increased U.S. economic aid in 1990.
History - 1991 to Present
However, the outbreak (1991) of the Persian Gulf War led to a repeal of U.S. aid to Jordan due to Hussein’s support of Iraq. Jordan also suffered a loss of aid from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait during the war. The country endured further economic hardship when approximately 700,000 Jordanian workers and refugees returned to Jordan as a result of the fighting in the Persian Gulf, causing housing and employment shortages. Jordanian trade relations with Iraq had been minimal due to international sanctions, which continued throughout 1992. Peace talks between Israel, Syria, Lebanon, and a joint Palestinian-Jordanian delegation began in August 1991, and lasted through the late 1990s. Under the 1952 constitution as amended, the most powerful political and military figure in the country is the king. He appoints a cabinet (headed by a prime minister), which is responsible to the bicameral parliament that consists of a forty-member senate (appointed by the king) and an eighty-member house of representatives (popularly elected to four-year terms). Administratively, the country is divided into eight governorates (muhafazat): Amman, Balqa, Irbid, Karak, Ma'an, Mafraq, Tafilah, and Zarqa; the governorates are further divided into districts and sub-districts. In 1994, Israel and Jordan signed a peace treaty, opening a new chapter of economic and political relations between the two countries.
Government
The chief of state is King Abdallah II. The head of government is Prime Minister Faisal al-Fayez (October 2003).
