Language: Arabic, English
Currency: Jordanian dinar (JOD)
Calling Code: 962
Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
(Arabic: المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية, DMG al-Mamlaka al-Urdunniyya
al-Hāšimiyya), is a state in the Middle East. It borders Israel,
Palestine (the border is under Israeli control), Syria, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia and the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aqaba (where it has a maritime
border with Egypt). Jordan is one of the so-called Mashreq states.
The majority of the more than 11.5 million inhabitants are Sunni
Arabs. The capital and largest city is Amman.
Jordan was
founded during the First World War as a result of the Arab Revolt
against the Ottoman Empire. From 1921 to 1946 it existed as the
"Emirate of Transjordan", which was a British protectorate. In 1946
Jordan became independent, two years before the rest of the British
League of Nations mandate (now Israel and Palestine). Jordan then
entered into a decades-long military conflict with Israel over the
neighboring West Bank, which was only ended with a peace treaty in
1994. For some time now the country has been characterized by the
reception of many refugees; Jordan is the world's country with the
second highest proportion of refugees in its population (after
Lebanon, as of 2020).
The government of Jordan is a
constitutional monarchy, but the king has extensive executive and
legislative powers. Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League
and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The country has a high
human development index and is part of the group of
low-middle-income economies. Jordan's economy, one of the smallest
in the region, is attractive to foreign investors due to its skilled
workforce. The country is a major tourist destination and also
attracts medical tourists due to its well-developed health sector.
Nevertheless, a lack of natural resources, a large influx of
refugees and regional unrest have slowed economic growth.
Jordan can be divided into three major regions from west to east:
Jordan Rift. with the Dead Sea.
East Jordanian Mountains. this
mountain range reaches up to 1,754m high; the largest cities in the
country, Amman, Zarqa and Irbid, are also located here.
Desert
(الصحراء الشرقية (الأردن))
1 Amman
(عمان) – the capital.
2
Aqaba (العقبة) – on the Gulf of Aqaba, with
connections to the Red Sea and Sinai.
3
Irbid (إربد) – largest city in the north.
4 Ajloun (عجلون) – historical site with a fortress from the Crusader
period.
5
Madaba (مادبا) – known for the mosaic
map of Jerusalem.
6 Umm Qais (أم قيس) – the old Gadara and city on
the border of three states.
7 Umm El-Jimal (أم الجمال) – the
Nabataean city in the north built from black basalt stone.
8 Shoubak
(الشوبك) – site of the Crusader castle Montreal.
1 Bethany beyond the Jordan – or Al-Maghtas is the name of the
alleged baptism site of John the Baptist on the east bank of the Jordan.
2 Jerash – one of the largest and best preserved Roman ruins in the
Middle East.
3 Kerak – impressive Crusader castle.
4
Pella – the
city in the Jordan Valley belonged to the Decapolis League.
5
Petra –
Jordan's main attraction, a city carved out of the rock. One of the New
Wonders of the World.
9 Salt – historic town in the northwest of
Jordan.
10 Dead Sea – lowest point on earth and a sea in which you
cannot drown.
12 Wadi Rum – fascinating sandstone formations contrast
with desert sand. Filming location of Lawrence of Arabia.
Ajloun Castle or Ajlun Castle is located 50 km (31 mi) West of Amman in Jordan. This magnificent medieval stronghold is one of the best preserved fortresses in Jordan from the time of Crusades.
Dibeen Forest Reserve is located North- south of Jerash in Jordan. Dibeen Forest Reserve covers an area of 8.5 km2 (3.3 mi2).
Mount of Elijah or Tell Mar Elias is a famous site where ancient Jewish prophet Elijah lived for several years. According to a Bible he was fed by ravens who brought him bread.
Wadi Araba or just Araba is a picturesque valley in desert Wadi Rum, the driest and largest desert in Jordan.
Bethabara is also occasionally referred to as Bethany beyond the Jordan as opposed to Bethany near Jerusalem where Lazarus was resurrected by Jesus Christ.
Amman Although the new parts of the city provide all the comforts of the civilization it is usually the old part of Amman or Philadelphia that draws tourists, in particular the area of the city known as citadel.
Ashab al- Kahf or "cave of the sleeping" in Arabic is a legendary underground tomb in the South suburbs of Jordanian capital of Amman.
Qasr al Abd or Castle of the Slave is an ancient site most famous for an elaborate private residence of the governor of Jordan.
Umm ar- Rasas is particularly famous for Byzantine Christian churches that were built here in the late Antiquity and early Medieval Period.
Irbid is an ancient town in Jordan. It is famous for several layers of various civilization that left rich archeological record of its extended history.
Pella or Tabaqat Fahl as it is known today is an ancient settlement 130 km North of Amman in North- West in Jordan. It was part of the Decapolis cities.
Umm Qais or "Mother of Qais" in Arabic is an ancient city in the Irbid Governorate in North- West Jordan. In the ancient times it was known as Gadara.
Jerash is an ancient Roman archaeological site situated in Jerash Governorate of Jordan. It is second most visited tourist destination in the country after Petra.
Karak Castle was designed to protect the lands of Holy Land from the Muslim armies. In the movie “The Kingdom of Heaven” (2005) Karnak Castle was attacked by the armies of Saladin.
Lot's Cave is a religious complex built around natural cave. It is allegedly the same cave that was visited by Lot and his two daughters who came here after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah.
Montreal (Shobak) Castle was built in 1115 by the orders of king Baldwin I of Jerusalem to secure newly conquered lands in modern day Jordan including port city of Aqaba.
Moses Springs at Wadi Musa is a historic water source at the entrance to the town of Wadi Musa. According to legend Moses passed through these lands from Egypt to Canaan.
Petra or Rekem as is it was known to the ancients is a former capital of the Nabateaeans who rules these lands in the third century BC. It became famous as a setting place of one of the Indiana Jones movies.
Siq al- Berid is a historic archeological site that was open to the public fairly recently. It is nicknamed Little Petra due to its similar appearance and architecture.
Madaba Karak Castle was designed to protect the lands of Holy Land from the Muslim armies. In the movie “The Kingdom of Heaven” (2005) Karnak Castle was attacked by the armies of Saladin.
Machaerus Palace is a fortified palace constructed on top of a strategic hill by the Jewish king Alexander Jannaeus. Saint John the Baptist was imprisoned and later executed within its walls.
Main Hot Waterfalls is a unique natural health resort situated 30 km from the city of Madaba. It named after natural hot springs and waterfalls that emerge from the ground in this area.
Mount Nebo in Jordan is an alleged burial site of Moses and a resting place of Ark of the Covenant. From here Moses saw the Promised Land and died.
Mujib Nature Reserve is a protected area of picturesque canyon Wadi Mujib. Natural reserve was established in 1987 to protect one of few natural sources of water that flows to the Dead Sea.
Dana Nature Reserve covers an area of 308 km2 (119 mi2) of preserved biosphere that looks more like a majestic moon surface appearance.
Azraq Wetland Park is a nature reserve situated near a town of Azraq in the Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Azraq Wetland Park covers an area of 12 km2 (4.6 sq mi) that protect wetlands and its wildlife.
Qasr Amra or Quseir Amra is located in Zarqa Governorate in Jordan. Qasr Amra was constructed in 711- 715 AD by Umayyad caliph Walid I to support his power in the region.
Qasr Azraq or Blue Fortress is a ruined medieval stronghold located 100 km (62 miles) East of Amman in Jordan.
Qasr Kharana was constructed in 710 AD by Caliph Walid I. Although it is referred as a "castle" there is no single agreement on the purpose of the structure.
Entry requirements
Citizens from some Arab
countries do not need a visa to enter the country. Anyone who wants to
enter the country multiple times must apply for a visa in advance at a
foreign representation. In Central Europe, these are:
Consular
department of the Jordanian embassy, Heerstrasse 201, 13595 Berlin.
Tel.: +49 30 36 99 60 44. Download: application form. (The Munich
general consulate has been closed.)
Consular department of the
Jordanian embassy, Rennweg 17/4/2, 1030 Vienna. Tel.: +43 1 405 1026.
Download: application form. Also responsible for the Czech Republic,
Slovakia and Hungary. Open: Mon.-Fri. 9.30 a.m.-12.30 p.m.
Consular
department of the Jordanian embassy, Rue de Vermont 17, 1211 Geneva.
Tel.: +41 22 7482 000.
The fees are set uniformly, but the
consulates allow themselves more or less generous "conversion
surcharges," so the exact price should be inquired about. 1 entry (valid
for 1 month) 40JD, 2 entries (3 months) 60JD, multiple entries (6
months) 120JD.
Visa-on-arrival
For Europeans and citizens of
almost all non-African countries, there is a visa-on-arrival for a
single tourist entry (but not if you come over the Allenby Bridge). This
privilege also applies to those who need a visa but have a residence
permit for the Schengen area, Japan, the USA or the Gulf Cooperation
Council states that is valid for at least six months. On the other hand,
there are restrictions or interrogations upon entry for former citizens
of certain Arab states or Palestinians or Jordanians. If in doubt, a
consulate should be contacted in advance.
Everyone else needs a
visa, which they can obtain upon entry at the airport or at most border
crossings (see below for exceptions). A photo is taken and the
fingerprint stored upon entry. The visa fee must be paid in cash in
Jordanian dinars (JOD); it is 40JD for a single entry visa. There are
exchange offices at the border crossings.
Groups of more than
five participants on a tour with a Jordanian guide through a Jordanian
tour operator are exempt from visa costs if they stay at least two
nights.
Anyone who stays in transit at Amman airport for up to 24
hours can receive a free Zuwar transit visa to visit holy sites.
Departure tax
When leaving by land or sea, a fee of 10 JOD per person
plus 5 JOD per vehicle is payable. When leaving at the airport, the tax
is already included in the ticket price.
Extensions of stay
Even if a longer entry permit has been issued, an extension must be
approved by the police station responsible for the place of residence
before the first four weeks have elapsed if you wish to stay in the
country for another four weeks. This will only be granted if the entry
stamp is in the passport and not on a slip of paper, as is sometimes
granted at the Allenby Bridge. Extensions of up to six months are
possible, and a medical examination including an AIDS test may be
required.
Anyone who overstays their stay will be charged 1500JD
per day.
Free ASEZA visa
When entering the Aqaba Economic Zone
by land (from Eilat in Israel or from Saudi Arabia), sea (from Egypt) or
air, it seems possible to obtain a one-month free visa.
Customs
regulations
Cash in foreign currency can be carried up to 15,000JD,
but local currency can only be carried up to 50JD. Radios and
pornographic material are prohibited. Coral and antiques (anything older
than 100 years) may not be exported.
One liter of liquor or two
liters of wine and 200 cigarettes or 200 grams of tobacco are duty-free.
Airplane
Jordan has its own scheduled airline, Royal Jordanian
Airlines. Direct flights from Frankfurt are operated by Royal Jordanian
and Lufthansa and usually take 4 hours. Many other airlines can fly to
Amman from other airports in at least 8 hours. Turkish Airlines, British
Airways, Lufthansa, KLM and other companies offer these flights with a
stopover.
Queen Alia International Airport is Jordan's main
airport, which was built 35 km south of Amman (on the main road to
Aqaba) and replaced the old city airport of Amman-Marka. The bus ride to
the center of Amman takes about 45 minutes.
There are two other
international airports:
Marka International Airport in the east of
Amman, the old city airport is still used for cargo and VIP flights.
King Hussein International Airport in Aqaba (mostly charter flights,
including several every week from Brussels).
Train
The Jordan
Hejaz Railway is no longer used for general traffic, but is a heritage
railway. Trains used to run twice a week on the line between Damascus
and Amman. However, the train service has been interrupted since 2006;
it is unclear if and when it will ever be resumed. The Aqaba Railway
only carries freight.
Bus
There are several long-distance bus
lines from the surrounding countries.
Car/motorcycle/bicycle
A
direct journey with your own vehicle from Europe is not possible in 2018
due to the wars on the route.
Jordan is a signatory to the Geneva
Convention on International Driving Licenses. Traffic drives on the
right. A Carnet de Passages is not mandatory, but it is advisable.
Customs must be paid after three months. Permanent import of diesel cars
is not permitted. Liability insurance must be taken out at the border.
Border crossings
Crossing the land borders to Saudi Arabia and
Iraq (border crossing in Al Karamah) is unlikely to be practical in the
near future due to the restrictive entry policies of these countries.
Israel
There are three road crossings from Israel or the West
Bank:
Sheik Hussein Bridge (32° 29′ 49″ N 35° 34′ 31″ E). To
Irbid 42 km. On the R35 and 60: 92 km, on the R35: 117 km.
Near
Jericho is the Allenby Bridge / King Hussein Bridge (31° 52′ 27″ N 35°
32′ 27″ E). You can only enter Jordan with a visa that has been applied
for at the consulate beforehand. There is no visa-on-arrival here. Just
over 50 km to Amman.
Between Eilat and Aqaba is the Wadi Araba Border
Crossing (29° 34′ 30″ N 34° 58′ 42″ E) (معبر وادي عربة). Since 2016,
visa-on-arrival has only been available for Israelis. Taxi from the town
to the border costs around €10.
Israel charges a hefty exit tax
(2017: 105 or 176₪). The crossings are only open Monday to Thursday 8:00
a.m. to 8:00 p.m. and Friday and Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m./2:00
p.m.!
Syria
The border crossing at Jaber (مركز حدود جابر) /
Nassib (نصيب) (32° 31′ 47″ N 36° 12′ 3″ E) was reopened in October 2018.
On the R15 it is 88 km to Amman.
The border at Ramtha (32° 34′
48″ N 36° 2′ 34″ E) (مركز حدود الرمثا) was closed in 2011 and had not
reopened as of November 2018.
Ship
Jordan's only port city is
Aqaba, which is sometimes visited by cruise ships. There are ferry
connections from Egypt (Nuweiba, daily except Fridays and Saturdays at
around 12:00 by Arab Bridge Maritime (ABMaritime), one-way 900 EGP,
round trip 110 USD; Taba Heights, several times a week at around 13:30
by ABMaritime, round trip 90 USD) and from Suez and Jeddah (weekly).
By plane
The only domestic connection is between Amman and Aqaba.
By bus
Minibuses (service taxis or shared taxis) run between
smaller towns without a timetable, departing when the bus is full.
By road
The highways are in good condition, but this does not
apply equally to the drivers and vehicles. Several trucks and buses
drive with worn tires or defective brakes. In the more southern and
rural parts of the country, some drivers think they can see better
without lights. It is best not to drive outside the capital Amman after
dark. In Jordan, it is noticeable that the use of indicators is rather
rare and lanes, if they are still recognizable at all, are often
ignored, which can lead to spontaneous lane changes. It is also
unfortunate that many drivers use their cell phones while driving, which
leads to considerable distraction and can endanger road safety.
The main route is the Desert Highway, from Aqaba via Ma'an, Amman to
Damascus in Syria. The other route of interest to tourists is the Kings
Highway, a winding country road west of the Desert Highway. The Kings
Highway begins south of Amman and leads to Kerak, Madaba, Wadi Mujib and
Petra before rejoining the Desert Highway south of Ma'an.
When
driving, always keep to the speed limit. There are so-called sleeping
policemen, which are bumps in the road surface that can become
uncomfortable at high speeds. These can also be found on the motorways,
and they usually draw attention to residential areas in the immediate
vicinity, bus stops and road junctions. It is also unusual for Central
Europeans that you can turn left on motorways.
The Jordanian
police operate checkpoints at road junctions where regular checks are
carried out; police officers in their vehicles under sunroofs at the
side of the road keep an eye on the traffic. Many tourists experience a
comparatively uncomplicated police check. As a German tourist, you are
often only asked about your origin and occasionally for your vehicle
registration. Often, a quick look into the car is enough and you are
waved through in a friendly manner.
The minimum age for renting a
car is 21. Some companies do not rent to drivers older than 65.
In the event of an accident, the driver is always assumed to be at fault
if he or she hits a pedestrian. After an accident, passports and driving
licenses are confiscated and the processing of a case takes several
weeks.
Finding (free) parking spaces is usually not a problem.
The tourist hotspots often have large visitor parking lots and parking
on the side of the road is possible almost everywhere, including in the
center of Amman
Arabic is the official language in Jordan. Almost all signs, shops, etc. are also translated into English. The new Arabic numbers, as they are known in Europe, are also used for price information. Many people speak English, which is more or less good depending on the region. Some also speak German or French.
For € 1 you get 0.75181JD (23 Feb 2023). Cash is exchanged by banks
and official exchange offices, and some hotels also offer this service
(with worse rates). Credit cards are accepted by some hotels and shops.
You can now withdraw money from many ATMs using an EC (Maestro) card. It
should be noted that many ATMs either do not work at all or do not
dispense money despite correct entry. The maximum amount for withdrawals
from the ATM is 250JD. The fee for a withdrawal is around 4-6€, but can
vary depending on the bank.
Cash is still used a lot in the
country. Larger hotels and some shops in tourist centers accept credit
cards. Usually only cash is accepted, you should ask beforehand if you
want to pay differently. Even with larger bills, you often have
difficulties; you should change 50 JOD and 20 JOD bills quickly and
stock up on 1 JOD and 5 JOD bills.
The average monthly wage in
2022 is €689.
The US dollar is welcome as a substitute currency
and is accepted almost everywhere (roughly estimated exchange rate: 4
USD for 3 JOD); it is important to note whether the prices are quoted
and indicated in dollars or dinars.
There is a counter at the
airport for refunding VAT paid; the minimum purchase amount is 50 JD,
and the shops must have stamped the purchase receipts (details at
jo.premiertaxfree.com)
In many places, prices are negotiated at
markets and souvenir stalls, and the starting prices are often several
times higher than the real value. In the large tourist centers,
especially in Petra, the prices for souvenirs, headscarves, etc. are
much higher than in the provinces. There are numerous rest stops along
the Desert Highway where, in addition to the café bar and toilet, there
is also a souvenir shop where you can browse. The prices here are often
excellent, sometimes with fixed discounts. It is worth keeping the
prices of the most important souvenirs in mind when you are bombarded by
souvenir sellers in places frequented by tourists.
Jordanian cuisine is similar to that of its neighbouring countries.
Flatbread (called khobez) is sold in bakeries for little money. It is
very tasty when fresh, but loses flavour when it dries out.
Coffee is - as in other Arab countries - spiced with cardamom as Arab
Coffeee and is served freshly brewed, with a different amount of sugar
added as desired. The coffee is left to cool in the cup until the
grounds have settled. Thinner Nescafé is often offered as American
coffee, espresso is the Italian equivalent and the term cappuccino is
more of a type of milk coffee than the Italian espresso with milk foam.
Tea is served generously by the Bedouins and is usually heavily
sweetened; a swirl of the tea glass indicates that you do not want a
refill. Black cumin is one of the spices that is also a must in
Jordanian cuisine.
Flatbread and hummus and sometimes falafel are
served for breakfast in Jordan. In addition to hummus, fresh vegetables
such as cucumbers and tomatoes, local yoghurt and cream cheese,
breakfast buffets in hotels and restaurants usually also include the
usual European breakfast rolls, cheese and jam, cereal mixes and corn
flakes with milk and various egg preparations.
For lunch, rice or
couscous with grilled meat (chicken or lamb) is served, along with a
selection of fresh vegetables or salad. Hummus, cream cheese or yoghurt
sauces are served with the salad.
The classic national dish is
mansaf, grilled lamb is arranged on a bed of rice and served with
yoghurt sauce. All guests help themselves from the large plates
together, and the traditional way of eating is with the (right) hand.
Mezze, the starters typical of the Levant, which are served on
numerous small plates, can be found (not only) in Lebanese restaurants.
With meals, people drink water, sometimes with lemon and fresh mint, or
fruit juice. Alcoholic drinks, beer and wine, are usually only offered
in the restaurants of the international hotel chains that are aimed at
tourists.
For dessert, fruits, figs or dates are served, as well
as Kanafeh (melted (sheep's / goat's) cheese with a sweet crust of pasta
threads and pistachios, covered in sugar syrup) or Karufa, a sweet
pastry with nuts.
As in the whole of the Levant, there are
numerous snack bars in Jordan with the local "fast food" variants such
as Shawerma (which corresponds to the Turkish doner kebab and the Greek
gyros) and falafel. Well-known local chains are:
Abu Jbarah: famous
for its falafel
Al-Daya'a: sandwiches and dishes with Shawerma
(Arabic doner kebab).
As everywhere, the cities here have
international fast food chains such as McDonald's, Pizza Hut and Burger
King. Restaurants serving Western cuisine are not difficult to find, the
most popular and expensive being in luxury hotels. Italian restaurants
and pizzerias are plentiful in Amman, Madaba and Aqaba.
Prices in
2018: A 1½-litre bottle of drinking water costs 350-600 fils. A simple
meal costs 4-8JD. A better restaurant for two costs around 30JD.
Although Jordan is an Islamic state, there are discos, nightclubs and
bars in Amman. Some restaurants also serve alcoholic drinks such as beer
and wine. Alcohol can be bought in bars and hotels as well as in some
supermarkets, although these only have a limited selection. In liquor
stores, on the other hand, you have a very large selection of all kinds
of alcoholic drinks from international brands. You can also buy many
different beers there. This includes the Jordanian Amstel beer as well
as Becks, Heineken, etc. Jordanian wine, mostly from Mount Nebo, is also
very good. All alcohol is permitted from the age of 18.
“Rainbow
Street” in Amman is the pulsating life of young people at night. In
addition to bars, there are also shisha lounges, etc. The street is one
of the tolerant and western streets in Amman. As is Abdoun.
There is a large selection of hotels and Air-BnB accommodations. Prices are comparable to those in German cities. There are many luxurious hotels, such as the Rotana, which is located in the very modern Abdali area. International chains are represented.
In Jordan, you can move around relatively safely; the risks are
certainly no higher than in Western countries. Security measures include
scanning your luggage after (!) landing and before leaving (!) the
airport. Shopping malls and hotels also undergo (very superficial)
checks (metal detectors, pat-downs) every time you enter.
There
is a very high police presence on the streets and highways (checkpoints
and police cars that monitor the flow of traffic under sunroofs) and
some residential areas are partly guarded. You should be careful not to
accidentally photograph officers.
Health care is considered to be the best in the Arab world. State
hospitals are of Western standards. One of the greatest health risks is
being involved in a traffic accident. Be careful, check the condition of
the vehicle and avoid driving in the dark.
Other health risks:
Tap water or ice cubes made from tap water
Salad and herbs - these
are difficult to wash and can cause stomach upset. Jordanian dishes such
as tabbouleh are delicious and nutritious, but you should get used to
the foreign food slowly.
The best time to travel is from April to May and from September to
November, when temperatures are more pleasant with an average of 6-12
hours of sunshine and few rainy days. The rainy season in winter is from
November to February.
It is very hot in summer, but the main
attractions are less crowded.
There are beaches in Aqaba and on the Dead Sea. Locals often go into
the water fully clothed, only at the pools of the large hotels can
western bathing habits be maintained. You should always wear bathing
shoes on public beaches, and not just because of sea urchins or corals.
Despite all its openness compared to other Islamic countries, Jordan
is characterized by its Islamic traditions and rules of conduct. Women
travelling alone are a special case and deserve special attention. It is
advisable to wear discreet clothing, arms and legs should be covered
(long, airy clothing also keeps you cooler). Wearing a wedding ring
often helps to avoid certain questions. Travelling itself is not a
problem.
Tips
0.5–1JD for individual services such as porters
or chambermaids per day. In taxis, the amount is rounded up. Bakshish
fishing is much less common than in Egypt.
Entry fees for antiquities for foreigners are eight to twenty times the local prices.
Three mobile phone providers operate in Jordan, Zain, Umniah and
Orange. These providers each have sales kiosks in Amman airport, making
it easy for travellers to purchase a SIM card or mobile phone plan after
their arrival. However, it is advisable to find out about the current
tariffs and offers of the mobile phone providers before travelling. This
is because some sellers at the airport take advantage of tourists'
ignorance and sell them more expensive tariffs. Researching in advance
can help avoid unnecessary costs and ensure that you choose the mobile
phone plan that best suits your needs. Although providers have roaming
agreements with foreign providers, it is probably cheaper for most
travelers to buy a new SIM card locally.
Coverage is very good in
the cities, but reception is limited in the desert. Data connections are
possible, although not every Jordanian provider offers this for every
German provider. Details should be requested from the respective
provider.
In the border town of Aqaba (Jordan, Israel, Egypt,
Saudi Arabia), the Telekom shops are specialists in dual-SIM cell
phones.
The history of Jordan covers the developments in the area of the
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan from prehistoric times to the present day.
It can be traced back to the beginning of continuous human settlement
around 10,000 BC. Semitic peoples lived in the area of today's Kingdom
of Jordan east of the Jordan. In the Late Bronze Age from around 1200
BC, the Semitic peoples of the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites formed
the first state-like structures east of the Jordan. The first cities
emerged. In the 8th century BC, the area came under Assyrian rule. From
the 6th century, the Babylonians and Persians expanded their empires to
the area east of the Jordan. From the 5th century, the Nabataeans
migrated from the south. Their empire was an advanced civilization. The
Greco-Macedonian Ptolemies took over after the Greeks defeated the
Persians in 332 BC. The Nabataean Empire ruled over Petra in 63 BC. The
area later came under the rule of the Seleucids. The magnificent cities
of Gerasa, Pella and Gadera were built. The Decapolis League placed
itself under the protection of Rome in 63 BC. The Nabataeans established
a kingdom under Roman protection with Petra as its capital. The Roman
province of Arabia Petrae was formed in 106 AD under the Roman Emperor
Trajan. The Arab nomadic Bedouins attacked the Roman province several
times. After the division of the empire in 395 AD, the province came
under the Byzantine Empire. After the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, the East
Bank fell to the Arab-Islamic Empire. The Arabs settled in the East Bank
and Islam spread. The Christian Crusaders advanced into the East Bank in
1107. From 1250 to 1516, the area was part of the province of Syria and
part of the Mamluk Empire. From 1517 to 1918, it was part of the Ottoman
Empire. After the First World War, the British League of Nations Mandate
of Palestine was founded in 1920, which also included the area east of
the Jordan. In 1923, the East Bank was formed as the British League of
Nations Mandate of Transjordan. It was an emirate under the Hashemite
dynasty.
In 1946, it gained independence as the Kingdom of
Transjordan. In 1948, it concluded a military pact with Great Britain.
From 1948 to 1949, the state took part in the war of the other Arab
states against Israel, which was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. Transjordan
gained the West Bank and East Jerusalem, the Arab states lost the war
and over 400,000 Arab refugees from Palestine were taken in by Jordan.
In April 1950, Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem and was
renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. After the Suez Crisis in
October/November 1956, the USA became Jordan's main ally. In the Six-Day
War against Israel in June 1967, Jordan lost control of the West Bank
and East Jerusalem. Another 400,000 Palestinian refugees were taken in
by Jordan. In a civil war in September 1970, the Jordanian army drove
the PLO out of the country. From August 1988, Jordan finally renounced
its claim to the West Bank and East Jerusalem. In 1994, Jordan and
Israel signed a peace treaty.
According to the latest archaeological finds, continuous human
settlement has been proven for over 10,000 years since the Mesolithic
period in parts of what is now Jordan. Nomadic and sedentary lifestyles
mostly existed side by side. In ʿAin Ghazal, in the northwest of the
country and within the Fertile Crescent, one of the oldest and largest
settlements of an agricultural culture was found. It was inhabited from
around 7300 to 5000 BCE. This archaeological site became world famous
through the discovery of some larger human figures, which were not made
of ceramics but of lime clay. The finds are in the Jordan National
Museum in nearby Amman. ʿAin Ghazal is an important site of the
pre-ceramic Neolithic period.
In the Late Bronze Age from around
1200 BCE, human settlements were found in the area. In the 4th century
BC, the Ammonites, Moabites and Edomites created the first state-like
structures east of the Jordan. They fought against the Israelite tribes,
some of which also advanced into the East Jordan, and also among
themselves. During this time, cities were created that still exist
today, including the Jordanian capital Amman. These tribes belonged to
the Semitic peoples. The Ammonites also settled east of the Jordan in
the area of the Jordanian capital Amman. They believed in a religion
with several gods and were related to the Israelites. In 1030 BC they
founded their state. King David subjugated the Ammonites, who also
adopted the Israeli religion. After the Kingdom of Israel split up after
King Solomon's death, Ammon fell to the Northern Kingdom of Israel. The
Ammonite tribe split off from the Northern Kingdom. They reintroduced a
polytheistic religion. It lasted until the 2nd century BC.
The
kingdom of Moab was in Palestine and partly east of the Jordan. It was
also a Semitic one. In the 9th century BC, the state of Moab was
created. It came under Assyrian tributary sovereignty. The Moabites
introduced a polytheistic religion.
The Edomites settled on both
sides of the Jordan in the Jordan Valley. They were considered to be the
descendants of Esau. They first formed a state in the 12th century BC.
They were subjugated by the Israelites under King David and later came
under the southern kingdom of Judah. In 850 BC, Edom split off from
the kingdom of Judah and declared itself a kingdom. The Edomites
introduced a new religion with the main god Qaus and several gods. The
kingdom of Edom came under Assyrian rule and became a tributary state.
In the 8th century BC, the eastern Jordan fell under the sphere of influence of the Assyrians. After the destruction of the Assyrian Empire by the Babylonians, the Babylonians conquered Judah and Israel and Jerusalem in 587 BC and brought the East Jordan under their control. The Babylonians introduced their religion and their society with slaves. In 539 BC the Persians conquered Babylon, destroyed the Babylonian Empire and brought the provinces east of the Jordan under their control. They allowed the subjugated peoples to practice their religion. Around 550 BC the Nabataeans migrated from the south into the land east of the Jordan. They temporarily expanded as far as Syria, but their core settlement area remained limited to Petra, southern Jordan and parts of what is now southern Israel and northwestern Saudi Arabia. They were an Arab nomadic people. The religion recognized several gods, Dushara was the main god, al-Uzza the main goddess. The Nabataeans controlled the trade routes in the desert and to Arabia as caravan traders. They traded in frankincense, myrrh and other select spices, which they brought to the sea on trade routes. The Nabataeans extracted tar from the Dead Sea. This was used for embalming. The Nabataeans drove out the Edmites, who migrated to Palestine. Later they built rock houses with the centre in Petra. A high culture emerged. After Alexander's conquest of Tyre and his victory over the Persians in 332 BC, the Ptolemies and then the Seleucids took power. Greek culture and Hellenistic influences spread. Under the Seleucid rule, magnificent cities such as Gerasa (Jerash), Pella (Tabaqat Fahl) and Gadara were built. The Nabataeans were under the supremacy of the Persians, Ptolemies and the Seleucids at that time.
Initially, the Nabataean settlement area was under the sovereignty of the Ptolemies and later the Seleucids. Around 150 BC, the Nabataeans united to form a kingdom that stretched from the Sinai Peninsula to northern Arabia. The first king was Aretas I. Under his rule, the Nabataeans were able to free themselves from Seleucid sovereignty. In 85 BC, they conquered Damascus. They introduced an irrigation system in the desert that could be used to irrigate agricultural land. After the Romans under Pompey advanced into Palestine in 63 BC, the 10 cities of Decapolis joined together in a league that placed itself under Roman protection. The Nabataeans became vassals of the Roman Empire. The Nabataean king Aretas IV was able to preserve the unity of his empire and the Romans left him in office.
After the Roman annexation of the Nabataean Empire with its capital Petra, Emperor Trajan established the province of Arabia Petraea in 106. The first Arab Bedouins, nomads, invaded the province. After the Jews were expelled from Palestine, the Romans settled Arabs in Palestine.
In late antiquity, the area east of the Jordan served the Roman Empire as a buffer zone against Bedouin attacks. The Romans fended off Bedouin attacks. During the Byzantine era, the region was under the influence of the Ghassanids. The Christian Byzantine emperors promoted the Christianization of the Nabataean population. Christianity became the state religion.
After the Battle of Yarmouk in 636, eastern Jordan fell under the rule of Islam, initially under the Umayyad dynasty in Damascus, and from 750 under the Abbasids in Baghdad. The Umayyads first introduced the caliphate in Mecca. The caliph was the spiritual and state leader. The Bedouin population was converted to Islam. Several desert castles from the Abbasid era have been preserved, most of them east of the capital Amman. The Sunni faith prevailed in the East Bank. Arabs also settled down. Arab merchants controlled the trade routes. The Abbasids were Shiites under Persian influence. From 1107 onwards, the Christian crusaders penetrated the East Bank from Jerusalem. Ruins of crusader castles built by the crusaders to ward off Bedouin attacks and to monitor the trade and pilgrimage routes from Damascus to Arabia can be found in Montreal, on the now Egyptian Pharaoh Island near Aqaba and in Karak. With the decline of the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, the East Bank came under Islamic rule again.
From 1250 to 1516, the area was part of the province of Syria and was ruled by the Mamelukes, who had their centre in Egypt.
It was then part of the Ottoman Empire of the Turks until 1918. During this period, the region hardly developed, as is also indicated by the sparse buildings from this period. The new centre was Anatolia and Asia Minor. The Ottomans also established a caliphate in Istanbul, formerly Constantinople. This only changed at the end of the 19th century, when soldiers of the Ottoman army under the leadership of the German engineer Heinrich August Meissner built the Hejaz Railway from Damascus to Medina.
The current Jordanian state developed as a result of European
colonial policy in the 19th and 20th centuries. The two main actors,
Great Britain and France, pushed the weakened Ottoman Empire back more
and more in the 19th century and expanded their political influence in
the Levant and Mesopotamia. A key tactic was to forge alliances with
dissatisfied local leaders and social groups and thus instrumentalize
them for their own interests.
During the First World War, England
promised the Hashemite Sharif Hussein of Mecca, the father of the later
first King of Jordan, a kingdom of his own if he joined forces with the
British against the Ottomans. This led to the Arab Revolt, which began
in 1916 and was co-led by the British intelligence agent T. E. Lawrence.
At the same time, Great Britain and France also secretly agreed in 1915
in the so-called Sykes-Picot Agreement on the division of the Middle
East after the end of the World War and the expected collapse of the
Ottoman Empire. On January 6, 1919, Faisal and the President of the
World Zionist Congress Chaim Weizmann signed an agreement on cooperation
in the establishment of an Arab state in Palestine and the establishment
of a Jewish homeland in Palestine, the Weizmann-Faisal Agreement. The
area east of the Jordan fell under British administration as part of the
League of Nations Mandate for Palestine at the Sanremo Conference in
1920. In 1921, Great Britain appointed the son of the Sherif of Mecca,
Abdullah Ibn al-Hussein, as Emir of Transjordan. He ensured that the
National Jewish Home should only be established west of the Jordan. The
British Mandate administration agreed to this.
On March 25, 1923, the mandatory power Great Britain declared Transjordan an independent emirate under British mandate administration of the League of Nations and separated it from the Mandate of Palestine. The Arab Legion was set up under the leadership of British officers with Jordanian soldiers. General John Glubb led the Arab Legion since 1931. Emir Abdullah pursued a pro-British policy. In World War II, the Arab Legion fought on the side of Great Britain against the Axis powers of the German Reich and Italy. Transjordan was one of the founding states of the Arab League in March 1945.
On May 22, 1946, Transjordan gained independence from the mandatory power Great Britain. Abdullah assumed the title of king on May 25, and the state was called the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The Jordanian army remained under British control. In 1948, Great Britain and Transjordan concluded a military pact. British troops remained in return for subsidies. Transjordan took part in the 1st Arab-Israeli War from May 1948 to 1949. The Jordanian army received British arms deliveries. Together with the other Arab armies of Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and Iraq and Arab irregulars in Palestine, the Jordanian army fought against the State of Israel, which was proclaimed on May 14, 1948, with the new army, which was supported by the USA, France and the USSR. Jordanian troops occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem with the Old City. In January 1949, a final ceasefire was agreed on the Israeli-Jordanian front. On April 3, 1949, representatives of Israel and Transjordan signed the ceasefire agreement. The Jordanian army remained stationed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. During the war and afterward, more than 400,000 Arabs from Palestine fled the new state of Israel to the Jordanian-controlled West Bank and Transjordan.
On April 24, 1950, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan was proclaimed,
annexing the West Bank and East Jerusalem.[33] Jordan thereby increased
its area to 97,639 km².[34] Pro-Jordanian Palestinian politicians and
notables agreed to the annexation of the Jordanian-occupied territories
of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. Nationalist Palestinian forces
announced resistance to the annexation. The Palestine refugees and
Palestinians were granted Jordanian citizenship. With the West Bank,
Jordan had agricultural resources and a developed urban center. In July
1951, King Abdullah I was the victim of an assassination attempt in East
Jerusalem because of his pro-Israel stance. His son Talal became the new
king. On January 8, 1952, a new constitution was passed: Jordan is a
constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The king has
extensive powers. Due to illness, King Talal abdicated in September 1952
in favor of his then underage son Hussein bin Talal. He ascended the
throne on May 2, 1953 as Hussein I. Border incidents occurred on the
Israeli-Jordanian border after Palestinian rebels attacked Israeli
fortified villages. Israeli troops advanced into Jordanian territory.
During the Suez Crisis in November 1956, Palestinians in particular rose
up against the pro-Western and pro-British policies. On November 4,
1956, General Glubb Pasha was dismissed and the military pact with Great
Britain was terminated. The British troops withdrew from Jordan. King
Hussein I moved closer to the USA. When anti-monarchist leftists and
nationalists won the majority in the Jordanian parliamentary elections,
King Hussein I dissolved parliament. There had been no parliamentary
elections since 1957. On 14 February 1958, the kingdoms of Iraq and
Jordan united to form the Arab Federation, after Egypt under Nasser and
Syria under Arab socialist regimes united to form the United Arab
Republic (UAR) in February 1958. After the revolution in Iraq on 14 July
1958, the Arab Federation was dissolved on 15 July 1958. King Hussein I
sought support from royalist extended Jordanian families and especially
from the Bedouin tribes. Nationalists and anti-monarchist Palestinian
forces fought against the Hashemite monarchy and carried out several
assassination attempts against King Hussein I. He survived these. Since
1965, Palestinian rebels have been attacking Israeli positions from
Jordan. Israeli troops invaded the West Bank in retaliation. On August
10, 1965, Saudi Arabia and Jordan signed an agreement to exchange
territory. Jordan received an area near Aqaba, which was important as a
coastal area, and areas in the desert, and ceded desert areas to Saudi
Arabia. In the 1950s and 1960s, there was a dispute between Israel,
Syria and Jordan over the Jordan River water. In the 1960s, Israel
diverted the Jordan River water. This led to protests from the Arab
states. During the Six-Day War from June 5, 1967, Jordan took part in
the war against Israel on the side of the Arab states. King Hussein
declared martial law in Jordan. On June 5, the Israeli Air Force
destroyed the Jordanian Air Force. Israeli ground troops entered the Old
City of Jerusalem and captured East Jerusalem on June 5 after fierce
resistance from the Jordanian army and Palestinian fighters. By June 7,
they had captured the entire West Bank. A ceasefire was agreed. Iraqi
troops were stationed in Jordan east of the Jordan. Around 400,000
Palestinians fled to Jordan. The West Bank and East Jerusalem came under
Israeli occupation. Jordan thus lost the economically important West
Bank. The prisoners of war were exchanged. After that, tensions between
the Jordanian monarchy and the Palestinian terrorist groups and
resistance movements increased. After the merger of the Palestine
Liberation Organization (PLO) with Al-Fatah under Yasser Arafat in
February 1969, the PLO headquarters was opened in Amman. The PLO carried
out military operations against Israel from Jordan. Since 1968, Israeli
troops have carried out retaliatory actions against the PLO in Jordan.
The PLO established a state within a state in Jordan. In September 1970,
the Marxist PFLP hijacked several planes to Jordan.
On September
16, 1970, the PLO proclaimed the People's Government in Irbid. King
Hussein I then ordered the deployment of the army against the PLO. This
led to the outbreak of civil war in Jordan on September 17 (Black
September uprising). The Jordanian army took action against the PLO in
the capital Amman and various parts of the country. The first offensive
failed. The Syrian army intervened in the civil war on the side of the
PLO and entered Jordan on September 20. The Iraqi troops stationed in
Jordan remained neutral. On September 22, the Jordanian Air Force
attacked the Syrian troops with heavy air strikes. The Jordanian army
was successful. The Syrian troops withdrew again on September 23. The
Jordanian army took action against the PLO. A ceasefire was agreed on
September 27, 1970. The PLO withdrew from Jordan. Numerous Palestinian
resistance fighters were arrested. In January 1971, Prime Minister Wasfi
at-Tall was assassinated by Black September (a terrorist organization).
In 1971, the last Palestinian resistance cells in Jordan were crushed.
In 1972, King Hussein proposed the establishment of a
Jordanian-Palestinian federation consisting of Jordan, the West Bank
with East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip. The Arab League, the PLO, and
the Israeli government rejected this proposal. During the Yom Kippur War
(6-25 October 1973), a Jordanian brigade fought on the Golan Heights in
Syria. After the war, Iraqi troops withdrew from Jordan. Jordanian units
withdrew from Syria. At the Geneva Middle East Conference on 21-22. In
December 1973, Egypt and Jordan took part as representatives of the Arab
states and Israel, and UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and the
foreign ministers of the USA, Henry Kissinger, and the USSR, Andrei
Gromyko, took part as mediators. The conference was adjourned without
results. Syria did not take part because the PLO was not recognized as a
negotiating partner.
After the PLO was declared the
representative of the Palestinians in the Arab League in October 1974,
King Hussein I issued a statement on 4 November 1974 that the PLO was
the representative of the Palestinians and the PLO was involved in
Jordan's actions. A comprehensive travel program was approved for East
Jordan. Jordan has no short-term reserves and little soil, including
phosphorus. A completely different land can be obtained through the
wrath of talk. The Jordanians supported the registration of the PLO with
the UN as beneficiaries in November 1974. The EU and Jordan closed the
association meeting on 18 January 1977. Jordan received the
Israeli-Egyptian diplomatic transfer from 26 March 1979 and opened
Egyptian diplomatic missions after the Arab League withdrew from the
country and the Egyptian military establishment was closed in March
1979. Jordan lives in Iraq under the regime of Saddam Hussein and
suffers from the consequences of the war with Iran in 1980-1988. In
August 1982, the PLO attacked Beirut in Lebanon under the leadership of
the multinational French forces, which also evacuated to Jordan. The
Jordanian government is based on the Reagan plan, which is the basis of
the Jordanian-Palestinian fund with the territory of Jordan, West
Jordan, East Jerusalem and Gaza. The Israeli army should be returned
with the help of the Friedensvertrag. Only the Egyptian government
supports this plan. The Israeli government is responsible for this.
Immediately after Fez, which took place from September 6 to 9, 1982, all
member states of the Arab League outside Libya announced the planned
withdrawal of Fez. This means that the basis for this is the
unacceptable Palestinian states in West Jordan, East Jerusalem and the
Gaza Strip. The Arab states were also close to Israel, but the Israeli
authorities were notified and Israel was notified if the Arab states of
Israel and the PLO were affected. Against the existence of Israel, it is
necessary to include in the transfer the withdrawal of Israeli troops
from the affected areas. The Israeli government reads this plan. In
January 1984, King Hussein I formed the Jordanian parliament for the
first time without the participation of the Palestinian territories of
West Jordan and East Jerusalem. On February 11, 1985, Jordan closed and
the PLO joined forces to create the Jordan-Palestinian Federation. The
Jordanian-Palestinian delegation may have to report on mutual agreements
with Israel. On June 25, 1985, a Jordanian-Palestinian delegation was
presented with the participation of Palestinian representatives who are
also part of the PLO. The Israeli government has been in contact with
this delegation since October 22, 1985. On February 19, 1986, King
Hussein I of Jordan took office as head of the PLO.
In July 1988,
King Hussein I established Jordan's ties with West Jordan and East
Jerusalem. After Egypt's suspension from the Arab League in May 1989,
Jordan reduced its diplomatic concerns with Egypt. In 1989, King Hussein
I approved the 1967 war law and on November 8, the first parliamentary
elections since 1957 were held, so that no party could enter the war.
Islamist candidates accounted for 40%. The West African Alliance against
Iraq, formed in August 1990, was neutralized by Jordan from January 16
to February 1991 after the Kuwait War due to Iraqi sanctions. Jordan is
now closer to the PLO. At the Madrid Conference on the Implementation of
the Agreement between the United States, the Sovereign Union and the
European Union, held from October 30 to November 2, 1991, a meeting of
the Committee on the Implementation of the United Nations Framework
Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) between Israel was held, the work
of the Jordanian-Palestinian delegation, Syria and Lebanon began. The
Jordanian-Palestinian delegation has Palestinian authorities without any
legal obligations to the PLO. They were informed that the PLO was
concerned with the timing of the presentation. The main problem of
conflicts in the workplace arose in the working groups from November 3,
1991. Following an agreement reached at a meeting of Wahl and
shareholders in 1993, Wahl shareholders will be able to join Wahl on
November 8, 1993. In July 1994, in accordance with the Washington
Declaration, the states involved in the armed conflict between Jordan
and Israel were transferred to the authority of the United States. On
October 26, 1994, the United States, Israel, and Jordan closed their
border with Jordan, declaring that there was a war between the states.
The border was blocked. Appropriate regulations may be applied between
the autonomous regions of Palestine and Jordan. Diplomatic and trade
restrictions apply to both states. According to King Hussein I, his son
Abdullah II was born in February 1999 after a long illness. King. Under
his leadership, Jordan increases its dependence on the United States,
Israel, and the EU. In 2001, King Abdullah II died. parliaments decided
to oppose it in order to avoid anti-American protests. In 2003, Jordan
took an active part in the American-British conflict against Iraq. Many
Jordanians were against the Golf War. As a result of the terrorist
attack on November 10, 2005, 56 people were trapped in hotels in Amman.
The parliamentary elections of 2007 and 2010 were also marred by many
irregularities, which were criticized by international human rights
organizations. King Abdullah II. However, the burden of political
reaction due to the stability policy and economic results is growing.
Arabs come to protest against the Assad regime and the end of the war in
Libya in March 2011, as well as protests in Egypt in February and the
outbreak of the civil war in Syria in January 2011, 2011/12.
Jordan, located in the northwest of the Arabian Peninsula, is a country with a high proportion of desert and can be divided into three major landscapes from west to east: The Jordan Rift, which runs from north to south, reaches the lowest dry point on the earth's surface at the Dead Sea (425 m below sea level). The Great Rift Valley continues south across the Gulf of Aqaba into the Red Sea. Here the country has access to the world's ocean via a narrow coastal strip around Aqaba. The eastern Jordanian mountains rise in a rugged, jagged cliff above the Jordan Rift. This folded mountain range reaches 1754 meters in Jabal Ram (the second highest mountain in the country after Jabal Umm ad-Dami near Aqaba) and is divided into several plateaus. The northern part is made up of the Gilead Mountains, on whose plateaus the cities of Amman, Zarqa and Irbid are located. The desert plateaus bordering the mountains in the east take up about two thirds of Jordan.
The northwest of the country has a Mediterranean climate with hot,
dry summers and cool, wet winters, and annual rainfall of up to 800 mm.
There is less rainfall in the east and south (100 mm and less). The vast
majority of Jordan has a continental desert climate. Average
temperatures in Amman are 31 to 38 °C in summer and 13 to 19 °C in
winter.
The FAO classifies a country as water-poor if less than
1000 cubic meters are available per inhabitant per year. According to an
estimate from 2014, each inhabitant in Jordan had 120 cubic meters per
year. According to forecasts, this amount could fall further to just 90
cubic meters per year by 2025. In 2006, the Jordan River, the country's
main water supply, only carried around ten percent of the amount of
water it did in the 1960s. The water from the Jordan River is mainly
diverted by Israel and used for drinking water. Due to political
tensions and military conflicts, there are no agreements between the
countries bordering the river on how to use the water from the Jordan.
The Jordan River was once the main tributary of the Dead Sea, but today
it reaches it as a trickle. The Dead Sea is therefore expected to dry up
further, becoming a pond, within the next few decades.
Dwindling
water resources and a rapidly growing population will halve per capita
water consumption in Jordan by the end of the century due to decreasing
supplies and rising prices. Without comprehensive reforms, only a few
households will have access to at least 40 liters of tap water per
capita per day. This development will affect low-income parts of the
country the most. There, over 90 percent of households will fall below
the 40 liters per capita per day mark for eleven months of the year.
These are some of the forecasts published by an international team of
scientists in March 2021.
Due to the different climatic conditions, the vegetation also varies.
The large dry areas and the mountainous regions are at best sparsely
covered with thorny shrub vegetation such as tamarisks and umbrella
acacias. In the steppes there are also larger grassy areas that are used
by Bedouins. Originally, the west of the country was heavily forested;
north of Amman, reforestation is showing initial success, there are
larger and smaller forest areas with cypresses, oaks, acacias and
predominantly pines.
Despite the sparse vegetation, the local
animal world is quite diverse: vultures, hamsters and golden eagles can
be found as well as hyenas, wild cats, ducks, wolves, gazelles, ibexes
and wild goats. There are various species of lizards, butterflies and
scorpions. 24 species of bats occur in Jordan. The ostrich was only
eradicated in Jordan in the 20th century.
The national holiday is May 25th, the anniversary of independence and
the acceptance of the title of king by Abdullah I in 1946.
The
Jerash Festival, which takes place every summer and at which musicians
from many Arab states perform, is well known beyond Jordan.
The following cultural expressions have so far been included in the
UNESCO list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity at the
request of Jordan, in some cases together with other countries (year of
inclusion in brackets):
The Bedouin cultural area in Petra and
Wadi Rum (2005/2008)
The role play As-Samer (2018)
This
activity with dance and song is particularly popular at weddings.
Guests, including children, take turns performing in various stage
roles: First, Al-Hashi, a veiled woman, dances in front of the audience,
who experience the performance up close. Al-Hashi is then led to a chair
by Wasq Al-Hashi, and Al-Badda, a singer, addresses her directly in a
final poetic singing performance.
The Feast Al-Mansaf (2022)
This dish comes from the traditions of farmers and herders. Large pieces
of goat or sheep meat are cooked in yogurt sauce, seasoned with almonds,
and served on large plates on bread and rice. Guests sit in groups
around the plates and eat with their right hand while holding their left
behind their back.
Special Olympics Jordan was founded in 1986 and has participated in the Special Olympics World Games several times.
Jordan had 11.3 million inhabitants in 2023. Annual population growth
was + 0.5%. A surplus of births contributed to population growth (birth
rate: 21.6 per 1000 inhabitants vs. death rate: 4.0 per 1000
inhabitants). The number of births per woman in 2022 was statistically
2.8, that of the Middle East and North Africa region was 2.6. The life
expectancy of Jordan's inhabitants from birth was 74.2 years in 2022.
The median age of the population in 2021 was 23.4 years. In 2023, 31.5
percent of the population was under 15 years old, while the proportion
of people over 64 was 4.0 percent of the population.
Due to the
high birth rate and the millions of descendants of Palestinian refugees
and refugees from Syria in the country, the population is now almost 20
times higher than it was in 1950. In 2017, 33.3% of the population was
born abroad.
According to the results from 2011, 98 percent of the population was
Arab, including the 1,835,704 registered Arab Palestinians without
Jordanian citizenship and the approximately 700,000 refugees from
neighboring Iraq. In addition, 102,000 Circassians, 18,000 Druze, 6,300
Roma, 6,300 Turkmen, 5,400 Azerbaijanis, 5,000 Chechens, 5,600
Filipinos, 4,700 Kurds, 1,300 Greeks and smaller ethnic groups were
counted. In the meantime, numerous Syrian civil war refugees have
arrived, most of whom are also Arabs.
Over 50 percent of the Arab
population descend from the approximately 800,000 Palestinian immigrants
who fled to Jordan after the Palestine War and the Six-Day War and later
received citizenship. Most of them live in the greater Amman area:
Jordan's two largest cities, Amman and Zarqa, have Palestinian
majorities of 90 to 99 percent. Around 337,000 or 17 percent of the 1.9
million refugees registered in the country, to whom Jordan is the only
Arab country to have granted citizenship, still live in ten refugee
camps.
As a result of the Iraq conflict and the expulsion of the
Palestinians from Kuwait in 1991, Jordan again took in refugees from
both countries. The ongoing civil war in Syria has also led to a flow of
refugees to Jordan since 2011.
The official language is Arabic. In addition, various Bedouin dialects and the respective languages of ethnic minorities are spoken regionally.
93 percent of Jordanians profess Sunni Islam. Islam is the state religion in Jordan. Members of various Christian religious communities together make up a good five percent of the population. The Jordanian government pursues a demonstratively tolerant policy towards Christians and Jews in the country, allows the construction of churches and synagogues and regularly organizes religious discussions. Nevertheless, Islamism is also a growing problem in Jordan. Two percent are from other religious communities.
School attendance is compulsory for 6 to 15-year-olds; the illiteracy
rate is 14 percent for women and 4 percent for men. Jordan therefore has
one of the highest literacy rates in the Arab world. English is taught
as a foreign language from the first grade onwards; in practice,
however, Jordanians, especially outside the capital, can mostly only
communicate in Arabic. In Jordan, you have to pass an exam called
Tawjihi to gain access to further education at a university. There are
eight state and twelve private universities in the country. Jordanian
medical training in particular enjoys a good reputation in the Arab
world.
In Jordan, the average length of schooling for over-25s
rose from 5.1 years in 1990 to 10.1 years in 2015.
In 1983, a
still incomplete social security law came into force. Unemployment is at
18.5 percent; Inflation is 3.3 percent. The health care system is
comparatively well developed in the cities, but still inadequate in
rural areas.
The country's health expenditure in 2021 amounted to 7.3% of gross domestic product. In 2019, there were 25.1 doctors per 10,000 inhabitants practicing in Jordan. The mortality rate among children under 5 was 14.1 per 1,000 live births in 2022. The life expectancy of Jordan's inhabitants from birth was 74.2 years in 2022 (women: 76.7, men: 72.1). Life expectancy increased by 3% from 71.9 years in 2000 to 2022.
According to the 1952 constitution, Jordan is a constitutional
monarchy of the Hashemite dynasty, which claims descent from the Prophet
Muhammad. The king is head of state, commander-in-chief of the armed
forces, and appoints the prime minister and the council of ministers.
Parliament consists of two chambers: the House of Representatives with
110 members elected by the people for four years, of which 9 seats are
reserved for Christians, 3 for Circassians, and 6 for women, and the
Senate with 40 members appointed by the king for eight years. The king
has comprehensive veto and proposal powers.
Women and men have
the right to vote from the age of 18. It was not until 1974 that women
were granted the right to vote and to stand for election at the national
level. At the local level, women were granted the right to vote in 1982.
The first woman to be elected to the lower house of the national
parliament, Toujan Faisal, took place on November 29, 1993. In 1989,
there was already a woman in the Jordanian parliament, but she had been
appointed.
In the elections to the House of Representatives on
June 17, 2003, the Jordanian branch of the Muslim Brotherhood, the
Islamic Action Front, received 10.3 percent of the vote. The elections
gave royalist tribal leaders 62 of the 110 seats. In the 2010 elections,
which were boycotted by the Muslim Brotherhood because of alleged
discrimination caused by a reform of the electoral law, royalist
candidates from rural regions won the majority. At the same time, only
34 members of the old parliament were elected to the new one.
According to the constitution, Islam is the state religion; other
religious communities can be recognized and are generally not hindered.
In the legal system, which is based on the British model, there are not
only civil courts but also Sharia courts, which can be called upon in
private disputes between Muslims and which apply Islamic law.
Jordan is a member of the United Nations, the Organization of the
Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Arab League.
Jordan's foreign
policy has been oriented towards the West for decades. The kingdom is
closely allied with the United States and is one of its official
categories of most important allies outside NATO. Jordan also has an
association agreement with the EU. The Jordanian foreign intelligence
service in particular enjoys an excellent reputation. However, it came
under criticism when it became known in 2014 that since 2001, terror
suspects in Jordan had been subjected to brutal interrogation methods on
behalf of the CIA that would have been prohibited in the USA.
The
relationship with the USA was only temporarily damaged when Jordan
maintained its neutrality in the Second Gulf War in 1991 and even
sympathized with Iraq. The peace treaty signed in 1994 between Jordan
and its neighbor Israel is considered a milestone in the Middle East
conflict and created the conditions for even closer political, economic
and military cooperation with the West. Since 2017, units of the German
Bundeswehr have also been stationed in Jordan.
Jordan is in
conflict with the two dominant Palestinian organizations. The PLO was
expelled from Jordan in 1971 during Black September, Hamas, supported by
Syria and Iran, was banned in Jordan in 1999, but has been tolerated
again since 2011. The government retrospectively described the ban as a
mistake.
Jordan cooperates with the European Union (EU) within
the framework of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP). The Association
Agreement between the EU and Jordan came into force on May 1, 2002. In
June 2005, Jordan agreed an action plan with the EU for reforms in the
areas of politics, human rights, separation of powers, economy and
justice.
In December 2011, the Council gave the European
Commission the green light to start trade negotiations with Jordan. In
2016, the EU was Jordan's largest trading partner.
Human rights organizations such as Human Rights Watch repeatedly
report serious violations of human rights in Jordan. The death penalty
exists by law in Jordan and is both imposed and carried out.
In
2024, it became known that the Jordanian government had used the state
trojan Pegasus to monitor dozens of journalists, human rights activists
and other opposition members.
The Jordanian Armed Forces (Arabic القوّات المسلّحة الاردنيّة, DMG
al-quwwāt al-musallaḥa al-urdunniyya) have been entrusted with the role
of securing power internally since their founding in 1921. In addition,
they fought in several wars and battles against both Israeli and Arab
troops. Until 1956, a high proportion of the officers were British.
The armed forces were built up as a professional army based on the
British model. There are around 110,700 active soldiers (estimate for
2013).
The army is divided into four regional commands (North,
East, South and Center), and there is also the Royal Armored Division as
a central reserve and a special operations command. In total, the
Jordanian army has 90,000 soldiers and 60,000 reservists. The Royal
Jordanian Air Force, founded in 1955, has 40 Northrop F-5 Tiger II
aircraft and 60 General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon aircraft. The
small Royal Jordanian Navy has 500 members and operates from the port of
Aqaba.
The state budget in 2017 included expenditures of the equivalent of
11.51 billion US dollars, compared to revenues of the equivalent of
9.462 billion US dollars. This results in a budget deficit of 5.1
percent of gross domestic product. The national debt in 2016 was 36.18
billion US dollars or 93.4 percent of GDP.
In 2020, the share of
government spending as a percentage of GDP in the following areas was:
Health: 7.5 percent
Education: 3.2 percent (2021)
Military: 4.5
percent (2023)
The Jordanian economy, which has been in a serious crisis for years
with a chronic trade deficit, rising unemployment and a continuing wave
of bankruptcies, is particularly suffering from the political crises in
the region. In the mid-1990s, around 80 percent of the Jordanian economy
was in the hands of Palestinians. The trade sector was hit hard by the
UN sanctions on Iraq, as Iraq accounted for 40 percent of Jordan's total
trade before the Gulf War. In 1997, Jordan and the European Union signed
a partnership agreement that paved the way for a free trade zone by
2010. This agreement, which came into force in early 1999, is also
intended to speed up negotiations for Jordan's accession to the World
Trade Organization. In 1996, Jordan and Egypt signed a partnership
agreement that regulated bilateral economic cooperation agreements and
aimed to liberalize trade by establishing a free trade area. Numerous
commercial protocols and agreements have been signed with Lebanon,
Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Tunisia, Egypt, Morocco,
Libya and Sudan.
In the Global Competitiveness Index, which
measures a country's competitiveness, Jordan ranked 63rd out of 138
countries (as of 2016-17). In the 2022 Index of Economic Freedom, the
country ranked 87th out of 177 countries.
All GDP figures are in international dollars (purchasing power parity). Gross domestic product (GDP) for 2023 is estimated at 51 billion US dollars. In purchasing power parity, the GDP is 119 billion US dollars, or 10,456 US dollars per inhabitant. In terms of GDP per capita, the country is in the middle range worldwide. Real growth was 2.2%.
Only about 5 percent of Jordan's land area is suitable for
agriculture, especially in the province of Irbid. The cultivation of
grain, fruit and vegetables is heavily dependent on irrigation.
Agriculture accounts for 2 percent of the gross domestic product and
employs 3.9 percent of the workforce. The vast majority of food must
therefore be imported. The most important economic sector is phosphate
mining and subsequent processing into fertilizers. There are two large
fertilizer factories in the country, one Jordanian-Indian and one
Jordanian-Japanese. Copper ores, oil shale and potash salts are also
mined. In addition to an oil refinery that processes crude oil imported
from Saudi Arabia, there is a cement and chemical industry. The
Jordanian economy is dominated by small and medium-sized enterprises. 26
percent of GDP is accounted for by industry, in which 21.5 percent of
employees work.
Jordan imports mainly food, machinery, transport
equipment and oil, 11 percent from Saudi Arabia, 8 percent from Germany,
8 percent from the People's Republic of China, 7 percent from the USA, 7
percent from Iraq, 4 percent from Italy and 4 percent from Japan. It
exports mainly textiles, chemical products and raw materials such as
phosphate and potash, 22 percent to the USA, 18 percent from Iraq, 7
percent from India, 7 percent from Switzerland and 5 percent from Saudi
Arabia.
In 2007, electricity generation consisted of 66 percent
oil, 28 percent natural gas and 1 percent renewable energies. 5 percent
of electricity demand is covered by imports. Since there are no
significant oil reserves, this must also be imported.
Jordan has around 3 percent of the world's uranium reserves, which are to be mined as part of the country's nuclear phase-out. The Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) and Jordan Energy Resources Inc. merged with Areva to form Nabatean Energy and the Jordan French Uranium Mining Company (JFUMC), respectively. Mining in the central region near Swaqa, Chan Azzabib, Wadi Maghar and Attarat is scheduled to begin in 2013. Areva secured exclusive uranium mining rights for the next 25 years. In December 2009, the JAEC signed a contract with the Korean Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and Daewoo to build a 5-megawatt research reactor at the Jordan University of Science and Technology by 2015. The country's first nuclear power plant has been up for tender since 2009: the Atmea-1 from Areva-MHI, the Enhanced Candu-6 from Atomic Energy of Canada Limited and the AES-92 from Atomstroiexport were in the running. After the Russian Rosatom subsidiary Atomstroiexport won the tender in 2013, Jordan signed a contract with Rosatom on March 25, 2015. Two WWER-1000/V-392 units were to be built at the Qasr Amra site, with commissioning planned by 2025. Instead, the use of small modular reactors is now being considered.
Tourism accounts for around a tenth of GDP (72 percent of services in
total, 74.7 percent of people are employed in this sector) and is the
second most important source of foreign currency. Although there has
been peace in Jordan itself for over 30 years, tourist flows are very
sensitive to political developments in the Middle East. The "peace
dividend" from tourism that the Jordanian government hoped for after the
peace agreement with Israel has so far largely failed to materialize.
The country has many, partly unique, sights to offer, but only a few
generally known tourist attractions:
Ancient sites and archaeological
excavations, especially
the rock city of Petra,
the ancient Gerasa
(Jerash)
the citadel of Amman
the mosaics of Madaba
the ruins
of Umm er-Rasas
the desert castles
Landscapes and natural
monuments
the desert landscape of Wadi Rum
the Dead Sea, whose
shore marks the lowest point on land on earth
the diving paradise
near Aqaba on the Red Sea
There is a 618-kilometer railway network that is used exclusively for
freight transport and tourist traffic. Since the war in Syria, it has
been a purely inland network with island operations. It consists of a
section of the former Hejaz Railway and the Aqaba Railway branching off
from it, both in narrow gauge of 1050 mm.
According to a
statement by the Jordanian Transport Minister, Khalid Saif, Jordan is
planning to fundamentally modernize its railway: In four steps, the
country is to receive a standard gauge railway network that will connect
to neighboring countries. The starting point for all considerations is
the Maddouneh container transshipment point in Amman. The four steps
are:
A railway line from Aqaba to Maddouneh in Amman, exclusively
for freight transport. Feasibility studies have been carried out for
this, the concrete planning and preparation of the tender for
construction are to be completed in the second half of 2020, and the
site for the route is largely already available.
The second
connection will run from Maddouneh to Oman via Saudi Arabia,
the
third from Maddouneh to Iraq and
the fourth from Maddouneh to Syria
and will also enable traffic to Europe.
In September 2024, the
United Arab Emirates and Jordan signed a letter of intent according to
which Etihad Rail will plan, build and operate a 360-kilometer rail
network from the port of Aqaba to various phosphate and potash mines.
Tenders for the construction work are to be issued in early 2026.
The road network is 5,200 kilometers long.
The country's only
seaport is the port of Aqaba.
There are three airports in Jordan,
two of which are used for international traffic.
The smaller of
the two international airports is Aqaba King Hussein International
Airport (AQJ), which offers connections mainly to the capital Amman, but
also flights to Europe and Egypt. This airport is located in the
immediate vicinity of Eilat Ramon Airport (ETM) in Israel and Taba
International Airport (TCP) in Egypt.
The largest airport in the
country is Queen Alia International Airport. In 2014, the airport had
more than seven million passengers.
Jordan's national airline is
Royal Jordanian, which operates from Queen Alia International Airport.
In 2022, 90.5 percent of Jordan's residents used the Internet.
In 2019, the fire service in Jordan was organized nationwide by 4,509 professional and ten volunteer firefighters, who work in 445 fire stations and firehouses, in which 207 fire engines and 21 turntable ladders or telescopic masts are available. The Jordanian fire services were called out to 769,780 operations in the same year, and 36,650 fires had to be extinguished. The fire services recovered 52 dead from fires and rescued 10,902 injured people. The national fire service organization Jordan Civil Defense (JCD) in the Ministry of the Interior represents the Jordanian fire services.