Historical Summary

The Middle Eastern country of Jordan is a relatively new country. It came to be an official independent country in the year 1946. But it wasn’t always the Jordan that we know today.

Back in ancient times, Jordan used to be a part of land that was collectively known as Palestine. Ancient Jordan contains some of the oldest known sites of ancient civilization. Ancient civilizations such as: the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, Hittites, Greeks, and Romans fought over the land (South 19).

The Ottoman Empire took over the area in the 16^th century, giving it the name Transjordan. Transjordan was not of much importance to them, it was merely a passage way to important religious cities like Mecca and Medina. The Ottoman Turks continued to rule the land for 400 years until World War I when the land was taken over by British forces.

After World War I, the land of the losing countries was split between France and Britain, the winning countries. One of these areas of land is what is now known as present day Jordan.
The British controlled land of Transjordan became a state in April 1921. Abdullah ibn Hussein I was the first leader of Transjordan in 1923. He was an Arab noble descendent of the prophet Muhammad.
Back in 1917, Britain passed a document called the Balfour Declaration. This document gave Jews the right to have a homeland in Palestine, a small neighboring country. Palestinian natives were not willing to lose their land without a fight, so violence quickly broke out. Overtime, this fight has pushed more and more Palestinian refugees into Jordan. An example of this started in 1936. Palestinians peasants started an armed strike against the Jews moving into their country for 3 years. More refugees escaped to the Transjordan area. Today, 3 million people in Jordan are registered as refugees and “displaced persons” (South 29).

A month-long negotiation and one peace treaty later, Transjordan became an independent nation in 1946, adopting the modern name of Jordan. A constitution was written that gave king Abdullah almost complete power over the Indiana-sized country. Unfortunately, King Abdullah was assassinated in 1951. Confusion on who should be the new leader broke out. Finally, Abdullah’s grandson was crowned in 1953 (South 31).

In 1973, another Arab vs. Israeli war broke out, leading to more Palestinian refugees in Jordan. Parliament met for the second time ever in Jordanian history in 1984 and in 1989 the first parliamentary elections were held.

1991 brought the outbreak of the Gulf War. Jordan remained neutral, but it wa again filled with refugees from Iraq and Palestine. 2 years later, a law was passed that allowed multiparty democracy in Jordan. In 1999, King Hussein passed away. His oldest son, Abdullah the Second, was crowned king of Jordan, and he is still the King today (South 37).

Location

· Hemisphere= East

· Continent= Asia

· Lat. And Long.= 31 48N 35 32E

Place and Human Characteristics

*Climate

· Hot and arid

· Rainy season in western regions=November-April

· Dry season=May-October

· Temps= summer high (100) and winter (below freezing)

· High Plateau in North=below freezing-86 degrees

· Hottest ever recorded in Jordan= 124

· Urban in the city, rural in the country side where the small villages are

· Most people live in urban areas

(South, 13)

*Major Physical Features

· Zarqa, Yarmuk, Jordan= 3 major rivers

· Dead Sea=too salty for life
*80 inches of evaporation per year,
*46x10 miles
*1,312’ below sea level
*lowest point on Earth

· Jordan is hilly and mountainous

· Jordanian Highlands=limestone

· Desertàeast/south get less than 2 inches of rain per year,
*80% of Jordan is desert
(Cavendish 913)

*Points of Interest:

· *The Black Desert= sharp, rough, black lava rock
*volcanic mountains
*site of ancient city of Jawa
*Bedouin superstition says it is the land of the devil

· Wadi Rum=”canyon” in Arabic,
*movie “Lawrence of Arabia” was filmed here
*Tourists enjoy its scenery and hiking/camping

· Aqaba=leads to Red Sea
*economic activity because of seaport, only one in Jordan
*fishing
*touristy
*beach resorts w/ wealthy Arabs

· Amman=capital city
*largest city in Jordan
*2.7 million people, ½ Jordan population
*spread over 7 hills called jabaal, connected by wide blouevards
*ruins of 6,000 seat Roman theater
*Ammonite capital of Rabboth Ammon in biblical times
(Cavendish 916)

*People:

· Average 2.7 children per woman

· 98% of the 5 million people are Arabs

· 6% of those are Christian, and the others are Druze or Shiite Muslim

· Islamic religious courtsàhave control over marriage and divorce

· Non-Muslims and the co-existence of Muslim and Christian Arabs is celebrated

· Parents and children live in one house, but loyalty to extended family is extremely important

· Women are becoming more involved in society in the job market and sports

· Family: $$ support, child care, protection, employment

· Status of families depends on how family is thought of by other families

· Middle class women=employed (many as teachers), or wives and mothers

· Wealthy women=no need to support family, stay at home

· Few people stay single

· Cousin-to-cousin marriage is still common

· Arranged marriages are common, but the younger crowd is marrying for love

· Elderly men can have up to four wives, but polygamy is rare

· May 25^th (Jordan’s National Day) marks independence from Brits in 1946…parades, sports, events, receptions

· Festival of Sacrifice= Abraham sacrificed his son, Jordanians sacrifice sheep/goats and have a family meal

· End of Ramedan=families gather, new clothes are worn, kids get gifts, amusement parks in the cities, FOOD
(Cavendish 953,955,956)

*Government:
· Monarchy w/elected parliament,
*“constitutional monarchy”

*the people can’t change gov’t democratically

· Hashemite dynasty

· King has choice to choose a brother or his eldest son to be his successor

· King=commander-in-chief of army, declares war/peace, concludes treaties, appoints officials, ratifies laws, rules by decree, appoints/dismisses prime minister, calls elections, can dismiss both legislative houses,

· Jordanian parliament includes Senate and Chamber of Deputies

(Cavendish 946)

Regions

Formal Regions

• Muhafazat al Balqa'
• Muhafazat al Karak
• Muhafazat at Tafilah
• Muhafazat `Amman
• Muhafazat al `Aqabah

Perceptual Regions

Jordan River Valley

• small, but fertile
• 10,000 years ago, start of ancient villages with harvested crops
• hot, dry summers
• short, mild winters
• 12 inches of rain per year
• part of the the Great Rift Valley (largest fault system in the world)
• the "food bowl" of Jordan
• only 6% of the country
  (South 7)

The Desert

• eastern and southern parts of Jordan
• less than 2 inches of rain per year
• 80% of the country's land mass
• northern desert is full of volcanic rock
• a couple of oases (fertile land and springs) are found
• Jordanian Desert is part of the Syrian Desert
  (South 8)

Wadi Rum

• "canyon" in Arabic
• so many surrounding hills make it feel below sea level, but in fact, it is not
• some Bedouins (a nomadic tribe of Arabs) live here and depend on tourists for their living
• home of a government-sponsored annual hot-air-balloon event
  (South 8)

Highlands

• between desert and the Jordan River
• 2-13 inches of rain per year
• mediterranean climate
• sandstorms are common
  (South 9)

Movement

· · Exports=phosphates, clothing, agricultural products,

· Imports=crude oil, machinery, transport equipment, iron, cereals

· Immigration level is “too high” in the eyes of the government

· immigration is high because of Palestinian and other refugees moving into Jordan ()

· radio and television use is common throughout the country via international satellite (South 117)

· internet use is more common among Jordanians in urban areas (Britannica.com)

Human and Environment Interactions

·· Jordan has small agriculture, but it grows citrus fruits, bananas, tomatoes, and cucumbers

· Fishing is large activity

· forestry wood is used mainly for fuel

· potash and phosphates are the 2^nd most exported good in the country (aka: lots of mining of minerals)

· cement and clothes are also big products

· heavily dependent on oil imports

· banking is a large source of jobs

· Jordan has a large labor force

· areas of greatest population density are the cities because this is where business takes place

· clothing is either traditional Arab costume or modern-day Western outfit…environment is warm so clothes are light and airy
(Library of Congress Federal Research Division)

*How Humans have modified the environment

· lack of sewage treatmentàsurface water is contaminated

· mining potash, phosphate, and cementàDUSTàpollutes air and water

· small towns have little to no garbage collection, so in the whole country is an estimated 13,000 tons of hazardous waste
(South 53-57)

Conclusion

The future of Jordan could go one of two ways. In the year 2050, Jordan could be heading towards cultural success or overpopulation and a poor environment.

On the optimistic side, I think the culture of Jordan will grow. Jordanian women continue to enter the work force as it is becoming more and more customary for women to do so. They are also becoming more involved in national sports leagues (Cavendish 956). This is promoting acceptance of women in Jordanian society. Another reason the country is heading towards success is its acceptance of technology and modern ideas from the Western part of the world. Arranged marriages are no longer the “norm”; men and women of Jordan are getting married for love by choice (Cavendish 956). This reflects the modern views of the West because arranged marriages are frowned upon in that part of the world. And with a relatively young king in control of the country, there is plenty of time for positive change in the country.

Unfortunately, there is also a pessimistic future. Throughout the country’s history and even before that, the neighboring country of Palestine has had many conflicts with other nations, thus leading to an immense amount of refugees in Jordan. This could quickly lead to overpopulation and depletion of resources. Today, the environmental situation in Jordan is poor because for most of the population, there is no easy way to appropriately dispose of waste. This creates pollution that is bad for the environment and it doesn’t look like many plans to fix the issue are in place (South 53).

The country is at a bit of a stand still right now. It could easily teeter in either direction, so we will just have to wait and see what the event will be in the near future that will shift the weight and change the future of Jordan forever.