History

Overview

The land that became Jordan forms part of the richly historical Fertile Crescent region. Its history began around 2000 B.C., when Semitic Amorites settled around the Jordan River in the area called Canaan. Jordan was part of the Roman Empire, and came under Arab control in the 7th century. It was the centre of Crusader activity in the 11-12th century, and part of the Turkish Empire from the 16th century until World War I, after which the area was divided into Palestine (west of the River Jordan) and Transjordan (east of the River Jordan), both administered by Britain.

Transjordan gained independence in 1946, and the British mandate over Palestine ended in 1948, with the newly created State of Israel fighting to control the West Bank area. An armistice in 1949 left Jordan in control of the West Bank, and the West and East Banks united within Jordan in 1951. However, Israel took control of the West Bank after the Six-Day War in 1967. Jordan negotiated an end to hostilities with Israel and the Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty was concluded on October 26, 1994.

Ancient History

Evidence of human settlement in Jordan dates back to the Palaeolithic period (500000 - 17000 BC). While there is no architectural evidence from this era, archaeologists have found tools, such as flint and basalt hand-axes, knives and scraping implements.

In the Neolithic period (8500-4500 BC), three major shifts occurred. First, people became sedentary living in small villages and concurrently, new food sources were discovered and domesticated, such as cereal grains, peas and lentils, as well as goats. The population increased reaching tens of thousands of people.

Second, the shift in settlement patterns was catalysed by a marked change in the weather, particularly affecting the eastern desert, which grew warmer and drier, eventually becoming entirely uninhabitable for most of year. This watershed climate change is believed to have occurred between 6500 and 5500 BC.

Third, between 5500 - 4500 BC pottery from clay, rather than plaster, began to be produced. Pottery-making technologies were likely introduced to the area by craftsmen from Mesopotamia. The largest Neolithic site is at Ein Ghazal in Amman. There are many buildings, divided into three distinct districts. Houses were rectangular with several rooms, and some of them had plastered floors. Archaeologists have unearthed skulls covered with plaster and with bitumen in the eye sockets at sites throughout Jordan, Palestine and Syria. A statue was also discovered as Ein Ghazal that is thought to be 8,000 years old.

It was during the Chalcolithic period (4500-3200 BC) that copper was first smelted and used to make axes, arrowheads and hooks. The cultivation of barley, dates, olives and lentils, and the domestication of sheep and goats predominated over hunting. In the desert, the lifestyle was probably very similar to that of modern Bedouins.

Tuleitat Ghassul is a large Chalcolithic era village located in the Jordan Valley. Houses were made of sun-dried mud bricks and roofs of wood, reeds and mud. Some were based on stone foundations, and many planned around large courtyards. The walls are often painted with bright images of masked men, stars and geometric motifs that were perhaps connected to religious beliefs.

During the Early Bronze Age (3200-1950 BC), many villages that included defensive fortifications were built, most likely to protect against marauding nomadic tribes. Simple water infratructures were also constructed.

At Bab al-Dhra in Wadi 'Araba, archaeologists discovered over 20,000 shaft tombs with multiple chambers as well as houses of mud-brick containing human bones, pots, jewellery and weapons. Hundreds of dolmens scattered throughout the mountains have been dated to the late Chalcolithic and Early Bronze ages.

While in Egypt and Mesopotamia, writing developed before 3000 BC, writing was not really used in Jordan, Palestine and Syria until some thousand years later, even though archaeological evidence indicates that Jordan was in fact trading with Egypt and Mesopotamia.

Between 2300 - 1950 BC, many of the large, fortified hilltop towns were abandoned in favour of either small, unfortified villages or a pastoral lifestyle. There is no consensus on what caused this shift, though it is thought to be combination of climactic and political changes that brought an end to the city-state network.

During the Middle Bronze Age (1950-1550 BC), migration patterns in the Middle East increased. Trading continued to develop between Egypt, Syria, Arabia, Palestine and Jordan, resulting in the spread of civilisation and technology. Bronze forged out of copper and tin resulted in the production of more durable axes, knives and other tools and weapons. Large and distinct communities seem to have arisen in northern and central Jordan, while the south was populated by a nomadic, Bedouin-type of people known as the Shasu.

New fortifications appeared at sites like Amman's Citadel, Irbid and Tabaqat Fahl (or Pella). Towns were surrounded by ramparts made of earth embankments and the slopes were covered in hard plaster, making it slippery and difficult to climb. Pella was enclosed by massive walls and watch towers.

Archaeologists usually date the end of the Middle Bronze Age to about 1550 BC, when the Hyksos were driven out of Egypt during the 17th and 18th Dynasties. A number of Middle Bronze Age towns in Palestine and Jordan were destroyed during this time.

1920-1946: British Mandate of Palestine

With the break-up of the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations created French Mandate Syria and British Mandate Palestine. Approximately 80% of the British Mandate of Palestine was east of the Jordan river and was known as 'Transjordan'. In 1921, the British gave semi-autonomous control of Transjordan to the future Abdullah I of Jordan, from the Hashemite family, who had lost their civil war with the House of Saud for control of Mecca and Medina.

1946: Independence

The Hashemites continued to rule Transjordan under British supervision until after World War II. In 1946, the British requested that the United Nations approve an end to British Mandate rule in Transjordan. Following this approval, the Jordanian Parliament proclaimed King Abdullah the first ruler of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

War of 1948

Trans-Jordan was one of the Arab states opposed to the second partition of Palestine and creation of Israel in May 1948. It participated in the war between the Arab states and the newly founded State of Israel. The Armistice Agreements of April 3, 1949 left Jordan in control of the West Bank and provided that the armistice demarcation lines were without prejudice to future territorial settlements or boundary lines.

In March of 1949, Trans-Jordan became Jordan, and annexed the West Bank. Only two countries recognised this annexation however: Britain and Pakistan.

Jordan in the 50s and 60s

In 1950, the country was renamed 'the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan' to include those portions of Palestine annexed by King Abdullah. While recognising Jordanian administration over the West Bank, the United States, other Western powers and the United Nations maintained the position that ultimate sovereignty was subject to future agreement.

On July 20, 1951, King Abdullah I was shot dead in Jerusalem while visiting the Al Aqsa Mosque. His assassin, a Palestinian from the Husseini clan, was apparently concerned that Jordan and Lebanon were discussing a separate peace with Israel. Abdullah's grandson, Prince Hussein Ibn Talal was with him at the time and was hit too. Abdullah was succeeded by his son Talal; however, since Talal was mentally ill, Talal's son - the aforementioned Prince Hussein - became the effective ruler as King Hussein at the age of seventeen.

In 1957, Jordan terminated special treaty relations with Great Britain.

In February 1958, following announcement of the merger of Syria and Egypt into the United Arab Republic, Iraq and Jordan announced the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan, also known as the Arab Union. The Union was dissolved in August 1958.

Following the formation of the United Arab Republic (UAR) by Egypt and Syria, and the Iraqi Revolution in 1958, Jordanian trade routes and Iraqi oil supply were cut. Consequently, Jordan had to request aid from the United States and the United Kingdom, which prevented escalations between Jordan and the UAR.

In 1965, there was an exchange of land between Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Jordan gave up a relatively large area of inland desert in return for a small piece of sea-shore near Aqaba.

Jordan signed a mutual defence pact in May 1967 with Egypt, and it participated in the June 1967 Six Day War against Israel along with Syria, Egypt, and Iraq. During the war, Jordan lost the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Israel (the western sector having been under Israeli control). In 1988, Jordan renounced all claims to the West Bank but retained an administrative role pending a final settlement, and its 1994 treaty with Israel allowed for a continuing Jordanian role in Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem.

1970: Black September

The 1967 Six Day War led to a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinians, especially from the West Bank, living in Jordan. Its Palestinian refugee population - 700,000 in 1966 - grew by another 300,000 from the West Bank. The period following the war saw an upsurge in the power and importance of Palestinian resistance elements (fedayeen) in Jordan. The heavily armed fedayeen constituted a growing threat to the sovereignty and security of the Hashemite state, and open fighting erupted in June 1970. The battle in which Palestinian fighters from various Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) groups were expelled from Jordan is commonly known as Black September.

Other Arab governments attempted to work out a peaceful solution, but by September, continuing fedayeen actions in Jordan - including the destruction of three international airliners hijacked by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and held in the desert east of Amman - prompted the government to take action to regain control over its territory and population. In the ensuing heavy fighting, a Syrian tank force invaded northern Jordan to support the fedayeen but subsequently retreated. By 22 September, Arab foreign ministers meeting at Cairo had arranged a cease-fire beginning the following day. Sporadic violence continued, however, until Jordanian forces led by Habis Al-Majali and with the help of the Iraqi forces (who had bases in Jordan after the war of 1967) won a decisive victory over the fedayeen in July 1971, expelling them from the country.

At the Rabat summit conference in 1974, Jordan agreed, along with the rest of the Arab League, that the PLO was the 'sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people', thereby relinquishing to that organization its role as representative of the West Bank Palestinians.

1994: The Israeli-Jordanian Peace Treaty

No fighting occurred along the 1967 Jordan River cease-fire line during the October 1973 Arab-Israeli war, but Jordan sent a brigade to Syria to fight Israeli units on Syrian territory. Jordan did not participate in the Gulf War of 1990-91. In 1991, Jordan agreed, along with Syria, Lebanon, and Palestinian fedayeen representatives, to participate in direct peace negotiations with Israel at the Madrid Conference, sponsored by the US and Russia. It negotiated an end to hostilities with Israel and signed a declaration to that effect on July 25, 1994. As a result, an Israeli-Jordanian peace treaty was concluded on October 26, 1994. Following the outbreak of Israel-Palestinian Authority fighting in September 2000, the Jordanian government offered its good offices to both parties. Jordan has since sought to remain at peace with all of its neighbours.

Jordan in the 21st Century

On November 9, 2005 Jordan experienced three simultaneous bombings at hotels in Amman. At least 57 people died and 115 were wounded. 'Al-Qaeda in Iraq', a group led by terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a native Jordanian, claimed responsibility.

On September 4, 2006, a 38-year-old known criminal, took a pistol to a Roman amphitheatre in the capital of Amman and proceeded to shoot at a group of Western tourists. One British man was killed and five others tourists wounded, including a Jordanian tourist security guard. Later, in December of the same year, he was sentenced to death by hanging.