Jordan (Arabic: الأردن, romanized: al-ʾUrdunn  [al.ʔur.dunː]), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,[lower-alpha 1] is a country in West Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe,[1] within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan River. Jordan is bordered by Saudi Arabia to the south and east, Iraq to the northeast, Syria to the north, and the Palestinian West Bank and Israel to the west. The Dead Sea is located along its western border and the country has a 26 km (16 mi) coastline in its southwest on the Gulf of Aqaba's Red Sea, which separates Jordan from Egypt.[2] Amman is Jordan's capital and largest city, as well as its economic, political, and cultural centre.[3]

.[4]Ndị mmadụ bi na Jọdan nke oge a kemgbe oge Paleolithic. Ala-eze atọ putara n'ebe ahu na njedebe nke oge Bronze: Amon, Moab na Edom. Na narị afọ nke atọ BC, ndị Arab Nabataeans hiwere Alaeze ha na Petra dị ka isi obodo. Ndị ọchịchị mechara na mpaghara Transjordan gụnyere ndị Asiria, Babilọn, Roman, Byzantine, Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid, na alaeze ukwu Ottoman. Mgbe Great Arab nnupụisi megide Ottomans na 1916 n'oge Agha Ụwa Mbụ, Britain na France kewara Greater mpaghara Syria. Ndị Hashemite hibere Emirate nke Transjordan na 1921, mgbe ahụ Emir, Abdullah I, na Emirate ghọrọ onye nchekwa Britain. Na 1946, Jordan nwetara nnwere onwe wee bụrụ onye amara aha ya na Arabic dị ka ala eze Hashemite nke Jọdan.[1] Mba ahụ weghaara ma weghaara West Bank n'oge agha Arab-Israel nke 1948 ruo mgbe Israel weghaara ya na 1967. Jordan jụrụ nzọrọ ya na ókèala ahụ na 1988, ghọrọ obodo Arab nke abụọ bịanyere aka na nkwekọrịta udo na Israel na 1994, na ebe ọ bụ na-akwado ndị Palestine steeti n'ime a abụọ-ala ngwọta.[2]

The sovereign state is a constitutional monarchy, but the king holds wide executive and legislative powers. Jordan is a founding member of the Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Co-operation. The country has a high Human Development Index, ranking 102nd, and is considered an upper middle income economy. The Jordanian economy, one of the smallest economies in the region, is attractive to foreign investors based upon a skilled workforce.[5] The country is a major tourist destination, also attracting medical tourism due to its well developed health sector.[6] Nonetheless, a lack of natural resources, large flow of refugees, and regional turmoil have hampered economic growth.[7]


The oldest known evidence of hominid habitation in Jordan dates back at least 200,000 years.[8] Jordan is a rich source of Paleolithic human remains (up to 20,000 years old) due in part to its location within the Levant (where various migrations of hominids out of Africa converged)[9] and in part to its more humid climate during the Late Pleistocene, which resulted in the formation of numerous remains-preserving wetlands in the region.[10] Past lakeshore environments attracted different groups of hominids, and several remains of tools dating from the Late Pleistocene have been found there.[9] Scientists have found the world's oldest known evidence of bread-making at a 14,500-year-old Natufian site in Jordan's northeastern desert.[11] During the Neolithic period (10,000–4,500 BC), there was a transition there from a hunter-gatherer culture to a culture with established populous agricultural villages.[12] 'Ain Ghazal, one such village located at a site in the eastern part of present-day Amman, is one of the largest known prehistoric settlements in the Near East.[13] Dozens of plaster statues of the human form, dating to 7250 BC or earlier, have been uncovered there; they are "among the earliest large-scale representations of the human form" ever found.[14] Other than the Chalcolithic (4500–3600 BC) villages such as Tulaylet Ghassul in the Jordan Valley,[15] There is a series of circular stone enclosures in the eastern basalt desert; archaeologists continue to be baffled as to their purpose.[16]

The Mesha Stele (c. 840 BC) records the glory of Mesha, King of Moab
  1. Teller (2002). Jordan. Rough Guides, 173, 408. ISBN 9781858287409. Retrieved on 9 April 2016. 
  2. McColl (14 May 2014). Encyclopedia of World Geography. Infobase Publishing. ISBN 9780816072293. Retrieved on 15 June 2016. 
  3. Al-Asad (22 April 2004). The Domination of Amman Urban Crossroads. CSBE. Archived from the original on 2 August 2016. Retrieved on 8 June 2016.
  4. Khalil (1962). The Arab States and the Arab League: a Documentary Record. Beirut: Khayats, 53–54. 
  5. El-Said (11 January 2013). Management and International Business Issues in Jordan. Routledge. ISBN 9781136396366. Retrieved on 15 June 2016. 
  6. "Jordan second top Arab destination to German tourists", Petra, 11 March 2016. Retrieved on 12 March 2016.
  7. Jordan's Economy Surprises. Washington Institute (29 June 2015). Archived from the original on 10 October 2017. Retrieved on 9 April 2016.
  8. Patai (8 December 2015). Kingdom of Jordan. Princeton University Press, 23, 32. ISBN 9781400877997. Retrieved on 16 June 2018. 
  9. 9.0 9.1 al-Nahar (11 June 2014). "The First Traces of Man. The Palaeolithic Period (<1.5 million – ca 20,000 years ago)", in Ababsa: Atlas of Jordan, Contemporain publications. Presses de l'Ifpo, 94–99. ISBN 9782351594384. Retrieved on 16 June 2018. 
  10. Abu-Jaber (1 November 2020). "Lake Elji and a geological perspective on the evolution of Petra, Jordan". Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 557. DOI:10.1016/j.palaeo.2020.109904. Retrieved on 6 December 2022. 
  11. Prehistoric bake-off: Scientists discover oldest evidence of bread. BBC (17 July 2018). Archived from the original on 16 July 2018. Retrieved on 17 July 2018.
  12. al-Nahar (11 June 2014). "The Refining of Tools. The Epipalaeolithic Period (c 23,000 – 11,600 years ago)", in Ababsa: Atlas of Jordan, Contemporain publications. Presses de l’Ifpo, 100–105. ISBN 9782351594384. Retrieved on 16 June 2018. 
  13. Betts (March 2014). "The Southern Levant (Transjordan) During the Neolithic Period", The Oxford Handbook of the Archaeology of the Levant. Oxford University Press. DOI:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199212972.013.012. ISBN 9780199212972. 
  14. Lime Plaster statues. British Museum. Trustees of the British Museum. Archived from the original on 18 October 2015. Retrieved on 16 June 2018. “Dating to the end of the eighth millennium BC, they are among the earliest large-scale representations of the human form.”
  15. al-Nahar (11 June 2014). "The Copper Age. The Chalcolithic period (4500–3600 BC)", in Ababsa: Atlas of Jordan, Contemporain publications. Presses de l'Ifpo, 114–116. ISBN 9782351594384. Retrieved on 16 June 2018. 
  16. McCoy. "The giant stone circles in the Middle East no one can explain", The Washington Post, 3 November 2014. Retrieved on 16 June 2018.