Official title: Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Capital: Amman
Area: 89,342 sq km (34,495 sq miles).
Population: 6.6 million (2013).
Population density:
73.3 per sq km.
Language: Arabic is the official language. English is widely spoken. French, German, Italian and Spanish are also spoken in many tourist areas.
Religion: Over 92% Sunni Muslim, with 2% Shi'a and Druze Muslim. A significant Greek Orthodox Christian minority (6%) resides mainly in the villages around the hill city of Madaba.
Political regime: Constitutional monarchy
Head of State: King Abdullah II since 1999
Head of Government: Prime Minister Abdullah Ensour since 2012
Jordan's agricultural sector produces tomatoes, citrus fruit, cucumbers, watermelons, aubergines and wheat, mostly grown in the fertile ground along the Jordan Valley. Phosphate mining and potash extraction are the traditional industries; petroleum refining, chemical manufacturing and the production of metals and minerals also contribute to this sector. The service sector accounts for around two-thirds of total output and covers wholesale and retail trading, finance, transport and tourism.
Jordan is a member of various pan-Arab economic bodies, notably the Council of Arab Economic Co-operation and the Arab Monetary Fund. Jordan also belongs to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and has a free trade accord with the USA and an association agreement with the EU.
Employment is proving a challenge for the government and many Jordanian workers have moved abroad in search of employment - a trend the government is trying to reverse. To help improve productivity and make Jordan a more attractive country for foreign investment, the government has reduced its debt-to-GDP ratio. A major challenge now facing Jordan is reducing dependence on foreign grants.
The working week is Sunday to Thursday. Friday, the Muslim holy day, is a day off. Most businesses also close on Saturdays, though some businesses may be open. During the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, there is no lunch break and work will end around 1400 or 1500
The area encompassed by the modern kingdom of Jordan only had borders drawn around it for the first time in the 20th century. Before then, it was generally seen only as a small part of a larger regional concern, principally Syria.
Jordan was one of the locations where Stone Age hunter-gatherers settled for the first time, building villages and domesticating animals. Settlement expanded during the Bronze Age (roughly 3000-1200 BC), when Jordan also features in the Old Testament record: Sodom and Gomorrah were towns probably located on Jordan’s side of the Dead Sea, destroyed in some kind of volcanic cataclysm, and the Israelites wandered through Jordan following their Exodus from Egypt.
During the Iron Age (1200-332 BC), Jordan clashed with the Israelites, then the Assyrians, Babylonians and Persians, finally coming under Greek control. Around this time, an Arabian tribe known as Nabateans settled in Jordan, naming their capital Petra. They became fabulously wealthy, controlling the lucrative trade in frankincense and spices between Arabia and Europe.
In 106 AD the Romans absorbed the Nabatean kingdom, building new roads across Jordan, beautifying cities and fortifying the desert frontier. By the 4th century, Roman security was beginning to crumble. Christianity was adopted and Jordan became a centre for mosaic art, with fine mosaics adorning many new churches in the region.
Islamic armies conquered the region in 636. Jordan flourished under the Umayyad dynasty (661-750), who ruled from Damascus, but when power shifted east to the Baghdad-based Abbasid dynasty, Jordan fell into neglect. The invading European Christian armies of the Crusaders briefly occupied Jordan in the 12th century, but under the Ottomans Jordan became a backwater.
Following anti-Muslim pogroms in Russia in the 1870s, Circassian refugees settled in Jordan – then largely deserted – re-founding Amman and ushering in Jordan’s modern history. After the Ottoman Turks were repulsed during the Great Arab Revolt of 1916-17, Jordan won independence, first as a British-controlled emirate in 1923 under Abdullah I – a monarch from the Hashemite family of Mecca – then in 1946 as a fully-fledged independent kingdom.
Under Abdullah I (died 1951) and then King Hussein (died 1999), Jordan has taken in huge number of refugees from conflicts around the Middle East – first Palestinian, then Iraqi and now, under King Abdullah II, Syrian – which has shaped the national character. As one of the West’s key allies in the Arab world, at peace with Israel, and yet closely bound into regional politics, with strong links to Iraq and Saudi Arabia, Jordan must play one of the trickiest fence-sitting roles in world politics.
Jordan borders Israel (and the Palestinian National Authority Region), the Syrian Arab Republic, Iraq and Saudi Arabia. At 400m (1,300ft) below sea level, the Dead Sea, in the northwest of Jordan, is the lowest point on earth and one of the country's most distinctive features; the Red Sea, to which Jordan has a narrow access at Aqaba in the southwest, is teeming with life.
The River Jordan flows into the Dead Sea, and there are plans to build a canal - the Two Seas Canal (or the Dead-Red Canal) - that would link the Dead Sea to the Red Sea. Capital Amman perches above the Dead Sea Depression, at a height of 800m (2,625ft), surrounded to the north by undulating hills, and by desert escarpments to the south, on which graze the sheep and goat herds of nomadic tribes.
Jordan's northeastern flank is flat desert sprinkled with oases, while the spectacular southeastern desert is characterised by wind-eroded forms and brightly coloured sandstone cliffs.
Social conventions:
Handshaking is the customary form of greeting. Jordanians are proud of their Arab culture and hospitality is a matter of great importance. Visitors are made to feel very welcome and Jordanians are happy to act as hosts and guides, keen to inform tourists about their traditions and culture. Islam always plays an important role in society. Arabic coffee will often be served continuously during social occasions. To signal that no more is wanted, slightly tilt the cup when handing it back, otherwise it will be refilled. If invited for dinner, a small gift is customarily given. Women are expected to dress modestly and beachwear must only be worn at private beaches or poolside.
