|RNature and climate:|N More than 80% of the land is desert, and a part of the Arabian highland plateau slowly sloping towards east. Highest peak, Jabal Ram reaches 1754 m.a.s.l.
River Jordan, Wadi el Araba and the Dead Sea forms the border to Israel. The area close to the border is fertile.
The climate is dry and during the summer hot.
Average temperature in January between 8 and 11°C and in July between 23 and 26°C.
Percipitation below 300 mm.
|RPeople:|N 98% Arabian.
Before 1948 Jordan had a population of 400 000 people. In 1948 the West Bank of Jordan River with 400 000 people was incorporated with Jordan. In 1967 the West Bank was occupied by Israel and 350 000 people fled from the West Bank to Jordan. Today more than 1 million refugees live on the East Bank.
|REconomy:|N 20% of the labour force is occupied in agriculture and 20% in mining and manufacturing.
Only 5% of the land is arable and most important crops are grain, citrus fruits, olives and vegetables. Traditional nomadic stockraising is still important.
Jordan have few minerals. Most important are phosphates and potash, but Jordan also have copper and shale oil.
Most important industries are textiles, cement, food processing and petrol refining. Two thirds of the industry produce food and textiles.
Phosphates accounts for about 30% of the export revenues.
Tourism is a very important source of income and many Jordanians work abroad. Some years the money they send home equal the export revenues.
|RHistory:|N Todays territory of Jordan is the same as the biblical lands of Edom, Gilead and Moab. The rock city Petra in southwestern Jordan was the capital of the Edomite and Nabataean kingdoms. The people here produced incense that was sold to the whole Mediterranean area.
The whole region was incorporated into the Roman Empire and became an important early centre for Christianity.
Jordan was one of the first non-Arabic areas to fall for the Islamic expansion in 630 AD.
In the 11th century Jordan became a part of the empire established by the Seljuk Turks and was conquered by the Mongols in the middle of the 13th century. In 1517 it was incorporated in the Ottoman Empire.
When the Ottoman Empire was broken up after World War I Jordan became a British mandate from the League of Nations. Britain supported the establishment of a monarchy with the name Transjordan in 1921. Home rule in 1923.
Transjordan supported Britain in World War II and as a reward it was recognized as an independent country in 1946.
In 1948 Transjordan changed it's name name to Jordan and joined the Arab League and participated in the first Arab-Israel war. In this war Jordan occupied the West Bank of River Jordan as well as the Old City of Jerusalem.
In 1958 Jordan formed a federation with Iraq based on the close relations between the royal families, but the discontent with the western oriented policies led to a revolution in Iraq the same year and the federation was dissolved.
In the Six-Day War 1967 Israel recaptured both the West Bank and the Old City of Jerusalem and a large number of Palestinian refugees fled to Jordan.
These refugees had a great influence in Jordan and in 1970 there was a civil war between the Jordanian army and the refugees. The refugees were defeated and the palestinian Liberation Organization, PLO, had to move both its headquarters and its troops from Jordan.
In 1988 Jordan withdrew all its claims on the West Bank and cut all legal and administrative ties with the area.
During the Persian Gulf crises on 1990 and 1991 Jordan supported Iraq and lost most of the aid from other Arabian countries as well as from the West. More than 700 000 refugees from Kuwait and Iraq entered Jordan and put an extra strain on the economy.
After this war Jordan has played an important role in the process towards peace in the Middle East.
Peace negotiations between Jordan and Israel began in July 1994 and the border between the two countries was opened for tourists in early August. In October 1994 a peacetreaty between the two countries was signed.
