Ancient historyEvidence of human activity in
Transjordan dates back to the Paleolithic 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 catalyzed 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, Israel and Syria. A
statue was also discovered at Ein Ghazal that is thought to be 8,000 years old.
Just over one meter high, it depicts a woman with huge eyes, skinny arms, knobby
knees and a detailed rendering of her toes.
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.[1]
During the Early Bronze Age (3200-1950 BC), many villages
were built that included defensive fortifications, most likely to protect
against marauding nomadic tribes. Simple water infrastructures 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, jewelry 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 Transjordan, Canaan and Syria until some
thousand years later, even though archeological evidence indicates that the
Transjordanian population was in fact trading with Egypt and
Mesopotamia.
Between 2300 - 1950 BC, many of the large, fortified hilltop
towns were abandoned in favor 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 climatic 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, Canaan and Transjordan, resulting in the
spread of civilization 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.
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 Canaan and Transjordan were destroyed during this time.
The most prominent Iron Age kingdoms in what is
now Jordan were Ammon, Moab, and Edom.[1] The Ammonites had their capital in Rabbath Ammon which
is present day Amman The Moabites settled in present-day Kerak Governorate
with their capital at Kir of Moab (Kerak),[2] and the kingdom of Edom settled in southern Jordan and
southern Palestine, and their capital was in Bozrah in Tafilah Governorate. The
kingdom of Ammon maintained its independence from the Assyrian empire, unlike
all other kingdoms in the region which were conquered.[3]Later antiquity saw the rise of the Nabatean
kingdom with its capital at Petra, which was a border, client state of the Roman Empire
absorbed into the Empire in 103 CE, and the ancient city of Saltus. During the
Greco-Roman period of influence, a number of semi-independent city-states also
developed in Jordan, grouped as a Decapolis including: Gerasa (Jerash),
Philadelphia (Amman), Raphana (Abila), Dion (Capitolias), Gadara (Umm Qays),
and Pella (Irbid).
Islamic History
Later, Jordan became integrated into the new Arab-Islamic
Umayyad Empire (the first Muslim dynasty) which ruled much of the Middle East
from 661 until 750 CE. At the time, Amman, the capital of modern-day Jordan, became a major town
in "Jund Dimashq" (the military district of Damascus) and became the seat of the
provincial governor. In fact, the name "Al-Urdun" (Jordan) was used on Umayyad
post-reform copper coins beginning in the early 8th century and represent the
earliest official usage of the name for the modern nation-state. Additionally,
lead seals with the Arabic phrase "Halahil Ardth Al-Urdun" (Master of the Land
of Jordan), dating from the late 7th to early 8th century CE, have been found in
Jordan as well. Additionally, Arab-Byzantine "Standing Caliph" coins minted
under the Umayyads also have been found bearing the mint-mark of "Amman." Thus, usage of the names Al-Urdun/Jordan and Amman date back, to at least, the early decades of the
Arab-Muslim takeover of the region.
Under the Umayyad's successors, the Abbasids
(750-1258), Jordan was neglected and began to languish due to the geo-political
shift that occurred when the Abassids moved their capital from Damascus to Kufa
and later to Baghdad. After the decline of the Abbasids, parts of Jordan were
ruled by various powers and empires including the Mongols, the Crusaders, the
Ayyubids, the Mamlukes as well as the Ottomans who captured major parts of the
Arab World around 1517.
Pictured below is an Umayyad post-reform fals
minted within the first quarter of the 8th century bearing the mint name
"Al-Urdun" (Jordan). According to most numismatists, this particular coin
bearing the name of the Umayyad "jund" (military district) of Jordan, was
probably struck in Tabariyya (Tiberias), the former capital of the
province.
1920s to 1930s
With the break-up of
the Ottoman Empire at the end of World War I, the League of Nations and the
occupying powers were required to redraw the borders of the Middle East. The
ensuing decisions, most notably the Sykes–Picot Agreement gave birth to the
French Mandate for Syria and British Mandate for Palestine. More than 70% of the
British Mandate for Palestine territory was east of the Jordan river and was known as "Transjordan". Part of the
British purpose in separating the mandate territory along the Jordan River was to create an Arab territory east of the river
form which Jews would be excluded. The Permanent Court of International Justice
and an International Court of Arbitration established by the Council of the
League of Nations handed down rulings in 1925 which determined that Palestine
and Transjordan were newly-created successor states of the Ottoman Empire as
defined by international law
1940s
The mandate for
Transjordan ended on May 22, 1946; on May 25, the country became the independent
Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. Transjordan 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 1949,
Transjordan announced its annexation of what is now commonly known as the West
Bank, renaming it the West Bank, a reference to its location west of the Jordan River. Only two countries, however recognized this
annexation: Britain and Pakistan. It is unknown why Pakistan recognized this
annexation.
1950s
In 1950, the country was
renamed "the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan" to include officially those portions
of Palestine annexed by King Abdullah. While recognizing 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. King Abdullah's eldest son,
Talal Ibn Abdullah, was proclaimed king but he was deposed in 1952 because of a
mental illness. His son Hussein Ibn Talal became king on his eighteenth
birthday, in 1953.
Jordan ended its special defense treaty relationship
with the United Kingdom in 1957. 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.
The 1950s is often referred to
"Jordan's Experiment with Liberalism". Freedom of speech, freedom of the press,
and freedom of association were guaranteed in the newly written constitution as
with the already firmly established freedom of religion doctrine. Jordan had one
of the freest and most liberal societies in the Middle East and in the Greater
Arab World during the 1950s and early 1960s.
Jordan Tours
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