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Jordan
Arab state, SW Asia, lying east of the Jordan River. It is bordered by Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. Jordan has 12 miles (19 km) of coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba. Area: 34,342 sq mi (88,946 sq km). Population (1997 est.): 4,522,000. Capital: Amman. The vast majority of the population are Arabs, about 60% of whom are Palestinian Arabs who emigrated to Jordan from Israel and the W. Bank as a result of the Arab-Israeli Wars. Language: Arabic (official). Religion: Islam (official), with more than 90% of the population Sunnite. Currency: Jordan dinar. Four-fifths of Jordan is occupied by desert, and less than one-tenth of the country's land is arable. The country's highest point, Mt. Ramm (5,755 ft, or 1,754 m), lies in the uplands region on the E. Bank of the Jordan River. The Jordan Valley region contains the Dead Sea. Jordan's economy is based largely on manufacturing and services (incl. tourism); exports include phosphate, potash, pharmaceuticals, fruits and vegetables, and fertilizers. It is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses; the head of state and government is the king, assisted by the prime minister. Jordan shares much of its history with Israel, since both occupied the area known historically as Palestine. Much of present-day E Jordan was incorporated into Israel under David and Solomon c.1000 BC. It fell to the Seleucids in 330 BC and to Muslim Arabs in the 7th cent. AD. The Crusaders extended the kingdom of Jerusalem east of the Jordan River in 1099. Jordan submitted to Ottoman Turkish rule during the 16th cent. In 1920 the area comprising Jordan (then known as the Transjordan) was established within the British mandate of Palestine. Transjordan became an independent state in 1927, although the British mandate did not end until 1948. After hostilities with the new state of Israel ceased in 1949, Jordan annexed the W. Bank of the Jordan River, administering the territory until Israel gained control of it in the Six-Day War of 1967. In 1970-71 Jordan was wracked by fighting between the government and guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a struggle that ended in the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan. In 1988 King Hussein renounced all Jordanian claims to the W. Bank in favor of the PLO. In 1994 Jordan and Israel signed a full peace agreement.

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