million people (2008 estimate) and few natural
resources of its own, Jordan sits at the center of
a part of the Middle East that is important to the
economic and political future of the entire region.
In the west is israel and the occupied Palestin-
ian territories; in the north is syria; to the east is
iraq; and saUdi arabia borders Jordan to the east
and south.
Jordan has been an important trade route
linking Africa with West Asia. The Jordan River
Valley and the area of the lowest point on earth,
the Dead Sea, were sites of early human settlement
dating back 8,000 years. Conquering peoples who
entered Jordan early in its history were Assyrians,
Greeks, and Romans. Jordan is home to some
of the best-preserved archaeological sites of the
Roman Empire, including Jarash, Umm Qais, and
the amphitheater of the ancient city of Philadel-
phia in downtown Amman.
The greatest trading civilization that had its base
in Jordan was that of the Nabateans. They began
settling in southern Jordan in significant numbers
in the third century b.c.e. The most enduring mon-
ument to Nabatean civilization is the city of Petra,
which was carved into steep rock walls of river
gorges in the first century b.c.e. At its height, Petra
was populated by 20,000 people. Its multistoried
rock-carved facades of monumental architecture
were finally recognized in 2007 as a new wonder
of the world and are visited by tens of thousands of
tourists each year. The Nabateans eventually assimi-
lated to Byzantine culture by the third century c.e.
and used Greek instead of Aramaic as their literary
language. Petra was largely destroyed and aban-
doned after an earthquake in 106 c.e.
Much of Jordan was uninhabited in the Byzan-
tine period. The rise of Islam led to repopulation
and a cultural revival in some areas conducive to
rain-fed agriculture, such as the northern moun-
tainous region. In medieval times, from the 11th
century, both crusaders and Arab armies built
castle fortresses on a line of mountain peaks from
north to south. The castles at Ajloun, Karak, and
Shobak are three of the best preserved today. How-
ever, much of the countryside outside the fortified
mountain enclaves was uninhabited or merely the
temporary seasonal resting place for migratory
bedoUin tribes.
In the 19th century, Jordan was a backwater
in the Ottoman Empire. It was governed from the
provincial capital of damascUs in Syria. The Otto-
man authorities were unable to collect taxes from
the townspeople in Ajloun, Salt, Karak, or Maan
because of the military superiority of autono-
mous tribal bands who negotiated their own
taxing arrangements with towns and villages in
exchange for security. At the end of the century,The Treasury, originally a royal Nabatean tomb (ca.
first century b.c.e. to first century c.e.), Petra, Jordan
(Juan E. Campo)Jordan 405 J