Jordan
Fast facts
- Capital
- Amman
- Official language
- Arabic
- Currency
- Jordanian dinar
- Time zone
- EET
- Drives on
- right
- Calling code
- +962
Facts from Wikipedia’s “Jordan” page (CC BY-SA 4.0).
Jordan (officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan) is an Arab country in southwest Asia, in the Middle East, in the southern part of the Levant region, and the northern part of the Arabian Peninsula. Jordan has borders with Syria to the north, Palestine and Israel to the west, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the east and south, and the Gulf of Aqaba to the southwest, where the city of Aqaba is next to the Red Sea.
The capital of Jordan is Amman. Aqaba is the only sea port for Jordan with only 27 kilometers of coastline. Jordan is named after Jordan River, which passes on its western borders. Jordan is a country that combines different Arab cultures and dialects. Natural borders that separate it from its Arab neighbors are the Jordan River, which separates Jordan and Israel as well as the Yarmouk River, which separates Jordan and Syria. As for the rest of the borders, it is an extension of the Levant Badia in the north and east, the Influence Desert in the south, and Wadi Araba to the southwest.
The terrain in Jordan varies greatly, the most important of which are the Ajloun Mountains in the northwest, and the Shara Mountains in the south, the highest peak on Umm al-Dami Mountain is 1854 meters, and the lowest point in the Dead Sea, which is the lowest point in the world.
In 1921, Prince Abdullah bin Al-Hussein established the Emirate of Transjordan with the help of Britain, and it was then subject to British rule in the Mandatory region of Palestine. The system in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with a representative government. The king exercises his executive power through the Prime Minister and the Council of Ministers, who, at the same time, are accountable to the House of Representatives (elected) and the Senate (appointed by the king) who are the legislative branch of the state. There is also an independent judiciary system.
Jordan is a founding member of the League of Arab States and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. Jordan is a sovereign constitutional monarchy, yet the king enjoys extensive executive and legislative powers.
Jordan is frequently referred to as an “oasis of stability” in a turbulent region, given that it was mostly unaffected by the violence that engulfed the region in 2010. However, the country’s population suffers from relatively high rates of unemployment and poverty.
Governorates
Jordan is divided into 12 Governorates. The governorates are divided into 54 departments or districts named Nahias.
Culture
People from Jordan are called Jordanians. Most of them speak Arabic as their first language. The population of Jordan is about 10.5 million people.
Jordan is a constitutional monarchy and has a king. The King is the head of state, but he does not have all the power in the country. King Abdullah II has been the King of Jordan since February 1999. Most Jordanians are Muslim. There are around 200-400,000 Christians.
Jordan’s national meal is mansaf. The most popular sport is football.
Jordanian culture respects womens privacy. Men do not shake hands with women unless the woman offers her hand. Taking photos of women without asking is not allowed. If you take photos of public areas or homes, make sure no women are in the picture without permission.
Economy
Unlike some of the countries around it, Jordan has little petroleum and natural gas. Some of its economy comes from mining instead. Jordan is the largest producer of the mineral phosphate in the world. Jordan is a Member of the OECD since 2019 as the first Arab Country to do so.
The currency of Jordan is called the Jordanian dinar.
Written for younger readers
Jordan, in simpler words
This version comes from Wikijunior, a set of books written for children aged 8 to 11. It is shorter and uses plainer language than the article above.
From Wikijunior: Asia
Jordan is a part of the Ottoman Empire until 1918 and later a mandate of the United Kingdom, Jordan has been an independent kingdom since 1946.
The capital city is Amman and the currency used is Jordanian Dinar.
Jordan is located north to Syria , northeast to Iraq, southeast to Saudi Arabia
There are estimation of 5.61 million populations based on 2015 census.The majority population of Jordan are Jordanians (69.4%) , Syrians (13.3%), Palestinian (6.7%), Egyptians (6.7%), Iraqi (71.4%) with significant minority of Bedouin (2.5%), who were by far the largest indigenous group before the influx of Palestinians following the Arab-Israeli wars of 1948–49 and 1967.
Jordan’s official language is Arabic. English is the most commonly used second language and is widely spoken by middle and upper-class Jordanians.
92% of Jordanians are Sunni Muslim, and Islam is the official religion of Jordan. About 6% of Jordanians are Christians - mostly Greek Orthodox, with smaller communities from other Orthodox churches. 2% of population practices other faiths
Jordanians are practicing rugby as their sports
Dead Sea - Dead Sea is a technically lake located between center/south of Jordan in the Jordan Rift Valley and Israel . It is fed by many rivers and streams, such as the Jordan River and intermittent streams Al-ʿUẓaymī, Zarqāʾ Māʿīn, Al-Mawjib, and Al-Ḥasā..It is 55 km long and varies between 18 km and 3 km in width. The salt content are among the highest in the world which enable one to float effortlessly on the lake. It is the place where the one of the most world lowest point (below sea level) of the world is located . The name itself derives from earliest translations of the name of the Dead Sea into non-indigenous languages often use its original name of “The Salt Sea”, but already by the Roman Era, visitors to Judea had begun to refer to the sea as the “Dead Sea”, as they were mostly struck with how the waters were devoid of all life-forms, whether plants or living creatures.
Petra - It is an archeological site which was carved directly into vibrant red, white, pink, and sandstone cliff faces. The most popular one that are shown in Indiana Jones Film are the Treasury Entrance
Where this page comes from
The article above is adapted from “Jordan” on Simple English Wikipedia, by its contributors. We removed reference markers, navigation boxes and tables, expanded measurement templates into readable numbers, and kept the prose otherwise intact. The simpler version is adapted from Wikijunior on Wikibooks.
Both sources are published under CC BY-SA 4.0, so this page is published under the same licence. You may share and adapt it, including commercially, as long as you credit the original and keep the same licence.
Worksheets, answer keys and printable layouts elsewhere on K5Print are our own work and are not covered by this licence.