Jordan Demographics

Akshaya Kothari

28745

Country: Jordan

Section 1: History and Geography of the country

Jordan

History

Around 2000 B.C., an area around the Jordan River called Cannan, was invaded by Semitic Amorites. This was later followed by a number of other settlers- Hittites, Egyptians, Israelites, Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Arab Muslims, Christian Crusaders, Mameluks, Ottoman Turks, and the British. After World War 1, the League of Nations awarded the Israel, Jordan, West Bank, Gaza and Jerusalem to the British. In 1922, the British formed the Emirate of Transjordan by splitting the mandate. They continued to oversee the administration of Palestine via a British High Commissioner. (History, 2010)

On May 25, 1946, 3 days after the end of the mandate over Transjordon, there came the rise of an independent kingdom, the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan, still maintaining its special defense treaty relationship with the UK up till 1957 the understanding broke due to mutual consent. (History, 2010)

On May 14th, 1948, the state of Israel was formed. This formation led to a lot of conflict as the surrounding Arab countries supported Palestine which led to open warfare. This led to the formation of an agreement that formed the separation of Jordan and Israel, thus handing control of the West Bank to Jordan. To include their new control over parts of Palestine, Jordan was renamed to the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. They then divided West Bank into three parts, Nablus, Al- Quds amd Al-Khalil. (History, 2010)

On May 1967, Jordan signed an agreement of mutual defense with Egypt. Soon after, they stuck by their agreement by helping Egypt, Syria and Iraq in its war against Israel. This war led to Israel extending its territory to include the Jordan River. (History, 2010)

Post the 1967 war, population of Palestinians in Jordan increased by a substantial amount. This resulted in the increase in the power of the fayadeen, a resistance group and specially...