Jordan
FActsTimeline1922 - The Council of the League of Nations recognizes Transjordan as a state under British supervision.
Shortly after gaining independence Jordan became home to hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees 1946 - The United Nations recognizes Jordan as an independent sovereign kingdom. 1948 - State of Israel created in British-mandate Palestine. Thousands of Palestinians flee Arab-Israeli fighting to West Bank and Jordan. 1950 - Jordan annexes West Bank. 1951 July - King Abdullah assassinated by Palestinian gunman angry at his apparent collusion with Israel in the carve-up of Palestine. King Abdullah - Jordan's first monarch - was assassinated in 1951 1952 August - Hussein proclaimed king after his father, Talal, is declared mentally unfit to rule. 1957 - British troops complete their withdrawal from Jordan. 1967 - Israel takes control of Jerusalem and West Bank during Six-Day War, major influx of refugees into Jordan. 1970 - Major clashes break out between government forces and Palestinian guerrillas resulting in thousands of casualties in civil war remembered as Black September. 1972 - Attempted military coup thwarted. 1974 - King Hussein recognises PLO as sole legitimate representative of Palestinian people. 1986 - Hussein severs political links with the PLO and orders its main offices to shut. Hussein backs uprising 1988 - Hussein publicly backs the Palestinian uprising, or intifada, against Israeli rule. 1989 - Rioting in several cities over price increases. 1989 - First general election since 1967, contested only by independent candidates because of the ban on political parties in 1963. 1990 - Jordan comes under severe economic and diplomatic strain as a result of the Gulf crisis following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Peace deal signed 1994 - Jordan signs peace treaty with Israel, ending 46-year official state of war. 1996 - Food price riots after subsidies removed under economic plan supervised by the International Monetary Fund. 1997 - Parliamentary elections boycotted by several parties, associations and leading figures. 1998 - King Hussein treated for lymphatic cancer in United States. 1999 January - After six months of treatment King Hussein returns home to a rousing welcome, but flies back to the US soon after for further treatment. King Hussein dies 1999 February - King Hussein dies. More than 50 heads of state attend his funeral. His eldest son Crown Prince Abdullah succeeds to the throne. 2000 September - A military court sentences six men to death for plotting attacks against Israeli and US targets. 2001 March - King Abdullah and presidents Bashar al-Assad of Syria and Hosni Mubarak of Egypt inaugurate a $300m (£207m) electricity line linking the grids of the three countries. 2002 January - Riots erupt in the southern town of Maan, the worst public disturbances in more than three years, following the death of a youth in custody. 2002 August - Spat with Qatar over a programme on Qatar-based Al-Jazeera TV which Jordan says insulted its royal family. Jordan shuts down Al-Jazeera's office in Amman and recalls its ambassador in Qatar. 2002 September - Jordan and Israel agree on a plan to pipe water from the Red Sea to the shrinking Dead Sea. The project, costing $800m, is the two nations' biggest joint venture to date. 2002 October - Senior US diplomat Laurence Foley is gunned down outside his home in Amman, in the first assassination of a Western diplomat in Jordan. Scores of political activists are rounded up. 2003 June - First parliamentary elections under King Abdullah II. Independent candidates loyal to the king win two-thirds of the seats. 2003 August - Bomb attack on Jordan's embassy in the Iraqi capital Baghdad kills 11 people, injures more than 50. 2003 September - Jordan's Central Bank retracts its decision to freeze accounts belonging to leaders of Hamas. 2003 October - A new cabinet is appointed following the resignation of Prime Minister Ali Abu al-Ragheb. Faisal al-Fayez is appointed prime minister. The king also appoints the three female ministers. 2004 February - Jordan's King Abdullah and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad launch the Wahdah Dam project at a ceremony on the River Yarmuk. Terror 2004 April - Eight Islamic militants are sentenced to death for killing a US government official in 2002. Authorities seize cars filled with explosives and arrest several suspects said to be linked to al-Qaeda and planning chemical bomb attack on intelligence services HQ in Amman. 2005 March - Jordan returns its ambassador to Israel after a four-year absence. Amman recalled its envoy in 2000 after the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising. 2005 April - A new cabinet is sworn in, led by Prime Minister Adnan Badran, after the previous government resigns amid reports of the king's unhappiness over the pace of reforms. 2005 August - Three missiles are fired from the port of Aqaba. Two of them miss a US naval vessel; a third one lands in Israel. A Jordanian soldier is killed. 2005 November - Sixty people are killed in suicide bombings at three international hotels in Amman. Al-Qaeda in Iraq claims responsibility. Most of the victims are Jordanians. A day of mourning is declared. 2006 June - Iraq's prime minister announces that Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, has been killed in an air strike. 2006 August - King Abdullah criticises the United States and Israel over the fighting in Lebanon. 2007 July - First local elections since 1999. The main opposition party, the Islamist Action Front, withdraws after accusing the government of vote-rigging. 2007 November - Parliamentary elections strengthen position of tribal leaders and other pro-government candidates. Fortunes of the opposition Islamic Action Front decline. Political moderate Nader Dahabi appointed prime minister. 2008 August - King Abdullah visits Iraq. He is the first Arab leader to visit the country since the US invasion in 2003. 2009 July - Military tribunal sentences an Al-Qaeda militant to death for his involvement in the 2003 killing of US diplomat Laurence Foley in Amman. Parliament dissolved 2009 November - King dissolves parliament half-way through its four-year term 2009 December - King Abdullah appoints new premier to push through economic reform. 2010 May - New electoral law introduced. Pro-reform campaigners say it does little to make system more representational. 2010 October - Leader of Islamist militant group jailed for plotting attacks on the army. Jordan experienced its own Arab Spring protests 2010 November - Parliamentary elections, boycotted by the opposition Islamic Action Front. Riots break out after it is announced that pro-government candidates have won a sweeping victory. 2011 January - Tunisian street protests which unseat the president encourage similar demonstrations in other countries, including Jordan. 2011 February - Against a background of large-scale street protests, King Abdullah appoints a new prime minister, former army general Marouf Bakhit, and charges him with carrying out political reforms. 2011 October - Protests continue through the summer, albeit on a smaller scale, prompting King Abdullah to replace Prime Minister Bakhit with Awn al-Khasawneh, a judge at the International Court of Justice. 2012 April - Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh resigns abruptly, have been unable to satisfy either demands for reform or establishment fears of empowering the Islamist opposition. King Abdullah appoints former prime minister Fayez al-Tarawneh to succeed him. Thousands fleeing the conflict in Syria have taken refuge in camps in Jordan 2012 October - King Abdullah calls early parliamentary elections for January. The Muslim Brotherhood's political wing, the Islamic Action Front, decides to continue to boycott them in protest at unequal constituency sizes and lack of real parliamentary power. The King appoints Abdullah Ensour, a former minister and vocal advocate of democratic reform, as prime minister. King Abdullah also appoints a new ambassador to Israel, filling a post that has been vacant for two years. 2012 November - Clashes between protesters and supporters of the king follow mass demonstrations in Amman against the lifting of fuel subsidies, at which calls for the end of the monarchy are heard. Three people are killed. 2013 January - Pro-government candidates victorious in parliamentary elections which are boycotted by the main opposition Islamic Action Front 2013 March - New government sworn in, with incumbent Abdullah Ensour reinstalled as prime minister following unprecedented consultation between the king and parliament 2013 July - Britain deports Muslim cleric Abu Qatada to Jordan, where he faces terrorism charges, after an eight-year legal battle. 2014 May - Jordan expels Syrian ambassador over accusations that Jordan harbours Syrian rebels. 2014 June - Radical Muslim preacher Abu Qatada, deported from the UK after a long legal battle, is found not guilty of terrorism offences by a court in Jordan over an alleged plot in 1998. 2014 September - Jordan is one of four Arab states to take part, together with the US, in air strikes on Islamic State militants in Syria. 2014 November - Jordanian authorities arrest the deputy head of the country's Muslim Brotherhood organisation, in the first arrest of a major opposition figure in Jordan for several years. 2014 December - Jordan executes eleven men convicted of murder, ending a moratorium on the death penalty. 2015 January - Islamic State militants kill Jordanian pilot Muath Kasasbeh, captured after he crashed near an IS stronghold while taking part in US-led operations over northern Syria in December. |
Wadi Rum (Arabic: وادي رم) also known as The Valley of the Moon (Arabic: وادي القمر) is a valley cut into the sandstone and granite rock in southern Jordan 60 km (37 mi) to the east of Aqaba; it is the largest wadi in Jordan.[1] The name Rum most likely comes from an Aramaic root meaning 'high' or 'elevated'.[2] To reflect its proper Arabic pronunciation, archaeologists transcribe it as Wadi Ramm.
Wadi Rum, Jordan; The base of operations for T.E. Lawrence himself during the Arab revolts in 1917-18
Embroidery is one of the most important traditional crafts of Jordanian women and one that has, in recent years, been incorporated into high fashion. Elegant gowns and jackets, cushions and quilts, have been created using traditional needlework together with rich, Middle Eastern fabrics. Jordan has many natural clay deposits, which has been used for many centuries in making pottery. Large pots, known as "jarra", originally used to store water or olive oil, are now often seen as garden ornaments in elegant villas of Amman. The Yemeni nomads probably brought the art of delicate filigree work on gold and silver jewellery to Jordan. Until recently, a Bedouin bride carried her entire wealth on her person in the shape of silver jewellery and it was hers to dispose of as she wished. Hebron blown glass comes in delicate shades of amber, rose, cobalt and turquoise. Workshops are to be found at Na'ur on the old route to the Dead Sea and in the King Abdullah Gardens in Amman. |