Jordan Map

Jordan, or the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a Middle Eastern country situated between Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Syria, and Israel. Jordan has an area of about 89,342 square kilometers (35,637 square miles), and a population of about 6.5 million.

The capital and largest city of Jordan is Amman. Jordan is divided into twelve Governorates, each headquartered in a capital city. The Governorates of Jordan are Irbid, Ajloun, Jarash, Mafraq, Balqa, Amman, Zarqa, Madaba, Karak, Tafilah, Ma'an, and Aqaba. The capitals of each of these Governorates are in cities by the same name, except for Balqa, of which Salt is the capital, and Karak, which is centered in a city called Al Karak.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is a part of the Arab world, with Arabic as its official language and Arabs making up about 98 percent of the population. Jordan was also a founding member of the Arab League. As part of the Arab world, Jordan is an Islamic nation, with Islam as the official religion, and with shari'a courts for religious matters, though the legal system itself is based on French and Egyptian principles.

The form of government in Jordan is a parliamentary monarchy, with King Abdullah II on the throne, and Abdullah Ensour as the nation's prime minister.

Official Languages:

Although, Arabic is the official language of the country, yet English and French are widely spoken and understood. While English is treated as the second language, in which the upper class and the middle class are well versed, French is used as the mode of communication by business community as well as the many government officials. In schools and universities too, French is taught.

Culture and Heritage:

Due to the influence of immigrants that came to Jordan from different places (mainly Circassians and Chechens), it's culture is rich and varied. Majorly people following Islam and people following Christianity are there in the country. Topping this is the Arabic culture. Thus, Jordan displays a good variety. The music of Jordan is highly influenced from that of neighboring countries like Syria, Saudi Arabia. Music forms like rural zajal played with instruments like reed pipe and rabab are very famous amongst people of Jordan. Traditional music mixed with rock and other western form of music too has gained popularity in the last decade.

You would find a number of local artists there. Artistic talent is brimming in the natives of Jordan. Specially, Iraqi people living in Jordan possess immense talent. In the capital city Ammana, many galleries and exhibitions are conducted. Looking to the cuisines loved in Jordan, we cannot skip the mention of dry fruits, Dates, almonds, cashews that are found in abundance there. Lebanese and Indian cuisines are part of their staple diet.

Tourism

Jordan is mostly visited for it's ancient and religious sites. But it is full of natural landscape too. There are historic monuments, museums, religious places, desert castles and many more. The miracle of Mother nature can be witnessed in Nabatean mountains. The huge rock is pink in color and has a 1.25 km narrow gorge in the middle of it. This looks amazing and people from far and wide places come to see it.

Tourism is one of the important source of income for the country. In GDP, it gives 10 percent of it's contribution. Moreover, due to the political stability of Jordan, it is one of the favorite tourist destinations too.

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Last Updated On : April 03, 2013