Jordan — books & literature

The story of Jordan

Jordan's land has been a crossroads for millennia. The Nabataeans carved the rose-red city of Petra out of desert cliffs by the 4th century BCE, building a trading empire on the incense and spice routes. Rome absorbed the region into its province of Arabia and the Decapolis cities, leaving the ruins of Jerash among the best-preserved Roman provincial towns anywhere. Islamic conquest arrived in the 7th century, and the land passed through Umayyad, Abbasid, Mamluk, and finally four centuries of Ottoman rule. After the Great Arab Revolt of 1916-1918 and the collapse of the Ottomans, Britain administered the territory as the Emirate of Transjordan under League of Nations mandate, with Emir Abdullah I of the Hashemite family at its head. Full independence came on 25 May 1946, and the country became the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949. King Hussein ruled for nearly half a century (1953-1999), steering Jordan through regional wars and making it a rare pole of stability in the Middle East; his son King Abdullah II has led the country since 1999, continuing that role today.

Timeline — key moments

1. circa 312 BCE

   The Nabataeans establish Petra as their capital and trading hub.

2. circa 106 CE

   Rome annexes the Nabataean kingdom, forming the province of Arabia.

3. 636

   Battle of Yarmouk brings the region under early Islamic rule.

4. 1516

   Ottoman Empire takes control of the region.

5. 1916-1918

   The Great Arab Revolt, led by Sharif Hussein bin Ali, helps end Ottoman rule.

6. 1921

   Emirate of Transjordan established under Emir Abdullah I, British mandate.

7. 1946

   Full independence from Britain (25 May); Abdullah I becomes king.

8. 1949

   Kingdom renamed the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

9. 1953-1999

   King Hussein's reign; navigates the 1967 war, Black September, and 1994 peace treaty with Israel.

10. 1999

    King Abdullah II ascends to the throne, continuing to lead today.

Top 10 things to know about Jordan

1. Petra, the rose-red Nabataean city carved into cliffs, is one of the New7Wonders of the World and a UNESCO site.
2. The Dead Sea, on Jordan's western border, is the lowest point on the surface of the Earth.
3. Jerash preserves one of the best-kept Roman provincial cities outside Italy.
4. Wadi Rum, the desert valley of "The Martian" and "Lawrence of Arabia" fame, is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
5. Jordan has taken in large numbers of refugees from neighbouring conflicts over decades, one of the highest ratios of refugees-to-citizens in the world.
6. Arabic is the official language; Jordanian Arabic is a distinct Levantine dialect.
7. The Jordanian dinar is consistently ranked among the higher-valued currencies in the world.
8. Jordan has few natural resources and imports most of its energy, unlike many of its oil-rich neighbours.
9. The country is ruled by the Hashemite dynasty, which traces descent from the Prophet Muhammad.
10. Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1994, only the second Arab state to do so after Egypt.

Famous people from Jordan

Say it in Jordan's language

Did you know?

• ★You can float effortlessly in the Dead Sea because its water is roughly ten times saltier than the ocean.
• ★Petra remained largely unknown to the Western world until a Swiss explorer rediscovered it in 1812.
• ★Wadi Rum's otherworldly red-sand desert has stood in for the surface of Mars in several major films.

Jordan culture

• Mansaf, lamb cooked in a fermented dried-yogurt sauce served over rice, is the national dish, traditionally eaten by hand.
• Bedouin hospitality traditions, including sweet cardamom-spiced Arabic coffee, remain central to Jordanian social life.
• Independence Day (25 May) and King's Day are celebrated nationwide with parades and festivities.
• Traditional dabke line-dancing is performed at weddings and celebrations across the country.

Why read Jordan's books

Jordanian and Jordanian-Palestinian writers draw on a landscape of ancient trade routes, desert exile, and displacement, producing a modern Arabic literature that wrestles with identity, memory, and belonging. Reading Jordan's books is a way into that ongoing story.