Jordan1 Series Nation and
Peoples
THE WORLD:
Geography,
History and Something Else
Chapter 2
Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan (Part One)
Danilo Antón
Historically the
territory of what is now Jordan is closely linked to countries that are west of
the Jordan river, Palestine and Israel..
Its area is 89,000 km2
with a population of 9,500,000 inhabitants, including 2.1 million Palestinians
and 1.4 million Syrian refugees.
More than 4 million
people live in the capital: Amman.
Often people have said "Jordan is Palestine desert", but when the history of the region is analyzed
it is recognized that Jordan it is much more than that.
For thousands of years,
the lands East of the Jordan River, composed by fertile valleys and interspersed
oases in a vast desert, have been home to many peoples, kingdoms and cultures, From
the distant times of the Moabites, Ammonites and Edomites to the overpopulated
and current Kingdom of Jordan..
Around 1000 BC there were several peoples on the eastern
banks of the Jordan and the Dead Sea. Their populations lived from agriculture,
animal husbandry and trading caravans that linked the Mediterranean with the
Mesopotamian societies. The Kingdom of Moab occupied the eastern shore of the
Dead Sea, the Kingdom of Ammon was North of it, while the Kinngdom of Edom. The
Aramaean tribes mainly living in desert and semidesert areas influenced with
his tongue other semitic languages such as Arabic and Hebrew.
Major kingdoms in the Jordan basin in the 10th BC
In current Jordanian
territory the Arab culture of the Nabataeans developed after the sixth century
B.C. They were people who controlled a trade network along oasis chains and,
desert routes that bound smail areas with concentrated farming near cities. The
main urban centers weres Petra (south of the current Jordanian territory),
Madain Salah, north of the Hejaz Arab and Palmyra in Syria
The Nabataeans built
imposing funeral monuments carved into the rock of which there are magnificent
examples preserved in Petra and Madain Salah.
The Nabataeans kingdoms survived the invasion of Alexander the Macedonian but fell dominated by the eastward Roman expansion eastward in the first century B.C. The Roman province in Southern Jordan was Arabia Petraea
Nabataean funerary
monument carved in sandstone in Petra
Since the conversion of
Emperor Constantine to Christianity and the foundation of Constantinople, the
Jordanian territory became part of the empire that soon would be called
Byzantine.
Jordan had been a
center o
f refuge for Christians fleeing Roman persecution from the I century
A.D.
During the Byzantine
period Jordanian cities experienced an important economic and architectural
development. In the reign of Justinian (527-565 A.D.) many churches (basilicas)
were built and the country remained solidly integrated into the structures of
the empire.
It was after the
conquest of territory by the Muslim Arab armies in the seventh century that the
most radical changes took place.
The Muslim forces had appeared
on the southern border of Jordanian territory (A.D. 629) facing the Byzantine
army at the Battle of Mu'tah (3 years before Muhammad's death occurred in 632).
The
Arab army took heavy casualties and had to retreat. The real invasion began in
634 A.D. under the rule of the caliphs Abu Bakr and Umar ibn Khattab.
The main Muslims military leaders in the battles against
the Byzantines in Jordan and Syria were Khalid ibn al-Walid ibn Yazid Abu
Sufyan ibn al Walid Khalid.
Finally the Byzantine armies were defeated and the
territory of Jordan was integrated into the Arab Umayyad Islamic Empire.
The Umayyad Caliphate ruled much of the Middle East from
621 AD to 750 AD. At that time,
Amman, presently the capital of Jordan, became an important city of the empire
and the seat of the provincial governor.
In 750 the Umayyads
were replaced by the Abbasid dynasty (750-1258). This dinasty moved the centers
of gravity of Damascus and Amman eastward to Kufa and Baghdad and the ancient
Umayyad cities in Syria lost political and economic. importance.
Maximum extent of the
Umayyad Caliphate
The Abbasids continue
in power in the Mesopotamian region for several centuries. The last Abbasid
caliph of Baghdad was al-Mu'tasim who was assassinated in 1258 AD by the Mongol
invasion
After the year 909 AD
the territory of Jordan and Syria became part of the Fatimid Caliphate. This
religious dinasty (Fatimid) started as an Ismaili Shiite movement founded in
Syria by the eighth Imam Abd Allah al-Akbar. The Fatimids claimed to be
descendants of Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, and her husband, Ali ibn Abi
Talib, the first Shi'ite imam, from which it derived its name
"Fatimid". They also argued that they descended from Muhammad ibn
Ismail, the seventh Shiite imam, who was considered the Messiah (al-Mahdi) and
should return fin the year 300 AH (After Hejira, year of the Islamic calendar).
The main Fatimid base
had developed between the Berber tribes of the Maghreb. From there the movement
spread to Egypt and from Egypt to Jordan and Syria.
Maximum extension of
the Fatimid Caliphate
In the second half of
the 10th century there was a fundamental change. In order to keep in power the
caliphs hired Turkish and Nubians mercenaries, as well as the western Berber
forces that were the basis of the Fatimid army. The Fatimid caliphs lost power remaining
only symbolically in power. The Turkish viziers were the effective rulers of the country.
In subsequent years, (12th
century) the figure of Saladino became very important in the geopolitics of
Syria and Egypt.
Saladin was a Kurd born
in the city of Tikrit in Iraq. Saladino's father Najm ad-Din Ayyub and his
uncle Asad al-Din Shirkuh were subjects of Imad ad-Din Zengi Atabeg lord of
Mosul and Aleppo.
When Zengi died
Saladino's family supported the succession in favor of the younger son al-Din
Nujr. Because of the help given to him in the struggles of succession Saladino's
father received the government of Damascus, while his uncle was appointed as
army chief. At that moment, Saladino joined the army under his uncle as
first-line military leader.
Saladino in front of
his troops
In 1163, Shawarn the
vizier of the Fatimid Caliph al-Adid of Egypt, , who had been expelled from the
country by his rival Dirgham, the powerful Banu Ruzzaik sought help from the
Sultan Nur al-Din. This help was given in 1164 by sending a military force His request for military aid to Nur al-Din led
that in 1164 Shirkuh was appointed to the head of his army to support Shawar. Saladino,
then a 26-year-old young man went with him.
After keeping Shawar as vizier, he claimed the withdrawal
of the army of Shirkuh in exchange for thirty thousand dinars, but received a
negative. The military and
political position of Shirkuh was strengthened in Egypt and in practice he
acted as prime minister of the Fatimid caliph of Egypt and at the same time as
governor and representative of the Syrian Sultan. At his death in 1169 Saladino
was elected as his successor.
When he took power
Saladino had to face the Fatimids elites, who feared that the vizier (who was
Sunni) would finish the caliphate as indeed happened. In 1169 a plot against
Saladino centered on a black eunuch who served as caliph butler took place.
Saladino had news of the plot and executed the eunuch while he was out of town
inspecting their properties.
This execution
immediately triggered a rebellion of military units formed by 50 000 Nubian
troops, who were the backbone of the Egyptian army and the most loyal to the
Fatimids. Saladino quelled the revolt and restructured the army based on its
Syrian troops (Kurdish and Turkish, primarily) instead of the Maghreb
mercenaries who had been normal in the country until then. Thus
he not only created a more experienced and prepared army, but his personal
control over it was guaranteed.
After the death of the last Fatimid caliph, Saladin, who
was in theory a vassal of Nur al-Din, became in practice the de facto ruler of
Egypt while recognizing the authority of the Sultan of Syria. In fact he enjoyed full independence in his government
of Egypt, due to the distance between Damascus and Cairo.
Saladin opened the
Ayyubid dynasty (1171-1250) which opened a line of Sultans of Syria and Egypt
of Kurdish origin. The Ayyubid dynasty to rule Egypt and Syria in the years
after his death occurred in the year 1193. Saladino was champion of the
religious orthodoxy represented by sunnism, he unified politically and
religiously the Middle East, leading the fight against Christians Crusaders and
ending with doctrines that he considered far from the official cult represented
by Muslim Abbasid and Fatimid the Caliphates ..
Saladino was mainly
known for having defeated the Crusaders at the Battle of Hattin, reoccupying
Jerusalem for Muslims and taking the Holy Land. The impact of this event on the
West led to the Third Crusade led by the famous Richard I of England that
became legendary for both westerners and muslims.
The Ayyubid dynasty
ended after the ruling Al-Salih Ayyub was forced to recruit Mamluk troops to
fight the Crusaders. In 1250 the Ayyubid definitely lost power in the hands of
hired mercenaries.
The Mamelukes, who seized
power in the Middle East were slaves, mostly of Turkish origin, from Central
Asia, areas of the Black Sea and further north, islamized and trained
militarily. In the beginning they served as soldiers under the command of the
Abbasid caliphs and finally took over,
controlling Egypt and Syria until 1517 when the region would fall into Ottoman
power under the reign of Sultan Selim.
Territorial historical
evolution of the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman rule lasted
more than 3 centuries. The Ottomans established local governments, collected
their taxes and develop a bureaucratic administration without radically
changing local cultures.
When several centuries
later, in the 1910s, Ottoman power weakened due to the First World War there
was a great Arab revolt against the Turks with the support of Bedouins,
Circassians and Christians.
The revolt was led by
the Hashemites driven by Sharif Hussein of Mecca as an incarnation of a new
Arab nationalism, fueled by resentment against the Ottoman authorities. This
rebellion was encouraged and supported by the Allies in World War I, especially
Britain and France.
The great Arab
revolution gained control of most of the territories of the Hejaz and the
Levant, including the region east of the Jordan River. However the great
Pan-Arab country did not achieved international recognition as an independent
state.
The Syjkes-Pikot 1916
secret agreement and the Balfour Declaration of 1917 were seen as betrayals of
previous agreements in which the British were committed to recognize the
independence of a unified Arab state from Aleppo to Aden, under the control of
the Hashemites (Correspondence Mc Mahon - Hussein 1915).
Based on these
agreements the region was divided and Abdullah I, second son of Sharif Hussein,
"received" the Transjordanian territory. Abdullah arrived by train
Hejalz Ma'an in southern Jordan, where he was welcomed by leaders of
Transjordan. In 1921 Abdullah established the Emirate of Transjordan which became
a British protectorate.
In addition to
Transjordan, Britain received the protectorate of Palestine while France
received the protectorate of Syria and Lebanon.
In 1946, Jordan became
an independent state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan.
Transjordan captured
the West Bank during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and the state name was changed
to The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in 1949.
Continue in the second
part.
Danilo Antón
