The capital of the Middle Eastern country of Jordan, Amman is also the country's only modern city. The city is spread over a series of hills on the eastern boundary of the ?Ajlun Mountains about 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the Jordan River. Places of interest - Dwellings rise behind the Roman amphitheater, Amman, Jordan.
An area called the citadel is the site of several early settlements. It sits atop one of Amman's hills. The site contains ruins from various periods of the city's history. These include a Roman temple, a Muslim palace, and a Byzantine church. Next to the citadel is an archaeological museum. Downhill from the citadel is a large, finely preserved Roman amphitheater that is still used for some of Amman's many cultural events. Other Roman ruins can be found throughout the city. Amman also has many beautiful mosques, or Muslim houses of worship. The University of Jordan, founded in 1962, is there as well. EconomyAmman is Jordan's main commercial, financial, and international trade center. Chief industries include food and tobacco processing, textiles, and paper product, plastic, and aluminum utensil manufacturing. Electrical batteries and cement are produced in factories on the city's outskirts. HistoryAncient historySettlements have existed in the area of Amman for thousands of years. As Rabbath Ammon the city was the capital of the Ammonite settlers, a Jewish people mentioned frequently in the Bible. In fact, some people believe that the “royal city” taken by the Bible's King David was an early settlement on the site of the citadel. Egypt's King Ptolemy II Philadelphus, who reigned from 285 to 246 BC, conquered Amman and named it Philadelphia after himself. Philadelphia later became part of the ancient Greek world and later the Roman and Byzantine empires. Influence of IslamIn the 7th century, Islam was on the rise, and the city was conquered by the Arabs. During this period the city gained the name Amman. For reasons that are still unknown, Amman disappeared by 1300. In 1878 the Ottoman Turks resettled the site with refugees from an area that had been taken over by Russia. The settlement remained a small village until after World War I (1914–18). Amman's revival began in 1921 when it became the capital of a territory called Transjordan. The city grew rapidly after Transjordan (now Jordan) gained independence from Britain in 1946. Amman soon became involved in the problems of the Middle East. Many Palestinian Arab refugees arrived in the city following several battles between Israel and its Arab neighbors. In the 1970s the city was heavily damaged during fighting between the Jordan government and militant Palestinians, who sought a separate country for the Palestinian Arabs. Population (1994 estimate), 969,598. |