Jordan

Jordan: population and cities

Population

Population

According to Countryaah website, Jordan has around 6.5 million residents.

About 93% of the residents of Jordan are Arabs. About half of them are of Palestinian descent. As a result of the clashes between Israel and the Arab states, they ended up in the country that was the only one to grant them asylum. A further 3% are Arameans, 1% Circassians (presumably indigenous people of the northern Caucasus, who were expelled into the diaspora by the Russians in the 19th century), 1% Armenians and 1% Kurds (Iranian people of the Middle East).

About 93% of the population of Jordan profess Sunni Islam. This also represents the state religion of the country. Another approx. 5% are Christians, especially Arameans, Armenians and other Orthodox Christians. The remaining 2% are divided into Kurdish Alevis (Islamic faith), Shiites, Mandaeans (followers of a monotheistic faith with Jewish, Christian and Gnostic elements who see Jesus as a false prophet), followers of Zoroastrianism (also Zoroastrianism, a around 1000 BC) Religion founded by Zoroaster or Zarathustra, which was mainly spread in Iran and India), Bahai's (founded by Mirza Husayn Ali Nuri in the 19th century, originally Iranian religion, of which approx. 7.4 million Followers are now spread across almost all countries in the world) and Yezidi (original religion of the Kurds). The Circassians are mostly Sunni Muslims of moderate, liberal character. The Kurds are also predominantly Sunni Muslims.

Arabic is the country's official language, with the Jordanian dialect being relatively close to classical Arabic. English is the language of business. In addition, various Bedouin dialects and the languages of the minorities are in use.

Capital and other cities

The capital of Jordan is Amman with around 2.3 million residents.

Other cities are:

• Zarqa with around 900,000 residents,
• Irbid with around 750,000 residents,
• Ar-Rusaifa with around 260,000 residents,
• Wadi as-Sir with around 200,000 residents,
• Akaba with around 102,000 residents.

Another important city has formed at the rock city of Petra, Jordan's biggest tourist attraction, and is called Wadi Musa.

Jordan: geography, map

Defined by DigoPaul, despite its involvement in the Middle East conflicts, the Kingdom of Jordan can be regarded as stable and relatively safe. Unfortunately, the capital Amman lacks the expected oriental flair.

The present state of Jordan is located exclusively east of the Jordan Rift. Subsequently, the East Jordanian mountains rise up, a mountain range of folds, which are bordered by large desert table lands that take up about two thirds of the country. In the east of Jordan there is another mountainous landscape with heights over 1,000 m. In the south the country borders on the Gulf of Aqaba, which is part of the Red Sea. Jordan covers an area of 97,740 km². Thereof:

• Forest

  Only around 0.5% of the country is forested.

• Meadow and pasture land

  Around 8% of the land is used as meadow or pasture land.

• Fields and fields

  Around 4.5% of the land is used as arable land or fields, especially for growing cereals (mainly barley and wheat), fruit (citrus fruits and melons), vegetables (tomatoes, eggplants) as well as olives and figs. Artificial irrigation is a prerequisite for this.

• Desert

  About 85% of the area is taken up by deserts and semi-deserts, especially the Syrian desert in the northeast and the Arabian desert in the southeast of the country.

• Mountains

  There are two mountain ranges in the country: the East Jordanian mountain range, a folded mountain range that rises in a rugged, rugged wall above the Jordan Valley and the northern part of which forms the Gilead Mountains, and a mountain range in the east of the country with heights of over 1,000 m.

National borders

Jordan borders the following four states:

- Syria with a length of 375 km,

- Iraq with a length of 181 km,

- Saudi Arabia with a length of 728 km and

- Israel with a length of 238 km

- Palestinian territories with a length of 97 km.

Coastline

Jordan has a coast to the Red Sea with a length of only about 26 km.

Tidal range

On the Red Sea coast, the tidal range is only a few decimeters.

For detailed explanations of ebb and flow, see Tides, Ebb and Flow.

Compare

The world's highest tidal range can be found in the Bay of Fundy in Canada, where it is up to 16 m, and at spring tide even over 20 m. The Bay of Fundy is located on the Atlantic between the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, which is called Nova Scotia in German and whose capital is Halifax.

On the German North Sea coast it varies between 1 m and 3 m. In the western Baltic Sea, on the other hand, the tidal range is only 0.3 m, while it is barely noticeable in the eastern Baltic Sea.

Longitude and latitude

Jordan extends over the following geographical latitude (abbreviation Δφ) and geographical longitude (abbreviation Δλ):

You can find detailed information on this subject under Longitude and Latitude.

Legal time

For Jordan, the following value applies to Central European Time (CET), i.e. the time without daylight saving time. A minus sign means that it is earlier there and a plus sign that it is later than after CET:

Further and detailed explanations of the time can be found under Time zones, time.

Highest sun in Amman

Amman lies at a north latitude of around 32 °. If the sun is at the tropic, i.e. at δ = 23.5 °, summer will begin in Amman, June 21. Then, for the highest position of the sun at noon, according to Eq. 1 (see position of the sun):

32 ° = (90 ° - h) + 23.5 °

so:

This is the highest level above the horizon (exactly: above the chimney) that the sun has within the year in Amman.

mountains

Jabal Rum

The highest mountain in Jordan is Jabal Rum (Rujm Tal'at al Jamá'ah) with a height of 1,743 m.

Other high mountains are:

• Jabal Mabrak with a height of 1,727 m
• Jabal al Batra with a height of 1,692 m
• Jabal Bägir with a height of 1,555 m

Rivers

Jordan

The longest river in the country is the Jordan with a length of about 320 km. It flows into the Dead Sea and is the deepest river on earth.

Jarmuk

The most important tributary of the Jordan within Jordan is the Jarmuk.

Arnon

The Arnon River also flows into the Dead Sea.

In addition, there are numerous wadis in the deserts. These are arid valleys that only temporarily carry water after heavy rainfall. These include Wadi Ram, Wadi Musa and Wadi Al-Mujib.

The dead Sea

The largest "lake" in the country is the Dead Sea.

Despite its name "Sea", the Dead Sea is only about 800 km² in size. It gets its water from the Jordan River and from nearby freshwater springs and streams that are enriched with mineral-rich mud - but the lake has no drainage. However, through evaporation, it loses about as much water as flows into it via the Jordan. Therefore, over time, numerous salts have accumulated in the water, so that it has a salt content of up to 33% - on average around 28% - which is about ten times as much as the Saz content of the Mediterranean Sea. Its water surface is more than 400 m below sea level and a deepest point is about 380 m below the lake surface

The salt of the lake contains approximately 51% magnesium chloride (MgCl), 14.5% calcium chloride (CaCl), 30.2% sodium chloride (NaCl) and 4.5% potassium chloride (KCl). The rest is made up of a number of trace elements. Due to the increasing amount of water withdrawn from the Jordan, the water level of the lake is now falling continuously, and with it, of course, its water surface.

There are no higher living beings in the lake, such as fish. There are a number of salt extraction plants on its banks. In addition, the water is considered to be beneficial for a number of skin diseases - for example psoriasis or neurodermatitis. The dry and pollen-free air also has a high relaxation and recovery factor.

In addition to Jordan, there are also Israel and the Palestinian West Bank, which is still under Israeli military administration, on the lake.

On the Jordanian side, the towns of Numeira and Bab Edh Dhra on the Lisan Peninsula, which may have been on the site of the biblical cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, are undoubtedly of interest.

On the Israeli side, at the lake or in its vicinity, the place where the Qumran Scrolls were found, the city of Jericho (approx. 10 km from the north bank), the rock fortress Masada and the oasis En Gedi are located.

The Red Sea

Jordan lies on the Gulf of Akabar - a bulge in the Red Sea. The Red Sea is a strait between northeast Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It is around 2,190 km long and around 378 km wide near Asmara - but otherwise almost everywhere more than around 200 km. At Bab al-Mandab, in the strait at the transition to the Gulf of Aden, it is only a little more than 13 miles wide. Its area covers around 270,000 km². In the north it is connected to the Mediterranean via the Suez Canal and in the south via the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean. Its greatest depth is at 2,605 m. The salt content of the water is quite high at 4.2% and leads to good visibility under water (divers) due to reduced algae growth. In addition to Jordan, Egypt, Eritrea, Israel, Yemen and Saudi Arabia border the Red Sea.