The Rough Guide to Jordan

INTRODUCTION

Western travellers have been exploring the Middle East for well over a century, but Jordan remains a newcomer to tourism, welcoming only a fraction of the numbers who visit its near neighbours. The country's popular image abroad encompasses not much more than proud desert nomads ruled by a wise king, and almost nothing is known of Jordan's mountains and beaches, castles and ancient churches, the urbanity of its people and richness of its culture. However, in the last decade the country has woken up to marketing its spectacular assets to the world. Tourist facilities are now well advanced, and for the curious few, there is no better time to visit.

Although surrounded by instability, Jordan is the safest country in the Middle East by quite a long way, a comforting fact which allows you to switch your concentration away from suspicious packages towards the stunning landscapes around you. The country is largely desert, but this one bland word covers a multitude of scenes, from the dramatic red sands and towering cliffs of the far south to the endless stony plains of volcanic basalt in the east. Also packed into this tiny wedge of land are the lush olive-rich hills of the north, teetering over the plunging rift of the Jordan Valley, which in turn runs down to the Dead Sea, lowest point on earth. The centre of the country is carpeted with tranquil fields of wheat, which are cut through by expansive canyons and bordered by arid, craggy mountains. At the southernmost tip of the country, beaches fringe the warm waters of the Red Sea, harbouring some of the most spectacular coral reefs in the world.

Jordan is part of the land bridge linking Europe, Africa and Asia, and has seen countless armies come and go - Greeks, Romans, Muslims, Christian Crusaders and more - all of whom have left evidence of their conquests. There are literally thousands of ruins and archeological sites from all periods in every corner of the country. In addition, Israel and Palestine, Jordan's neighbours to the west, have no monopoly on biblical history: Lot sought refuge from the fire and brimstone of the Lord in Jordan; Moses, Aaron and John the Baptist all died in Jordan; and Jesus may well have been baptized here. Even the Prophet Muhammad passed through.

And yet the country is far from being stuck in the past. Amman is a thoroughly modern capital, and Jordan's respectable economic growth means that grinding poverty is the rare exception rather than the rule. Kids may sell you cigarettes or offer to shine your shoes, but more desperate begging goes on in the streets of any European or North American city than in the whole of Jordan. Government is stable, with leanings towards full democracy, and, due largely to the unique political astuteness of King Hussein, manages to be simultaneously pro-Western, pro-Arab, founded on a bedrock of Muslim authority and dedicated to ongoing peace with Israel. Domestic extremism is virtually non-existent. Women are better integrated into positions of power in government and business than almost anywhere else in the Middle East, military conscription was abolished in 1991, and Jordanians are exceptionally highly educated - at any one time, more than a third of the entire population is enrolled at an educational institution. Traditions of hospitality are ingrained, and taking up some of the many invitations you'll get to tea or a meal will expose you to an outlook among local people that is often as cosmopolitan and world-aware as anything at home.

Jordan has small ethnic minorities of Circassians and Chechens, as well as a Christian Arab minority, but well over ninety percent of the country's population are Muslim Arabs. Most people take great pride in their ancestry, and whether they're present or former desert-dwellers (bedouin) or from a settled farming tradition (fellaheen), most are born into a sub-clan of one of the dozens of tribes whose lands spread out over the entire Middle East in a patchwork of sheikhdoms. Aside from representing a noble heritage, tribes also wield a great deal of institutional power in Jordan, and, in theory, serve as community mouthpieces on the national stage - most members of Jordan's lower house of parliament are independents elected on a tribal ticket. In effect, the system seems shot through with nepotism, serving to muffle local voices, but most rural people in particular still stay loyal to their tribe above political considerations. The king, as sheikh of sheikhs, commands heartfelt loyalty among many people and, as the sole Arab world statesman, deep respect among most of the rest; people pin his photo up everywhere, but unlike in Syria or Iraq, there's no compulsion - spoken or unspoken - for them to do so.

Even if you're in the country for only a few days, it's quite likely you'll come up against perhaps the thorniest issue in modern Jordan - that of national identity. Due to the upheavals in neighbouring Israel and Palestine since the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jordan has been perennially flooded with Palestinians either seeking refuge from conflict or thrown out of their homes. A majority of Jordan's population see themselves as Palestinian in some way; some estimates put the figure as high as sixty percent. Many people from tribes resident in Jordan before 1948 resent this overbalancing of the country's demography, and the fact that Palestinians, with their urbanized, entrepreneurial culture, have come to dominate private-sector business. Jordanians of Palestinian origin for their part, even in the second and third generations, hold out hopes for one day being able to return to their homeland on the West Bank of the River Jordan, but in the meantime many resent the "East Bank" Jordanians' grip on power in government and the public sector. All are Jordanian citizens, but citizenship tends to mean less to the Palestinian majority than their national identity, and less to many East Bankers than their tribal affiliation. Large numbers of long-stay guest workers from Egypt muddy the issue still further. "Where are you from?" - a simple enough question in most countries - is in Jordan the cue for a life story.