n.
officially Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Country, Middle East , lying east of the Jordan River .
It is bordered by Syria , Iraq , Saudi Arabia , Israel , and the West Bank territory. Jordan has 12 miles (19 km) of coastline on the Gulf of Aqaba . Area: 34,495 sq mi (89,342 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 5,260,000. Capital: Amman . The vast majority of the population are Arabs, about two-thirds of whom are Palestinian Arabs who fled to Jordan from Israel and the West Bank as a result of the Arab-Israeli wars . Language: Arabic (official). Religion: Islam (official), with more than nine-tenths of the population Sunnite. Currency: Jordan dinar. Four-fifths of Jordan is occupied by desert, and less than one-tenth of the land is arable. The highest point of elevation, Mount Ramm (5,755 ft [1,754 m]), rises in the uplands region on the east bank of the Jordan River. The Jordan Valley region contains the Dead Sea . Jordan's economy is based largely on manufacturing and services (including tourism); exports include phosphate, potash, pharmaceuticals, fruits and vegetables, and fertilizers. Jordan is a constitutional monarchy with two legislative houses; the head of state and government is the king, assisted by the prime minister. Jordan shares much of its history with Israel, since both occupy parts of the area known historically as Palestine . Much of present-day Jordan was once part of the kingdom of Israel under David and Solomon ( 0441; 1000 BC). It fell to the Seleucids in 330 BC and to Muslim Arabs in the 7th century AD. The Crusaders extended the kingdom of Jerusalem east of the Jordan River in 1099. The region became part of the Ottoman Empire during the 16th century. In 1920 the area comprising Jordan (then known as Transjordan) was established within the British mandate of Palestine. Transjordan became an independent state in 1927, although the British mandate did not end until 1948. After hostilities with the new State of Israel ceased in 1949, Jordan annexed the West Bank and east Jerusalem , administering the territory until Israel gained control of them in the Six-Day War of 1967. In 197071 Jordan was wracked by fighting between the government and guerrillas of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), a struggle that ended in the expulsion of the PLO from Jordan. In 1988 King Hussein renounced all Jordanian claims to the West Bank in favour of the PLO. In 1994 Jordan and Israel signed a full peace agreement.