Jordan has always been at the heart of the Holy Land, complementing the area which is now Israel since ancient times, and the tribes of Gilead, Moab and Ammon who settled here are part of the Biblical tradition. From Mt.Nebo Moses was shown the Promised Land he was not allowed to enter, and the river Jordan is the site of St.John the Baptist’s activities and the baptism of Christ. Situated between Euphrates and Tigris to the east and the Mediterranean to the West, Jordan was destined to become a crossroads of trade and cultural exchange early on and has remained so ever since.

Whereas the Northern part of the country became part of the Seleucid empire in the 4^th century B.C., the Southern part was under the influence of the Nabataeans who controlled trade from the city of Petra. During the Flavian emperors Jordan began to look towards Rome and finally became  a part of the Roman, and later Byzantine, empire, thus embracing Christianity when it was made the official cult by Constantine. During the 7^th century A.D. it was conquered by Muslim armies and has remained a Muslim country since, first under the rule of the Caliphate, then that of the Turks, until the Sharif Hussein launched the Arab revolt against the Turkish rule during the first World War.

Jordan reached independency only in the wake of WW II and has become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, ruled first by King Abdullah, then his grandson King Hussein and nowadays King Abdullah II.

The country consists of more than 80% desert and has only very little arable land, as well as a few manufacturing industries, phosphate and potassium mining. A rather narrow strip of land at Aqaba provides its only access to the Red Sea.

The population is predominantly consisting of Muslim Bedouins, as well as Palestinians who fled their own country after the foundation of Israel. 96% of the population are Muslims, the remaining 4% are Christians of Greek Orthodox and other Orthodox denominations. The official language is Arabic, but English is widely spoken.