Editing History of Jordan (section)

==Emirate of Transjordan==
{{main article|Emirate of Transjordan}}
{{see also|Ikhwan raids on Transjordan|Adwan Rebellion|Jerash Local Government}}
[[File:First elections in Transjordan 1929.jpg|thumb|First election in Transjordan's history on 2 April 1929.]]

After four centuries of stagnant and many times nominal Ottoman rule (1516–1918), Turkish control over Transjordan came to an end during [[World War I]] when the [[Hashemites|Hashemite]] [[Arab Army|Army]] of the [[Arab Revolt|Great Arab Revolt]], took over and secured present-day Jordan with the help and support of the region's local Bedouin tribes, [[Circassians in Jordan|Circassians]], and [[Jordanian Christians|Christians]].<ref name="Jordan in transition">{{cite book|pages=212, 308|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VRmR7vr9SboC&pg=PA212|title=Jordan in Transition|author=E. George H. Joffé|access-date=15 October 2015|year=2002|publisher=C. Hurst & Co. Publishers|isbn=9781850654889|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410044202/https://books.google.com/books?id=VRmR7vr9SboC&pg=PA212|url-status=live}}</ref> The revolt was launched by the [[Hashemites]] and led by [[Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca|Sharif Hussein]] of [[Mecca]] against the Ottoman Empire.<ref name="Understanding Jordan">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4_CXBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA17|page=17|title=Understanding Jordan Today|publisher=Mitchell Lane Publishers, Inc.|date=2014-11-01|access-date=2016-04-09|author=Perdew Laura|isbn=9781612286778}}</ref> The revolt was supported by the [[Allies of World War&nbsp;I]], including Britain and France.<ref>{{cite book |title=Seven Pillars of Wisdom |url=https://archive.org/details/dli.bengal.10689.22106 |author=Lawrence, T. E. |year=1922 |place=United Kingdom}}</ref> Sharif Hussein's sons, [[Faisal I of Iraq and Syria|Faisal]] and [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]], were promised territorial rule in return.

With the break-up of the [[Ottoman Empire]] at the end of [[World War I]], the [[League of Nations]] and the occupying powers, Britain and France, redrew the borders of the Middle East. Their decisions, most notably the [[Sykes–Picot Agreement]], led to the establishment of the [[French Mandate for Syria]] and [[Mandatory Palestine|British Mandate for Palestine]]. The latter included the territory of Transjordan, which had been already allocated to [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Abdullah]] approximately a year prior to the finalization of the Mandate document (the Mandate officially introduced in 1923).{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

One reason was that the British government had at that point to find a role for Abdullah, after his brother Faisal had lost his control in Syria. Jordan had been a "staging area" for Faisal's and the Arab nationalists' attempted takeover of Syria in 1918, which was ultimately defeated by the French.<ref name=":0" /> Following this, [[Interregnum (Transjordan)|Transjordan was left in a period of interregnum]]. A few months later, Abdullah, the second son of Sharif Hussein, [[Abdullah's entry into Transjordan|arrived into Transjordan]]. Faisal was subsequently given the role of the king of [[Iraq]] and the British made Abdullah emir of the newly created Transjordanian state. At first, Abdullah was displeased with the territory given to him, and hoped it was only a temporary allocation, to be replaced by Syria or Palestine.<ref name=Yapp>{{cite book|author-link=M. E. Yapp|author= Yapp, M E| title=The Near East Since the First World War|publisher= Longman Group|year=1996|pages= 117–118}}</ref> Historian [[Joseph Massad]] has described the founding of Jordan as a state in 1921 as "a hesitant act by its architects, the British and the Hashemites."<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Massad|first=Joseph Andoni|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/52123810|title=Colonial effects : the making of national identity in Jordan|date=2001|publisher=Columbia University Press|isbn=0-231-50570-1|location=New York|pages=21, 27|oclc=52123810}}</ref>

The Permanent Court of International Justice and an International Court of Arbitration established by the Council of the League of Nations handed down rulings in 1925 which determined that Palestine and Transjordan were newly created successor states of the Ottoman Empire as defined by international law.<ref>[Marjorie M. Whiteman, Digest of International Law, vol. 1, US State Department (Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1963) pp 650–652]</ref>

The most serious threats to [[Abdullah I of Jordan|Emir Abdullah]]'s position in Transjordan were repeated [[Ikhwan raids on Transjordan|Wahhabi incursions]] from Najd into southern parts of his territory.<ref name=modernjordan104>Salibi, Kamal S. ''The modern history of Jordan'', p. 104</ref> The emir was powerless to repel those raids by himself, thus the British maintained a military base, with a small [[RAF|air force]], at Marka, close to Amman.<ref name=modernjordan104/>

In 1928, Britain officially provided King Abdullah with full autonomy, though the British RAF continued to provide security to the emirate.{{citation needed|date=October 2020}}

The Emirate of Transjordan had a population of 200,000 in 1920, 225,000 in 1922 and 400,000 (as Kingdom) in 1948.<ref name="embassy">{{Cite web|url=http://www.jordanembassy.org.au/about-jordan/jordans-state-building-and-the-palestinian-problem/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20131230113049/http://www.jordanembassy.org.au/about-jordan/jordans-state-building-and-the-palestinian-problem/|url-status=dead|title=Jordan's State Building and the Palestinian Problem|archive-date=December 30, 2013}}</ref> Almost half of the population in 1922 (around 103,000) was [[nomad]]ic.<ref name="embassy"/>